Of Many Things
Not everything is bad news in public discourse
Hundreds of organizations across the country are doing the hard work of bringing people together for civil debate and thoughtful reflection.
Letters
The Letters
This is a thoughtful article that goes to the heart of much of the divisiveness in the church today. The charge that polling is flawed because it isn’t focused on ‘real’ Catholics is a cudgel in the culture wars.
Your Take
What does a ‘good death’ mean to you?
When asked to describe what a good death meant for them, many readers referred to surviving family and friends in their answers.
Editorials
Closing parishes is painful—but there’s a better way to do it.
There is no way to meet the present challenge without a significant degree of real loss. But that does not mean these decisions have to be pitched as zero-sum battles.
Trump and the Art of the Nuclear Deal
Beyond relations with Iran and North Korea, the way Mr. Trump is wielding economic and military power will come with collateral costs.
Short Take
Prescriptions are no longer the chief cause of the opioid crisis
Excess opioid pills can fall into the wrong hands, but we should not respond by denying relief to millions with long-term or intense pain.
Dispatches
The unique challenges facing Catholic health care workers
Going to the margins to provide health services does not always earn Catholic hospitals praise; sometimes it provokes unfriendly scrutiny.
The dizzying pace of improved relations is a welcome surprise in South Korea
Developments on the Korean peninsula have inspired a degree of shock and awe in diplomatic circles.
After deadly van attack, Toronto is still looking for answers
Suggesting that people who struggle with their mental health are likely to be violent is dangerous, especially when people with disabilities are more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators.
California bishops: The mental health care system is broken
“People who suffer from severe and persistent mental illnesses are among the most misunderstood, ignored and unjustly stigmatized members of our society,” the bishops write.
Features
What is Pope Francis’ effect on health care?
Pope Francis advocates for the consistent ethic of life in a throwaway culture. Like Cardinal Bernardin many years ago, he defends the sanctity of life at every stage and in every situation.
As their parents get older, who will care for people with disabilities?
As states continue to close large state-run institutions designed to house large numbers of people with cognitive disabilities, the United States faces a new crisis: a shortage of new nonprofit group homes.
Faith in Focus
We need a new pro-life movement built on social justice
By enrolling in a largely pro-choice public health program I was able to articulate a pro-life vision that I could truly believe in.
Books
How to build a better university
A strong vision and mission are two keys to a distinctive university.
Up close and personal with Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy shares his inner self.
An adventure in Paris, the city of lights
Liam Callanan explores Paris, but also explores the existential anxieties of the writer’s life as well as the consolations that come from a life of reading.
The transactional apocalypse is coming.
What if we could make economics uninteresting again?
Film
“A Man of His Word” is a radical portrait of Pope Francis
In a new documentary from Wim Wenders, Francis is sober, consoling, occasionally sad and always jesuitical.
Star Wars and religion struggle with the same issue: What do you do with tradition?
“Star Wars,” as a franchise, does not quite know what to do with the history it has inherited.
Television
Review: “Little Women” revitalizes a classic for a new generation
The journey of growing in virtue need be neither boring nor sentimental, but ever fresh and unexpected.
Poetry
The Weaver’s Song
Who coaxed him off my porch? The wind
The Word
Christ is stronger than our deepest fears
Christ is stronger than our greatest fears and stronger than anything that holds us bound.
How has Christ set you free?
Loved by God in spite of our sins, we share the cup the disciples drank.
Last Take
Why understanding despair must be a part of our health care system
Effective medical and public health interventions are necessary to solve diseases of despair.
Faith
Closing parishes is painful—but there’s a better way to do it.
There is no way to meet the present challenge without a significant degree of real loss. But that does not mean these decisions have to be pitched as zero-sum battles.
We need a new pro-life movement built on social justice
By enrolling in a largely pro-choice public health program I was able to articulate a pro-life vision that I could truly believe in.
Christ is stronger than our deepest fears
Christ is stronger than our greatest fears and stronger than anything that holds us bound.
What does a ‘good death’ mean to you?
When asked to describe what a good death meant for them, many readers referred to surviving family and friends in their answers.
How has Christ set you free?
Loved by God in spite of our sins, we share the cup the disciples drank.
Magazine
The Letters
This is a thoughtful article that goes to the heart of much of the divisiveness in the church today. The charge that polling is flawed because it isn’t focused on ‘real’ Catholics is a cudgel in the culture wars.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts