Jesuit School Spotlight
Boston College High School renames building as part of its commitment to antiracism
After a review of his full legacy and life story, BC High has renamed one of its main buildings, originally dedicated to John McElroy, S.J., to reaffirm its commitment to being an antiracist institution.
Of Many Things
Kevin McCarthy’s ouster raises the question: What is a government really for?
There is a deeper problem than the chaos in the U.S. House: the question of what a government is for, and how it is to function beyond matters that a bare majority can vote through.
Your Take
Should the church expect donations with Mass requests?
In an essay published on America’s website in September, John F. Baldovin, S.J., examined the theological soundness of making a monetary offering for the sake of “having a Mass said” for an individual.
Editorials
Pope Francis makes it clear: Climate change must be a priority for all Catholics (especially Americans)
During this coming election cycle, Americans (including Catholics) need to hear far more about the moral duty to protect the environment.
Short Take
Many Catholics experience trauma. Our homilies should reflect that.
Catholic preachers should learn from social work and give trauma-informed homilies.
Dispatches
Interview: Get to know Jerusalem’s first cardinal
Energetic, resolutely modern, as comfortable with technology as with theology, and deeply cosmopolitan, Patriarch Pizzaballa shares Pope Francis’ intention to restore Jerusalem to its former glory.
Jesuits and nuns team up to bring education to vulnerable African girls
There are just under 20 million primary-grade girls out of school in sub-Saharan Africa. The Bakhita Partnership for Education is working to change that.
Pope Francis has called on Europe to change its migration policies—will it?
On his visit to Marseille last week, Pope Francis decried the “fanaticism of indifference” on the plight of migrants who risk their lives—and all too often lose them—in the attempt to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.
Is a law that will stop most prosecutions of killings during ‘The Troubles’ really about protecting British soldiers?
With so many political and cultural forces arrayed against the Legacy and Reconciliation proposal, why has Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government pressed on?
Features
Keeping an eye on the devil: How should today’s Catholics think about the prince of darkness?
Pope Francis has spoken regularly about the devil and has reminded us that the devil is not simply a pop-culture trope.
Cardinal Cupich on retrieving the Consistent Ethic of Life
Furthering the vision of Cardinal Bernardin with an Integral Ethic of Solidarity
Faith and Reason
Catholics should care about sex and consent.
Discussions around consent should become a commonplace feature of Catholic conversations about sexual ethics. They can serve especially as a corrective to the harmful use of “marital debt” rhetoric within Catholic culture.
Faith in Focus
What monks and college students taught me about commitment
We can make major life commitments, and yet also believe in spirit of discernment to make changes in our commitments.
Why I love to ask people: What’s your image of God?
The mystery of God constantly surrounds us. How do we imagine God at work in our lives?
Books
Review: Contemplating death, eschatology and eternity
John E. Thiel of Fairfield University ventures to propose a “thick” eschatology based on the idea of a continuation of the human response to grace into an afterlife in ‘Now and Forever: A Theological Aesthetics of Time.’
Review: ‘Escape to Florence’ is a refreshingly apolitical novel in our hyper-politicized age
‘Escape to Florence’ stays within the bounds of its own story: the intimate and historical particulars of dual love stories, and the rich Italian backdrop against which both are set.
Review: August Wilson, a playwright of multitudes
In ‘August Wilson: A Life,’ an excellent new biography by Patti Hartigan, we read of the winding path that led Wilson to his ascendance, then delves into the tumults and triumphs of his two decades at the heights of achievement.
The devastation and dishonesty of the ‘wonder drug,’ thalidomide
It was touted as a sedative with no hangover. It was hailed as non-addictive. It was rumored to present no side effects. It was trumpeted in medical journal ads as “astonishingly safe” and “completely non-poisonous.”
Music
My Heavy Metal Walk With God
Heavy metal has the power to name the darkness in the world—the injustice, the suffering, but also the numinous.
Last Take
On the Ground in Rome: Reporting on the synod—and tuning out the noise
The Synod on Synodality has the potential to be the church’s most extraordinary event since Vatican II. Will the synod’s critics prevail?
Faith
Keeping an eye on the devil: How should today’s Catholics think about the prince of darkness?
Pope Francis has spoken regularly about the devil and has reminded us that the devil is not simply a pop-culture trope.
Cardinal Cupich on retrieving the Consistent Ethic of Life
Furthering the vision of Cardinal Bernardin with an Integral Ethic of Solidarity
On the Ground in Rome: Reporting on the synod—and tuning out the noise
The Synod on Synodality has the potential to be the church’s most extraordinary event since Vatican II. Will the synod’s critics prevail?
Should the church expect donations with Mass requests?
In an essay published on America’s website in September, John F. Baldovin, S.J., examined the theological soundness of making a monetary offering for the sake of “having a Mass said” for an individual.
What monks and college students taught me about commitment
We can make major life commitments, and yet also believe in spirit of discernment to make changes in our commitments.
Catholics should care about sex and consent.
Discussions around consent should become a commonplace feature of Catholic conversations about sexual ethics. They can serve especially as a corrective to the harmful use of “marital debt” rhetoric within Catholic culture.
Many Catholics experience trauma. Our homilies should reflect that.
Catholic preachers should learn from social work and give trauma-informed homilies.
Why I love to ask people: What’s your image of God?
The mystery of God constantly surrounds us. How do we imagine God at work in our lives?
Magazine
Boston College High School renames building as part of its commitment to antiracism
After a review of his full legacy and life story, BC High has renamed one of its main buildings, originally dedicated to John McElroy, S.J., to reaffirm its commitment to being an antiracist institution.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts