The first time I joined the Peckville virtual congregation, and my cousin Andy was livestreamed into our living room, I felt something akin to what relatives of Hollywood celebrities must feel.
Covid-19
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
An atheist walks into a Catholic convent: Charlotte Wood on her novel ‘Stone Yard Devotional’
Wood’s earlier novels contain explicit social critiques, but ‘Stone Yard Devotional’ does its intellectual heavy lifting at an arm’s-length distance. “I wanted to write a book that doesn’t teach or explain or condescend,” she told America in an interview over Zoom in February.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
In ‘Doppelganger,’ Naomi Klein investigates her twin and uncovers a shadow world
Naomi Klein’s new book serves as a kind of sociopolitical post-mortem of the Covid era, in which our social divisions and paranoias only grew more strident. It is also tragically timely.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The Sanctity of Being Alone
The Lord God said it is not good for man to be alone—uh, except for when it is.
Posted inFaith, News Analysis
Gen-X church attendance dropped dramatically after Covid. What happened?
I asked my fellow Gen-Xers on staff to reflect on this trend, and what may be contributing to it.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
America magazine writers who dreamed they saw St. Augustine
Saint Augustine still captures our imaginations 16 centuries after he lived. What is it about this theologian, philosopher, preacher and memoirist that makes him such a perennial favorite?
Posted inFaith, Features
Catholic schools attracted students during the pandemic. Can they keep them?
Schools face changing realities, including geographic population shifts, questions about affordability and a generation of parents who are less likely to participate in Catholic life than their parents or grandparents were.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Why is RFK Jr. gaining popularity? Everyone is afraid, and everyone is traumatized.
I don’t really think R.F.K. will win the election, but I think this election will be marked by historic levels of incoherence and incongruence, and motivated chiefly by exhaustion and fear.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Jesuit-educated Dr. Anthony Fauci to teach at Georgetown University
Georgetown University announced Monday that it has appointed Dr. Fauci the Distinguished University Professor in the School of Medicine’s department of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Don’t underestimate the appeal of Covid lockdown-critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could thrive as a presidential candidate among working-class voters, and his opposition to vaccines and Covid lockdowns could be an asset rather than a liability.