JD Vance tries to use Aquinas’s ‘order of love’ to support his political ideology, but is the ethical order he proposes actually consistent with the ethic of Aquinas or, more broadly, with the principles of Catholic social teaching?
Faith
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Octavia Butler: A Black science fiction writer who predicted today’s dire headlines
Octavia Butler, the Black science fiction writer who died in 2006, did not just create imaginary worlds with parallels to ours. Sometimes she created worlds that are eerily a little too much like our own.
Posted inFaith
St. Thomas Aquinas’ skull went on tour. Here’s what the medieval saint would have said about its veneration.
What might Aquinas himself have thought about all the attention to his traveling skull—that fragile and now empty case for the brain behind one of the most productive minds of European philosophy?
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis dissolves Peru-based Catholic movement after abuses uncovered by Vatican
In their investigation into the Catholic movement Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, Vatican officials uncovered “sadistic” sect-like abuses of power, authority and spirituality.
Posted inFaith and Reason, Politics & Society
The soul of America—from Martin Luther King to Trump
If U.S. Catholics seek to embrace Martin Luther King Jr.’s desire to “redeem the soul of America,” we will also have to reclaim the soul of Catholicism, which is nothing less than a broad and inclusive love for all, including those considered “stranger.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Examining the sanctuary movement at an important political moment
By centering the voices and experiences of Latina/o sanctuary leaders in ” Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities,” Gina M. Pérez presents sanctuary as both a sacred and secular reality.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The nonviolent Jesus
In “The Gospel of Peace,” the Rev. John Dear embarks on a kind of spiritual experiment: interpreting the three synoptic Gospels through the lens of nonviolent activism and uncovering connections between first-century Judea and modern-day America.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Introducing the female mystics, jagged edges and all
In her new book, “The Mystics Would Like a Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today,” Shannon K. Evans beautifully articulates how the spirituality developed by women mystics still inspires and applies to us today.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Opus Dei, inside and out
In ‘Opus,” Gareth Gore examines many seminal moments in the history of the controversial Catholic group Opus Dei, arguing that its secretive ways have allowed it to cover up serious scandals.
Posted inFaith, Features
England’s ‘Catholic Moment’: What can the history of British converts tell us about American Catholics?
As our own cultural moment in the United States has included some prominent conversions to Catholicism, what might we learn from some of the more prominent converts in British Catholic history?