What exactly is excommunication? How and when does the church use it? And how often is it used?
History
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Vandalizing religious art isn’t defending the church. It’s sacrilege.
Vandalizing another culture’s sacred art is not a heroic act. It is an example of resistance to inculturation, part of the process by which the faith has become rooted in disparate cultures throughout history.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
The Jesuits sold 272 people into slavery. How can the church make amends with their descendants?
A conversation with Rachel L. Swarns, the author of “The 272: The Families Who were Enslaved and Sold to Build The American Catholic Church”
Posted inArts & Culture, News
What Frederick Douglass learned from an Irish antislavery activist: ‘Agitate, agitate, agitate’
Frederick Douglass traveled to Ireland after escaping slavery in the U.S. and there was inspired by the politics of Irish nationalist leader Daniel O’Connell.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
How ‘America’ did (and didn’t) cover D-Day 80 years ago
As we prepare to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day later this week, a look back at how ‘America’ covered the invasion then and in the years following.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
On Corpus Christi, Jesus tells us: I have met death. I will live forever. I am yours.
A Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, by Father Terrance Klein
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
A brief history of the Catholic Church in modern China
An important international conference in Rome on May 21 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in China. Here’s what you need to know.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Eugenics was everywhere 100 years ago. We still live with its legacy today.
Of the many things that the history of eugenics should teach modern society, two stand out. First, not all questions are good questions. Second, statistics can be warped to tell you pretty much anything you want.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: America’s two-front dilemma in World War II
Books about World War II are ubiquitous in the nonfiction section, but “Hitler’s American Gamble” is the rare recent work with a genuinely new contribution to make, not just to our understanding of the past but also to our understanding of the present.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Mary Beard on Roman imperial power
An account of “what it meant to be a Roman emperor,” Mary Beard’s new book is also a sustained exploration of tradition embodied by an individual ruler.