The SSPX ordained four new bishops without a papal mandate in Switzerland, triggering automatic excommunication for all six bishops involved.
History
Posted inCatholic Book Club
‘America’ magazine’s most compelling Fourth of July musings over the years
As we all prepare for the 4th of July, going through some of America’s past commentaries provides some curious glimpses of the preoccupations and hopes of other generations.
Posted inExplainer
A Quaker, a Bavarian monk and a Catholic king: Exploring Catholic history in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey
Catholic life throughout the region was often sustained quietly through family networks, informal gathering places, and the ministry of itinerant priests.
Posted inExplainer
Catholic growth in anti-Catholic colonies: The fledgling Church in New England
Catholics in colonial New England kept a low profile, and for long stretches there was effectively no public Catholic life at all.
Posted inBooks
Beach reads, old faves and some seriously hefty tomes: The ‘America’ summer reading list
Some of our recommendations are great beach reads; some are serious history books; and one of them is an old encyclical, because Jesuits gonna Jesuit.
Posted inEditorials
The editors: The unfinished work that remains for the United States of America
Americans should reject the false choice between an uncritical celebration and a despair that is blind to the country’s virtues.
Posted inFeatures
The forgotten history of the Catholic Church and the American Revolution
The Catholic Church in the United States in 1776 was so tiny that it didn’t play a major role in the American Revolution—but the war affected the local church in important and lasting ways.
Posted inBooks
Review: A counternarrative to American religious history
Matthew Sutton’s ‘Chosen Land’ addresses American religious history as one of a luxurious pluralism—but he often crosses the line into a perhaps-overdone editorial voice that grates on the reader.
Posted inBooks
Review: Going nuclear—or not
Two new books—’Return to Fukushima’ and ‘Nuclear Is Not The Solution’—lay out the perils and ugly history of nuclear power.
Posted inPodcasts
Pope Leo and Trump aren’t the first feuding leaders: a history of papal power clashes
This week on “Jesuitical,” hosts Zac Davis and Ashley McKinless talk with historian Miles Pattenden about the long and quirky history of feuds between popes and politicians.