Father Bryan Massingale has the ability to focus attention on problematic areas in the church in a way that is both challenging and undeniable.
Racism
Posted inNews
High-ranking Catholic bishops call for Trump to apologize over racist video of Obamas
Two more Catholic bishops issued statements objecting to a video posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account late at night Feb. 5 that depicted former first couple President Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
Posted inShort Take
Martin Luther King Jr.’s lessons for Minneapolis—and for all Americans today
We must recognize a fundamental correspondence between Birmingham in 1963 and Minnesota in 2026, and the broader experience each represents.
Posted inShort Take
Three U.S. bishops: Racially profiling migrants (and Americans) is a betrayal of the Gospel
As disciples, we cannot remain indifferent to injustice or the mistreatment of our neighbor. We are called to advocate for a just and meaningful immigration reform that respects human dignity, upholds due process and promotes the common good, and to reject dehumanizing rhetoric and violence.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
100 years after the Scopes Monkey Trial: religion, science and the era of eugenic racism
The Scopes trial has long been depicted as a clash between modern science and religious fundamentalism. But it was also a chapter in the eugenic racism that had become a creed of social elites in the early 20th century.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
A book on ‘wokeness’ Catholic evangelizers need to read
In ‘We Have Never Been Woke,’ Musa al-Gharbi seeks to untangle competing threads of discourse around identity and social justice.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Flannery O’Connor at 100: What would the Catholic author have to say in 2025?
One wonders: If the “red wolf” of lupus had not ended Flannery O’Connor’s life at age 39, what would the author be writing about in 2025? What might she think of what was being written about her?
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Percival Everett revisits Huck Finn
In his 2024 National Book Award-winning novel, ‘James,’ Percival Everett grapples with philosophical and metaphysical questions as well as racial issues, while enveloping all in sarcasm and irony.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Masked man: Al Jolson and the politics of performance
Richard Bernstein tackles difficult topics in his short study of an extraordinary entertainer, Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson in Lithuania in 1886), and a profoundly important movie—and not just because “The Jazz Singer” is recognized as the “first talkie.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
William Stringfellow: The modern prophet who helped hide Daniel Berrigan from the FBI
Throughout his life, William Stringfellow was the modern incarnation of an Old Testament prophet, calling out lies and hypocrisy and demanding fidelity to the commandments of God.