The percentage of Catholics in the world has remained steady, while the number of priests has decreased for the first time in almost a decade.
Sacraments
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Sin and ash: On our collective guilt and the need for reconciliation
Even the holiest people are complicit in social sin; we benefit from injustices that we do not control. Yet we still have the freedom to seek God’s grace.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
How should we react to Michael Cohen’s imperfect contrition?
Was Michael Cohen’s soul searching authentic or merely convenient? It’s a question at least as much about sin as about political strategy.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Remaining faithful to fragile gifts
In ‘The Dangers of Christian Practice,’ Lauren Winner shows that even our holiest religious practices create characteristic distortions.
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: Will Pope Francis allow married priests?
What exactly is Pope Francis suggesting?
Posted inExamen, Faith
James Martin, S.J.: Why was Jesus baptized?
Did you ever wonder why Jesus was baptized? What sins did Jesus have to repent of? Nothing.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
What if John the Baptist were a blogger?
And what would millennial Jesus make of the comments section?
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Andre Dubus’s challenging but beautifully written stories have been reissued
Dubus was an irascible, loyal, loving, smoking, hard-drinking, hard-punching, tender man, who demanded much of himself and others.
Posted inFaith, News
Indian Catholic leaders protest call to ban sacrament of reconciliation
India’s Catholic Church has led a chorus of protest over a demand to ban the sacrament of reconciliation from the chairwoman of the National Commission for Women.