Laws that once upheld the "traditional views" of marriage social conservatives advocate were dismantled piece by piece because they inflicted other moral costs.
Since the Synod of Bishops was instituted in 1965, no pope has ever begun an assembly’s first working session with an address like the one Pope Francis gave.
The appointment of Blase Cupich will have an impact beyond the Catholic Church because it tells us about the role Francis wants the church to play in American life.
The synod comes at a time when a huge gulf has opened up between the teaching of the church on sex, marriage, and the family and the practice of many Catholics.
From 2005 to 2010 adult baptisms fell by 41 percent. Those losses were masked by a gain in adult receptions into full communion; then those totals began to fall too.
Contrary to popular belief, the USCCB does not have the power to tell individual bishops—or Catholic health-care systems—what to do and what not to do.
Whether liberal or conservative, reform-minded or traditionalist, Catholics were stunned by the interview Pope Francis recently gave. So were many non-Catholics.
Misreadings are all too common among Catholic leaders. Part of the error stems, no doubt, from an ignorance of history, or more likely, history badly taught.
Will severing the connection marriage has forged between sex, procreation, and family formation undermine the expectations our culture places on the institution?
