The latest manifesto from archbishop Viganò descends into intellectual and moral farce, when what the world really needs from the church is true gravitas.
God is everywhere; for those who do not find him so easily in church pews, the ocean shore or a patterned turtle shell may be places to seek his presence.
Dorothy Day is well-known for her ‘paradoxical’ nature, which resists political characterization. A new biography also contextualizes her life, filling in the gaps.
The acquittal of Cardinal George Pell doesn’t bring an end to the ‘Pell matter,’ since his release means different things to different constituencies in the church.
COVID-19 has profoundly affected our daily lives. Catch up with some of Commonweal’s best writing on the political and spiritual ramifications of the virus.
Some two decades ago, I took a cruise on the MS Zaandam. The Catholic rituals for the dead that I witnessed in Venezuela can help us process the death around us.
Our residence for retired priests in New York has already experienced two deaths. Even so, Christ is present in routine, natural beauty, and above all, prayer.
T.S. Eliot’s letters to Emily Hale, recently unsealed, reveal the extent of their thirty-year epistolary romance, and Hale’s undeniable influence on his poetry.
The late Terrence McNally’s work included one play that stirred considerable controversy among American Catholics. It’s worth revisiting that debate today.
Besides the federal government, Catholic Charities is the country’s largest social-safety-net provider. It’s now facilitating access to food and mental health care.
Service, self-abnegation, solidarity, fraternity, courage: in the trial at hand, the grace of conversion is available to the whole of humanity—including the church.
Community organizing and activism are happening beyond traditional parish structures, generating vitality and purpose from which many parishes could stand to learn.
This COVID-19 crisis is the kind of emergency that in the last two centuries has amplified the advantage the institutional papacy has over local churches.
Catholic hospitals are already underfunded. With COVID-19 cases rising, they face an ethical dilemma: how to distribute limited resources in favor of the poor.
Churches are spaces for every part of the body of Christ. By not making them accessible to disabled Catholics, we fail in our commitment to universal inclusion.
We’re at a moment right now when physical presence isn’t possible. But in these next few days, picture it anyway, and the loving relationships that sustain you most.
The parish, like the country, is changing and diversifying—but we should embrace these changes, and recognize them as opportunities rather than threats to our faith.
Demographic shifts, a shrinking priesthood, and the financial pressures facing the church all tell a complex story about the future of Catholic parishes.
Preachers should emulate teachers at mass, striving to be adaptable, humble, loving, and willing to learn by inviting participation from the congregation.
A new social document from the Orthodox Church brings the political responsibilities of the church to the fore, tackling inequality, refugees, and many other topics.
