Author: Regina Bannan

The October issue of America is finally out: “Women in the Life of the Church.” Many of the articles are online already, but the overall impact surprises me because of one very strong article.  Jesuit editor Matt Malone’s writings about women always leave me lukewarm. His note in this issue says boldly: “we should always…
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We were so optimistic in the beginning. We rejoiced over the appointment of Sr. Nathalie Becquart to the Synod of Bishops and wondered what kind of expanded representation her presence portended. Then we looked at the responses and the “handbook” and we had second thoughts. The local bishop as the synthesizer was not good news…
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A central task of the priest. I use the gerund (remember them?) to suggest that pastoring is something that priests do, not just a role that they play. Lots about pastoring this week. “A pastor at heart,” Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong died last Monday at 90. Bob Smietana of Religion News Service has a…
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Nineteen terrorists gave Americans a new Holy Day of remembrance twenty years ago today. Perhaps the many observances are too much for you; no need to read this one, in that case. Every program I hear on the radio asks the commentators where they were that morning, so I’ll ask you to think of your…
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Britney Spears is not someone I have paid much attention to over the years, so I was brought up short by Renee Roden’s Religion News Service article, published in NCR: “The trajectory of Spears’ career and public persona can be understood, some experts on evangelicalism argue, through the rise and decline of the evangelical purity…
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You know what it’s like when you return from vacation: a huge pile of mail. One magazine cover leapt out to me: “Prayer and Power,” with a photo of Paula Clark, “the first Black and first Episcopal Bishop of Chicago, on building a truly inclusive ministry.” My welcome home! I am always thrilled when our…
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If you’ve been in a book club in the last ten years, you’ve probably read, or at least considered reading, something by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian writer. Perhaps her remarkable breakthrough novel, Americanah. Perhaps the earlier one our club read recently, Purple Hibiscus. Perhaps her TEDx talk made into a book, We Should All…
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Traditionis custodes is the name of the motu proprio issued by Pope Francis in which he ordered Bishops to reduce the use of the pre-Vatican II liturgy. I was not going to write about this because I didn’t want to take on the Pope about something else that I thought was a mistake. But then…
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What is going on at Commonweal? I am so shocked by Adam Fleming Petty’s introduction to a book review that I am inspired to violate the gender norms of “the nineties,” though of which century I am not sure. Was it really true that “A man undergoing a midlife crisis buys a sports car” in…
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I often say that. The church is real: no mystery about it. It exists, for a lot of good and for some, not so good. Whatever other beliefs exist around it, the church is real. And the Pope is human. After his shocking hospitalization and surgery, we pray for his recovery. Michael Sean Winters concludes…
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