Category: catholic news

The full quotation is not an April fool’s joke. Sometimes we feel like holy fools, but our mission here at The Table is to reassure us all that we are not alone, nor are we the first: “It has sometimes seemed to me that, in the Church today, there are three perishable stones dangerously committed…
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Does it seem to you that I’ve been unusually positive this month? That’s because I have been ignoring the US bishops, but I’ve been thinking about them. Two articles in NCR, three dueling bishops, and a scandalous document brings them into focus, not in a good light. The headline writer for Michael Sean Winters lays…
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We thought we were so smart. Forced to take Latin, we freshmen had a new word: “the Ides.” Or maybe it was because we were forced to read Shakespeare’s version. We knew to “Beware the Ides of March.” We understood the power of Roman conspiracy. “Et tu, Brute?” and all that. It may not seem…
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This is about the beauty and boldness of Eucharistic communities.  On the margins of the institutional church, my experience has been that women priests are more courageous and more willing to infuse their liturgies with issues of social and racial justice.   Not to say that male priests in Eucharistic communities don’t, but in my experience,…
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Moral theology has always made a great deal of sense to me. As a well-educated but non-specialist lay person, I like thinking seriously about issues in a way that is not simply political. Again this week, America has provided us with a continuing conversation about gender theory, with essays by two theologians: Abigail Favale of…
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Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that she was resigning as New Zealand’s prime minister. Admired worldwide for courageous moral stands as well as frank speaking, she admitted, “You cannot and should not do it unless you have a full tank plus a bit in reserve for those unexpected challenges.” Personally popular but politically losing ground, she…
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Far should it be for me to comment on religious life as explained to NCR’s Global Sisters Reportby the sisters who lead the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), but that has never stopped me from noting what stands out to me. In this case, each group…
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Let us pray for the repose of the Augustinian soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I have learned a lot of theology in the last week – but more of that later. I had decided to start this blog as young Patrick Hudson started the Tablet weekly online update this week. I know he’s young…
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It seems almost surgical, the excision of women’s ordination from the conversation. This week, when I watched the BBC documentary “The Women Fighting to be Priests” on YouTube, I was thrilled with the stories of two Roman Catholic Women Priests, Fr. Anne and Olga Lucia Alvarez. Then Kate McElwee of WOC calmly presents the Vatican situation,…
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One comment I understood in all the World Cup coverage this week was that “representation matters” on the French team. The players of color represent France as would any white team member. Colonials are fully incorporated into the citizenry when it comes to soccer. I heard the same phrase from a woman who is a…
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