Category: catholic news

Does it not feel like an old, European war? Who knows what has happened in the two days between when I write this and when you read it. But I just think of all those TV shows and movies giving the lie to our peace witness. The flame draws us, or me, at least, but…
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Priesthood is the topic of a three-day Symposium organized by Cardinal Marc Ouellet in what may be his last gasp as head of the Congregation of Bishops. In April 2021, I wrote about its lineup of women theologians based at Vatican institutions. They are scheduled for two sessions, one about complementarity and the other on…
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There is so much good news this week, I have 22 articles saved to write about. Brace yourself! Maybe that means 2022 will be a very good year for Catholic reform. First, of course, is Kate McElwee in NCR. You really owe it to yourself to read the whole thing. It’s Kate’s response to Michael…
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If the New York Times poses a question, must we answer?  Michael Sean Winters characterizes the response to an article last week as buzz, and I can confirm that: friends across the religious spectrum sent it to me. Author Liam Stack suggests the question way down in the article, quoting Dorothy Day herself: “‘Don’t call…
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Pope Francis talked about vocations to Greek Jesuits late last year, Christopher Lamb reports. The number of Jesuits has been halved since he joined in 1958, and other orders of men and women are seeing similar declines. At least, I would add, and in the diocesan priesthood as well. Francis’s further reflections are worth thinking…
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Again, a simple greeting. You may be eager to see 2021 end. We will remember this year, or these two years, as historic. We pray that the number of deaths from COVID will never be repeated – yet we are fearful of global climate catastrophe. Despite our technological progress, can we keep people alive? At…
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Because it’s part of a Vatican apology, I’m willing to accept the characterization of peripheral. A Vatican apology, you say? When has that ever happened? Last week, as it turns out. Thierry Bonaventura, the communications manager of the Synod of Bishops’ office, apologized to “all LGBTQ people” and republished the link to the New Ways…
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“A valiant woman” is the lovely complement that Pope Francis gives to Sister of Loretto Jeannine Gramick in a handwritten note to New Ways Ministry last June. NCR reports: “I know how much she has suffered,” the pope wrote. “She is a valiant woman who makes her decisions in prayer.”  New Ways Executive Director Frank…
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The last reflection for November prepared by WOC’s Anti-Oppression Committee recognizes another commemorative month, that for Native American Heritage. I will emphasize the “Catholic angle.” Have you always known that there is a “Catholic angle” to the indigenous story in the Americas? Kind of around the corner, I’d argue, rarely straightforward. My story begins at…
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Alert: shifting from Bishops and Vatican! From Synods and Communion! Commemorative weeks exist to remind us to think beyond our immediate concerns, and I will do that this week, relying first on historian Shannen Dee Williams of Villanova University, who has done so much to recover the story of American Catholic sisters. What stands out…
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