Theology
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Lessons From England
When I was a new convert to Catholicism I used to visit an elderly priest for tea…
Why Francis Must Speak
The crux of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s indictment of Pope Francis comes toward the end of his…
Why We Stay, and the Viganò Testimony
The Sunday Mass scriptures during this summer of horrors have often been eerily appropriate, beginning with Jeremiah’s…
What Francis Knew
Will battles erupt within the Catholic hierarchy following allegations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò that Pope Francis has…
Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?
In Sigrid Undset’s novel Kristin Lavransdatter, the title character’s lifetime of piety culminates in a saintly death…
Unconvincing Triumphalism
The fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae has occasioned a certain amount of Roman Catholic triumphalism, at least…
Of Course Christians Are Theocrats
Ever since the Religious Right burst onto the American scene in the 1980s, its opponents have regularly…
Fr. Martin’s False Comfort
At the age of sixteen, after an indifferent Catholic education, I inexplicably paid a visit to the…
The Mystery Parenthesis
In advance of Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families, I was invited…
The House of God Will Not Be Closed
Hilaire Belloc once said of the Church: “No merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would…
Fackenheim’s Law and the Current Catholic Crisis
The medieval Jewish sage Maimonides counted 613 commandments, or mitzvot, in the Law that God gave his…
Capital Punishment and the Sex Abuse Crisis
Many sense that the hierarchy’s rejection of capital punishment and their complacency about clergy sexual abuse are…
Lo, I Am With You Always
When I was a boy, my parish priest was a child molester. This was more than 15…
Fathers, Help Us
Four years ago I pleaded with the princes of the Church, asking them not to change Catholic…
Compelling Tolerance
Jack Phillips barely had time to catch his breath. Less than a month after the Supreme Court…
