In today’s On the Square feature, Matthew Hennessey discusses liturgy and the diminution of American Catholicism :
The revolutionary developments of the late 1960s—the ones my friend remembers so affectionately—weren’t, in the end, enough to keep him and his cohort in communion with the Church whose hierarchy they now find so odious. My friend never considers for a minute the possibility that some of the reforms he found so timely and vital may have opened up the Church a little too much. He will not acknowledge the prospect that the current crisis in the American Catholic Church is at least partially a result of the Second Vatican Council’s well-intended attempts to let in some fresh air.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
