May 2026

Letter writers discuss the historical Mary and reflect on the relationship between art and artificial intelligence.

"You have a music’s meaning, / here and gone, gone / but here."

Michael Pollan's new book follows the race to uncover the nature of consciousness. He finds many leading scientists dabbling with psychedelics.

"Step away a while, and walk // in silence, slowly, round the parkland lake; / there are bulrushes at water’s edge, their ancient / presences and generations"

"our neighbor declares it  black cherry  arbitrarily seeded / by a random bird though our two young children insist  'on purpose' / insist  'god'  and  'goldfinch'  wrought this perfect spot"

Can a theology of mourning keep Christians facing the decline of "the Christian West" from living in the past?

What does Christian love have to do with the austere, endless cool of a green crystal? More than you might first think.

In the short stories of Louise Erdrich's 'Python's Kiss,' our expectations are constantly upended—but we always remain in the hands of an expert storyteller.

With autocracy on the rise, Pope Leo has an opportunity to rearticulate the Church’s positive teaching on democracy.