Maybe Pell’s time is prison has not been a martyrdom, or even a monstrous injustice, but an expiation that is helping to bring about an overdue pastoral conversion.
The only adequate response to the clergy sex-abuse crisis is a paschal response: death to one way of being and resurrection to a truly new way of life.
“Hi, Carlos? This is Msgr. Farrell calling from the bishop’s office with some exciting news. His excellency has decided to elevate you to the clerical state.”
We need to move beyond our inherited clericalism. The idea that the laity have no agency in the church is not magisterial teaching; it is not, in fact, true
The four-day Vatican summit on sex abuse revealed an unsettling paradox: the hierarchy practicing reform, and victims’ groups scorning of a missed opportunity
The thread running Michael Brendan Dougherty’s book is the author’s spiritual development, which culminates in the discovery of his own vocation as a father.
In the second season of ‘Fleabag,’ the titular character begins a sexual relationship with a priest. What follows is a heady tale of guilt, loneliness, and pain.
The church is a liminal space I’m lingering in: a space of transition, of walking along boundaries, of being neither in nor out, of neither staying nor leaving.
The medieval Franciscan philosopher and theologian Duns Scotus is barely studied today. But the church would be enriched by a renewed engagement with his works.
I agree with the values of sacrifice and care, and I often find Briallen Hopper’s writing tenacious and lovely. So why did her book leave me not quite satisfied?
Commonweal writers have long engaged with the church’s stance on labor rights, worker justice, and income inequality. Here are the best pieces from our archives.
