Magazine

December 2020

v.147 n.11

Article

Living on Many Levels

In times of crisis, returning to books first read years ago and set in eras gone by can help us gain perspective on the present.

December 21, 2020

Article

Working It Out

For Millenials, “burnout isn’t just a temporary affliction. It’s our contemporary condition.”

December 17, 2020

Article

Many and One

A living Church must hold two seemingly opposed but equally radiant goods: the local and the universal.

December 14, 2020

Article

Can’t Explain

A new memoir explores the messiness inherent in portraying faith in fiction.

By Gerald J. Russello

December 13, 2020

Nonfiction

Books

Spirituality

Article

‘Art Is Not Enough’

Philosophy and poetry that explores the deeply personal nature of belief

By Burke Nixon

December 10, 2020

Christmas Critics

Philosophy

Arts

Article

Encyclicals that do not name the change that needs to happen within the Church’s own systems and teaching do not help those affected to feel invited into dialogue.

Reconsidering ‘Chisme’

By Neomi De Anda

December 8, 2020

Fratelli tutti

Pope Francis

Article

A Climate President?

Our climate situation has never been so urgent.

December 7, 2020

Feature

Walls That Crossed Borders

An exhibition at the Whitney Museum immerses visitors in a creative “borderland.”

December 5, 2020

Article

Radical Truths

At a time when politics appeals to the worst in us, ‘Fratelli tutti’ is a beautiful meditation on what life together as a human family can be.

By William T. Cavanaugh

December 2, 2020

Fratelli tutti

Pope Francis

Article

To Look Closely Is To Love

During periods of grief and restlessness, we find comfort in the immersive worlds of poetry and fiction.

By Kirstin Valdez Quade

December 1, 2020

Article

A New Foreign Policy

Looking forward, the Biden administration will not only have to undo Trump’s disastrous foreign policy, but also proactively address the challenge posed by China.

November 30, 2020

Article

The Complicated Legacy of Bishop John England

Bishop John England leaves behind a complicated legacy: a useful method of thinking beyond clericalism, and a warning about the application of natural law.

November 25, 2020

Article

All Eyes on Georgia

The results of Georgia’s runoff elections will define the political future of the country for years to come.

November 24, 2020

Article

Freedom & Equality Aren’t Enough

Francis’s latest encyclical exhorts us to realize the fuller lives that we are called to live.

By Charles Taylor

November 24, 2020

Pope Francis

Fratelli tutti

Article

Biden’s First Challenge

Joe Biden has made it clear that responding to the pandemic with competence and consistency will be a top priority when he takes office.

By The Editors

November 19, 2020

Coronavirus

Domestic Affairs

Joe Biden

Article

Trump Can Run Again

The best way to prevent a return of Trumpism (or Trump himself) is for President Biden to champion the American worker through bold policies and appointments.

November 16, 2020

Article

The Double Agent

McCarrick was both a product and a manipulator of a system of clericalism that desperately needs to be overhauled.

November 13, 2020

Article

Roots & Reality

Being rooted—in family, community, faith—is certainly a good thing. But clinging too doggedly to our roots can blind us to reality.

October 23, 2020

Article

False Choices

Defending Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb misrepresents both history and moral decision-making.

By John Schwenkler & Mark Souva

October 14, 2020

Japan

War and Peace

Foreign Affairs

Article

Unwrapping Lazarus

For cystic fibrosis patients, recent medical breakthroughs have offered a new life: like Lazarus, they are unwrapping their bandages and re-entering the world.

By Roberto J. De La Noval

June 11, 2020

Health Care

Death and Dying

Article

What Comes After

Auden’s epic Christmas poem helps us negotiate the post-holiday shift from the transcendent to the quotidian.

By Jeff Reimer

December 25, 2020

Poetry

Spirituality

Article

Poem | Dear Shadow

It is long since we talked, since we walked / the Hudson like we used to.

By John Linstrom

November 24, 2020

Poetry

Article

Poem | Inside a Pearl

She walks on / thinking she must be glowing

By Judy Brackett

November 24, 2020

Poetry

Article

The bishops’ single-minded focus on the issue of abortion, despite Pope Francis’s call to include other pro-life issues, is clearly linked to the precipitous decline in Catholic identity among the Millennials and Gen-Xers.