Demographic shifts, a shrinking priesthood, and the financial pressures facing the church all tell a complex story about the future of Catholic parishes.
Preachers should emulate teachers at mass, striving to be adaptable, humble, loving, and willing to learn by inviting participation from the congregation.
Ryan was a bit of a skeptic in his way, rejecting, or at least being indifferent to, church teachings that didn’t arise from identification with the poor.
If the hierarchy wants to reclaim some moral authority, shaping a better Catholic narrative in public life is necessary. Pace Charles Chaput, it must be inclusive.
Priestly formation and academic theology are increasingly cut off from the real lives of Catholics. That poses a real problem, one that theologians must address.
Journalist Michael O’Loughlin joins associate editor Matt Sitman for a behind-the-scenes conversation about his new podcast series “Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS & the Catholic Church.”
Again and again throughout the Mass, word and gesture proclaim the Real Presence. What explains the liberal Catholic reluctance to pursue the question?
Despite occasionally sincere, sometimes ritualistic, expressions of communion with Rome, the effort to neuter Pope Francis’s message in the United States continues.
The bishops’ insistence on abortion as the preeminent political issue reveals their resistance to Pope Francis’s call to serve the common good in all its complexity.
A new play about a reunion of four friends, all conservative Catholics, is quietly heroic. It reveals the limits of rhetoric as it probes the nature of suffering.
Should the church continue to oppose the safe, therapeutic injection of opioids? No, according to this ethical primer on the philosophy of harm reduction.
Ministerial Juridic Persons, mostly comprised of laypeople, have canonical authority for church ministries. That’s unprecedented, and potentially transformative.
At their general assembly meeting next week, the bishops have the opportunity restore trust in the wake of the abuse crisis. Here are some specific recommendations.
Words like ‘racism’ and ‘white supremacy’ make people uncomfortable. But as El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz points out in a new letter, we must reckon with them.
We talk to Benjamin Francis-Fallon about his new book, The Rise of the Latino Vote. And the Commonweal staff speaks about what they witnessed at the border in El Paso, Texas.
Guadalupe began as a paradoxical figure, both symbol of indigenous faith and tool of colonialist oppression. Now, she demands we listen to the poor and marginalized.
How did mainstream American Christianity became intellectually respectable and modern? The critical study of post-biblical Christianity played a key role.
Democrats and Republicans both have proposals for paid family leave. So why can’t they agree on a set of policies, one that balances solidarity and subsidiarity?
There are some things we'd rather not remember: old wounds, moral lapses, humiliating failures. But there are also things we have a duty to never forget, like historical traumas and present injustices.
It took me just over three years to become a Catholic. I came because there was no other place to hold the conversation about why I’m here and what I am to do.
In dealing with bishops who engage in sexual misconduct, the USCCB seems to think that bishops can police themselves, without lay input. We need a better system.
Drawing on the mystery of Christ in the liturgy to nourish one’s own life of faith is not always a self-evident or easy thing to do. We need to become mystagogues.
Pro-life and pro-choice activists have seized on Alabama’s new abortion law to energize their supporters. But abortion demands more than performative politics.
The late Fr. Ted Hesburgh transformed the University of Notre Dame into a leading institution. A new book tendentiously ignores key aspects of his life and work.
Prolifers are supposed to believe that the right choice is not always the apparently expedient one. Their capitulation to Donald Trump damages their credibility.
It will take time and care, but I know Notre-Dame will have its Alleluia moment. I pray there will also be one for the church that inspired its creation.
“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.”
New York State’s new Child Victims Act allows people who were sexually abused in childhood to sue public institutions. What does the law mean for the church?
The whistle-blower in the McCarrick affair narrates the steps he took to report the former cardinal’s abusive behavior, but also the ways in which it was ignored
