Paul Baumann

Paul Baumann is Commonweal’s senior writer.

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Article

Norman Rockwell’s America

An America closer to the ideals Norman Rockwell illustrated—freer from want and prejudice—might be just what we need.

September 13, 2022

Article

Transgressive Traditionalists

Traditionalism can seem trendy and countercultural, but it is the constancy, not the theatricality, of the Church that offers meaning in a secular world.

By Paul Baumann

August 23, 2022

U.S. Catholicism

Secularism and Modernity

Article

Trump’s ‘Providential’ Defeat

Steve Bannon has tried to cast both Trump’s victory and defeat as providential, the first battles in an ongoing war. Let’s hope providence has other plans.

By Paul Baumann

August 12, 2022

Donald Trump

Article

Doubling Down

There is nothing recognizably Catholic about the approach to politics or internal Church disagreements taken by Catholics for Choice.

By Paul Baumann

July 21, 2022

Abortion

U.S. Catholicism

Article

Mark Shields & Commonweal

The late Mark Shields was the first honoree of Commonweal’s Catholic in the Public Square award, and a stalwart supporter of the magazine.

By Paul Baumann

July 5, 2022

Article

Has Francis ‘insulted’ American Catholics?

If Thomas Weinandy’s screed is the product of a traditional Catholic faith, who would want any part of it?

June 28, 2022

Must Reads

Politics

Is American Democracy Coming Apart?

Those who would follow him, Jesus tells us, must love their enemies. Those words issue a challenge for all Americans interested in redeeming democracy’s promise .

By James T. Kloppenberg

April 4, 2023

Religion

AI, Policy, & Faith

How should faith leaders and policymakers respond to the rise of AI? A bishop and a White House official sit down for a dialogue on algorithms and human dignity.

By John P. Slattery

April 12, 2023

Religion

Famine and the Living God

East Africa is in the midst of the worst drought in living memory. Devastation here will not be the result of some natural evil so much as our own lack of care.

By Karen Kilby

April 4, 2023

Culture

Have Men Become Culturally Redundant?

Men in the industrialized world seem to have lost their groove. We need a new vision of masculinity adequate to our current social and economic circumstances.

By Brendan Ruberry

April 10, 2023

Books

When Literature Stood on Its Own

"I loved Steinbeck's letters so much I want others to know about them too, for they recall an era when literature stood on its own."

By Jo McGowan

February 21, 2023

Collections

Anti-Semitism & the Catholic Church

Commonweal writers reflect on the atrocity of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church.

By The Editors

April 17, 2023