Search or Browse Commentary
All Catholic commentary from February 2017
‘How am I doin’?’
Years ago the popular mayor of New York, Ed Koch, was known to greet his constituents on the street with a question: “How am I doin’?” As political shticks go, it was a good one; the voters received the question with amusement, but Koch accepted their responses with an edge of...
Catholic drama: Matteo Ricci, China, and the problem of inculturation
Throughout history there has been an interplay between human culture and Divine Revelation. Different patterns emerge in the proclamation and reception of the truths of our faith in Jesus Christ. In each culture Christianity generates a different set of tensions, as the gospel builds on, purifies...
Marcus Aurelius on living in denial
Through one of those apparent quirks of Divine Providence, my son Peter gave me a copy of the Meditations of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius for Christmas. This struck me as “quirky” for two reasons: First, Peter found the book on my Amazon wish list yet I have no idea how it got...
Is a rational, civil debate about immigration still possible?
Donald Trump is in the White House today in large part because he was the only presidential candidate willing to tackle the immigration issue. For years, politicians on both sides of the aisle had avoided serious discussion of the topic, knowing that if they took a clear stand, they would inflame...
Should social conservatives avoid criticizing Trump?
Less than two weeks into the presidency of Donald Trump, I began seeing arguments that social conservatives should mute their criticism of the new President. Hillary Clinton would have been a disaster—so the argument goes—and we should be grateful for the friendly initiatives that...
A Burke-Bannon conspiracy against Pope Francis? Nonsense!
An influential American political activist, the adviser to a controversial new President, conspires with a Catholic cardinal against the Pope. That sounds like the makings of a great story, doesn’t it? No wonder the New York Times gave it such prominence! No wonder so many other media outlets are...
Is there a “morality gap” in the way Pope Francis presents his favorite themes?
I find myself wondering whether Pope Francis does not sometimes undermine his own favorite themes, such as Divine mercy and Christian unity, by his obvious reluctance to articulate their significant moral character. I consider this an important question because the Pope’s key themes are...
Quick Hits: Vatileaks defendants targeting Cardinal Pell, adapting the Extraordinary Form
Francesca Chaouqui, the flamboyant publicist who was convicted in last year’s “Vatileaks II” trial, has published a book about her experiences inside the Vatican bureaucracy. John Allen has reviewed the book, reporting that it is self-serving and, despite a great deal of...
Catholics Confronting Hitler
Back in October of 2016, I praised and recommended Mark Riebling’s brilliant and exciting book, Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War against Hitler. Riebling focused almost exclusively on the relationship between the Vatican and the network of those within Germany who were seeking to...
Pope Francis welcomes criticism—he says
“It’s good to be criticized,” said Pope Francis to religious superiors. “I have always liked this.” That’s good to know. What a relief to think that all those stories we’ve been hearing—about the Vatican officials called in for tongue-lashing...
Guardians of Common Sense
The teachings of Christ provide benchmarks to measure “normal” human behavior. It helps if we don’t kill each other, remain faithful in marriage, don’t lie and cheat, and so on. Common sense stuff. Christians of course do not have a monopoly on common sense. But the rapid...
Reopening the question of women priests: A theological travesty and a spiritual tragedy
La Civilta Cattolica has published an essay by its deputy editor, Father Giancarlo Pani, which seeks to reopen the possibility of ordaining women to the priesthood. This journal, published by the Jesuits but vetted by the Vatican Secretariat of State, has long been a means of communicating lines...
Blame the messenger: in this case Cardinal Burke
A bizarre conspiracy theory has arisen, suggesting that the mounting tensions within the Church are the result of a right-wing conspiracy against an innocent Pope. The theory involves inaccurate characterizations of three people: in one case absurd, in another case delusional, and in the third...
Tolkien the modernist: a glimpse of a unique creative process
[My work is] fundamentally linguistic in inspiration…The invention of languages is the foundation. The ‘stories’ were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows. That Tolkien’s creative work...
Unrest at the Vatican; reassurances backfire
What in the world is going on in Rome this week? First the Vatican press office issues a statement from the Council of Cardinals, supporting the Pope. It would certainly be news if the Council of Cardinals did not support the Pope. But why was this statement newsworthy? Why did the Council...
Bad—I mean really bad—arguments for changing the Church
Cultural change, as we all know, has a profound impact on our convictions. Very large numbers of people cheerfully form their values according to the signals received from the dominant culture in which they live. Since human cultures undergo continuous change, so do human values. It seems not to...
Vatican follies, continued
First the Vatican calls a press conference to announce the publication of a book by Cardinal Coccopalmerio. With their ears to the rumor mill, journalists covering the Vatican report that this book will be a response to the dubia—thus the excitement. But then Cardinal Coccopalmerio does...
Judging God’s law by human standards
For the 2nd time this week, the day’s Gospel reading provides a clear and direct answer to a question that must be on the minds of many serious Catholics. What should one do when someone—even an esteemed Church leader—seems to be judging an important question by purely human...
Theologians’ conflicts of interest
Gregory Baum, one of the influential theologians who led the charge against Humanae Vitae, has now revealed that he is, and has been since the 1960s, an active homosexual. Are you surprised? No; it’s a familiar story. A theologian writes that it’s unrealistic to expect people to live in sexual...
Warning: Our strengths are often our weaknesses. Same with the Pope.
How many times have you fallen into the traps set by the very strengths of your own personality? This is one of the great paradoxes of the spiritual life. As we come to grips with divergent personalities within the Church, it is worth thinking about. I’ll start with a personal example....
Pro-life crowdfunding and Catholic Netflix
I’d like to call our readers’ attention to two worthy new enterprises which look to fill significant gaps in the Catholic internet. First is a pro-life crowdfunding site called WonderWe. At first I wondered what the need for such a site would be, but as it turns out, mainstream...
Catholics today: Struggling when the wood is dry
I ran across a book on the Spanish Civil War the other day. I have never studied that war, but I know it was characterized by a wide variety of loyalties, often conflicting not only within families but within individual persons. By the 1930s people were hopelessly divided (and very frequently...
The circus comes to town
There was a circus performance at the Pope’s audience today. No, really. It’s true. There was a juggler so skillful that he could balance six different interpretations of Amoris Laetitia. And a contortionist who could reconcile the German bishops’ interpretation with...
Quick Hits: Duruflé’s Requiem and more
Yesterday I was blessed to hear some of the most beautiful music ever composed in concert at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan (which happens to be the largest cathedral and the fourth largest church in the world, and a splendid place for music-making). The centerpiece of...
The Modesto Statement: playing politics, bishops are conned again
The statements adopted by the First US Regional Meeting of Popular Movements are, for the most part, fairly predictable leftist boilerplate: a condemnation of President Trump, a focus on the evils of racism and exploitation, a claim that the few are growing rich on the suffering of the many....
Fear of Holiness
Fear is a useful emotion. Under the control of reason, it is good to recoil in fear from a rattlesnake posed to strike. Other fears are more subtle. It’s easy to think of holiness as inaccessible and even indicting, and therefore intimidating when we encounter a person perceived to be...
Why is there a resurgence of infidelity among Catholic leaders?
Earlier this week, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus stressed the need to “discern” the meaning of Christ’s teachings rather than simply accept the way Catholic doctrine states these truths. This triggered an email from an obviously same-sex attracted reader who...
Quick Hits: The case for rigor; the New Jansenists; Pope Benedict’s birthday strudel
On the theory that late is better than never, let me call attention to an excellent little essay by Father Gerald Murray, for The Catholic Thing, debunking the notion that some of God’s commands are “ideals” that we cannot be expected to meet. “God does not permit, let...
Our Work in Ordinary Time
Originally posted February 2017. How do we live in the present moment in this Tempus per Annum, Time of the Year or Ordinary Time? What does this time mean for one’s spiritual life? A few years ago I explained a little about what is Ordinary Time in Our Ordinary Walk of Life:...
Tell me more about the population explosion...
... and meanwhile I’ll call your attention to the Spanish government’s decision to appoint a “sex czar” to encourage people to make more babies. Because in Spain, as in most of the “advanced” countries of the Western world, fertility rates have dropped well...
News reports show impotence of papal sex-abuse commission
Talk about burying the lede! Credit the indispensable Terry Mattingly with noticing that in yesterday’s story about the Pope’s willingness to ease penalties on pedophile priests, AP put the most remarkable information in the last paragraph. So the biggest news was trimmed out of the...
Making Our Lenten Plans
Ash Wednesday is right around the corner. This is another year with a later beginning to Lent. I should have used the extra weeks of Ordinary Time as an opportunity to be extra-prepared for Lent, but it seems the last days of Carnival or Mardi Gras are always full of extra activity, keeping me...
What has Mary Magdalene to do with Arturo Sosa Abascal, SJ?
A helpful reader, who is very good at spotting our typos, has also called my attention to C. C. Pecknold’s excellent critique of the relativist slush spewed out recently by the Black Pope. You may recall that the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Arturo Sosa Abascal, was a...
Want more commentary? Visit the Archives.
