By Peter Wolfgang
Showing most recent 32 items by this author.
The real Pope Francis Effect
Did we leverage the world’s affection for Pope Francis to evangelize it for the sake of the gospel? Or did the weirder aspects of the Francis pontificate drive us so batty that we instead wasted our energy fighting each other?
Good Friday, good news, and the young
In terms of overall numbers, the situation for the Catholic Church is still pretty dire. But something is happening. And I’m struck by how much of it is motivated by the same things that motivated me forty years ago.
A word to the anti-Trump protesters and their media enablers
Whatever assumption of good faith might have been extended to your arguments against this or that Trump policy, there is going to be a heck of a lot less of it this time around.
Why Gen X Catholicism is a fighting faith
Most of our lifetime occurred during a brief sweet spot where it seemed like the post-Vatican II Church had stabilized and might even re-evangelize the West. Then it got weird again.
Against the new antisemitism
If you are looking for a clear barometer of how fascist, or antifascist, either the left or the right are in the years ahead, I suggest you look at their treatment of the Jews. Both columns—Cardinal Dolan’s attacking antisemitism and Thomas Mirus’ clarifying the language with which we do so—are needed right now. There is an upsurge in antisemitism on both the left and the right.
The pandemic and Pope Francis
Twelve years after Pope Francis was elected and five years after the Covid lockdown, the author reflects on what has changed.
Trump and Vance are right about Ukraine
You don't have to run down Zelenskyy or Ukraine to support the Trump-Vance strategy on the war. You don't have to praise Putin or Russia either. You just have to see the world as it is.
Vice President Vance deftly de-escalates conflict with Pope Francis
Call it Vanceism. Or the Vance Doctrine. A more specific subset of the populist nationalism—and a more Catholic one. Vanceism is the particular strain of Trumpism that Catholics should be rooting for.
My thoughts as Pope Francis nears his death—or doesn’t
If our papa needs help, our goal must be to help him. Not out of any partisanship, any “party spirit,” this faction vs. that faction. But out of “the reality of my baptismal promises.”
Happy Ordo Amoris Day
Happy Valentine's Day! Or Sts. Cyril and Methodius Day! Or, this year, let's just declare it Ordo Amoris Day. Here's why.
My grandmother, the emergent Catholic right, and why Massimo misses it
"I was not wrong," writes Wolfgang of his 1990s plunge into Catholic conservatism. "I was early." The goals those 1990s Catholic groups sought to achieve may now be accomplished—with far greater effectiveness—by today's Catholic conservatism.
Trump Inauguration and March for Life
Trump knocked it out of the park at his inauguration, wowed us at the March for Life, and has been "flooding the zone" ever since. Might he also back away from the campaign compromises that disheartened pro-lifers?
The Lamp magazine, assisted suicide, and the difference between Gen X and Millennial Catholics
What is going on here? Why am I—an older guy who has lived through the defeat of causes to which I have given my adult life—more upbeat about the future than the cynical young people at The Lamp? I have a few thoughts on that, based on having read the magazine during its first year of existence.
McElroy, McCarrick, and the Catholic Left
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal McElroy the next Archbishop of Washington, DC. It's a bad call for reasons political, pastoral, and doctrinal. But most of all, says Wolfgang, it's a bad call because of lingering questions about McElroy and "Uncle Ted."
A look back at 2024, Catholic Culture, and me
This being my last column of the calendar year, let’s look back and assess. How did I do?
Brian Burch, the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, might have both official and unofficial duties
Trump nominates CatholicVote's Brian Burch to be U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Wolfgang gives him extra work to do while he's there.
Dawn Eden Goldstein wants to sue EWTN: thoughts on the Catholic New Left
No one needed the Catholic Old Left and good riddance to them. But the Catholic New Left? I think we garden variety Catholic conservatives, guys like me, I think we need them.
Setting the record straight on Governor Grandma
In this week of big national and international happenings, I want to talk about a small thing, a local thing. I want to talk about it because I think it has a lot to do with our present situation on the national level. And because it is a cautionary tale for Catholics like, well, me, who are excited about the new possibilities in the political arena.
Fr. Carlos Martins, Sir Alec Guinness, and what has been lost
Those are the two issues at which Fr. Martins is at the center this week. Where stands the Church, 22 years after the first wave of clergy sex abuse scandals. And what are we to make of celebrity exorcists (or at least, of this one). In this column, I will address the first of those two.
Joseph Bottum’s An Anxious Age never got the Catholic attention it deserved
With the 2025 Jubilee almost upon us, I am remembering the Great Jubilee of 2000. What a time of excitement in our Church. Of hope for its future and for the future of the world. Looking back from the perspective of 25 years later, I can’t help but wonder: What the heck happened? All that hoopla about a “New Evangelization” of the West and how the Third Millennium would be a “New Springtime” of Faith. Where did it all go?
Yes, Catholics should celebrate the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Every September 8th my family and I gather together to commemorate America’s first thanksgiving, the Mass celebrated in Florida in 1565 expressing gratitude to almighty God that the Spanish crown claimed the future sunshine state for God and...
Celebrate, yes. But also steel yourself for the battles ahead.
But left-to-right converts today are still far left of the moral consensus that the earlier generation of conservative converts had hoped to restore. They are fine with the destruction of marriage and the killing of the unborn. They just want the Woke to at least stop performing genital mutilation on minors. Even if we are celebrating a victory, we need to temper our enthusiasmby maintaining a clear vision of today’ awkward reality.
What Hath Commonweal Wrought? Catholic Lay Opinion Journalism 100 Years Later
I know quite a few who, upon reaching adulthood, filled the gaps in their religious education by watching EWTN. For me, it was the Catholic magazines. This, again, was the 1990s—the decade before the internet destroyed everything. Even apart from the three dissident publications I just named—even among the orthodox publications—the diversity was amazing.
It’s not 2004 anymore: The stale Catholic debate over voting ignores new threats
In the twenty years between Mario Cuomo’s 1984 speech and John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run, nothing had changed. In the twenty years since John Kerry’s campaign, everything has changed. But we are still trapped in a stale system that keeps spinning in place, reproducing the same arguments and frustrations over and over again.
The Reformation is over
Now, I fight for a living. But when it comes to Evangelical Protestants, I’m a lover, not a fighter. And what I want to say to my Evangelical friends, whom I love, is this: The Reformation is over. Come home.
Yes, we should celebrate Columbus Day
But Columbus did what no European did before him. Whatever Europeans may have been here prior to Columbus left no lasting legacy. You and I are part of a civilization in this hemisphere that begins with—and is in direct continuity with—the great explorer. Yes, he was motivated by ambition. He was also motivated by a deep Catholic piety.
The Israel-Gaza War: Evangelical vs. Catholic reactions
I am aware of no distinctly Catholic theological reason for supporting Israel. In fact, the distinctly Catholic commentaries that I have seen on the Israel—Gaza War tend to run the other way. Nevertheless, I’m with Israel. Not “to the hilt, no questions asked, end of story.” But at the end of the day, yes, with Israel and against her enemies. Here’s why.
Abortion is about sex. Duh.
Pro-lifers were telling the truth when they compared the plight of the unborn child to that of the slave in the antebellum South or the Jew in the Holocaust. What they missed, though, is that American slavery and the Nazi Holocaust have nothing to do with sex. Abortion has everything to do with sex. Particularly nonmarital sex.
Catholics, Freemasons, and the GOP
Masonic membership in the GOP doesn’t break down along ideological lines: there are conservative pro-lifers and socially liberal Republicans. Some of them are Catholic and in denial about the incompatibility of Masonry with the Faith. The Democratic Party is less of a home for Catholics than ever, but I can't help but wonder: Are there questions about the Catholic/Republican alliance that even its critics never thought to ask?
Did Trump really lose the debate?
No, Kamala did not best Trump in that debate. Trump rebutted her points and frequently turned them back on her. Not a knockout, like he scored against Biden. But a win. Or, at worst, a draw. Which, given the numbers right now, is still a Trump win.
Why aren’t there more Catholic Bibles?
The Catholic apologetics movement of the last several decades has done incredible work to better educate lay Catholics in our faith. One mountain still to climb, though, is to get Catholics to buy Bibles in as large a number as our separated brethren do, and to read them. Why is the Protestant Bible-selling market so much more gigantic than the Catholic one?
Trump/Vance must undo the harm caused by the RNC platform
There is a difference between recognizing a political reality and being reconciled to it. John Paul II came down firmly on the side of the pragmatists—but with a caveat. It is this caveat with which Catholic pro-lifers must contend, when assessing how to approach the Trump/Vance campaign. According to John Paul II, "...an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support" incremental pro-life strategies.
Want more commentary? Visit the Archives.
