By Peter Wolfgang
Showing most recent 19 items by this author.
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.
