Our Predicament In these past few months, which have unpropitiously—or, perhaps, fortuitously and providentially—included the holiest days of the Christian year—the Triduum—American Catholics have found themselves in the unusual predicament of having regular access to Mass unavailable to them. Even in typing out that overlong sentence, it becomes clear how narrowly—geographically and historically speaking—widespread access… Read More Second Line Remembering: Toward a Theology of Zoom Liturgies

What does it mean to be a minister in contemporary society? Henri Nouwen posed this question in 1972, nearly 50 years ago, as the opening sentence to The Wounded Healer. The world was not under lockdown, but his analysis of the modern person is called into stark relief in a world grieving and fighting a… Read More The Wounded Healer in a Time of Pandemic

It was the middle of Lent when the general public of the United States realized, in a dramatic and sudden fashion, that we were facing a global pandemic. As businesses closed, jobs were lost, physical contact was cut off, and schedules and calendars dramatically altered, the human race found itself in a seemingly unprecedented, universal… Read More In a Pandemic, Our Whole Lives Are Sacramental and Liturgical

This article contains spoilers of the films The Irishman and Silence. “Well before the light, hold me again with all of your might in the still of the night” When it was announced that Martin Scorsese was making a film that starred Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino, a film that focused on the… Read More The Irishman in the Silence and Still of the Night

“The question that arises right now, more powerfully than any other, is, ‘What can conquer our fear?’…What kind of presence is capable of conquering the deep fear that grips us at the depths of our being?” I read these words by Fr. Julian Carron, President of the Communion and Liberation movement, when the coronavirus was… Read More Teaching in the Midst of Crisis

It’s time we started talking about our young men, about why they become mass shooters, serial bombers, and homegrown terrorists. If any other demographic had demonstrated such a dangerous capacity for violence, we certainly would have probed deeper by now. 98% of mass shooters are men—and most are disaffected young men, whether American, Syrian, French,… Read More Why Young Men Kill

Mere moments on Twitter are enough to alert us that our culture is plagued with demons.  We live in a culture that responds to polarized politics and social values with contempt and hateful accusations that serve only to drive us further from one another, rather than seeking common ground.  Even voices claiming to speak for… Read More Mercy for the Outcast: The Story God Wants Told