Satire has been a salve for many Americans in the past week. Witness The Onion’s rapidly re-tweeted article, “Jesus, This Week,” which suggested that “Maybe next time we have a week, they can try not to pack it completely to the fucking brim with explosions, mutilations, death, manhunts, lies, weeping, and the utter uselessness of… Read More Liberty, Idolatry, and the Culture of Violence

The most moral, wise, pure members of our society are those who stand against all wars and condemn every use of force by the malicious American government, including bloodthirsty President Obama, all while saying nothing about mass murder abroad, except maybe to downplay the crimes of terrorists and violent authoritarian regimes.  They are the true… Read More The Chicken Doves: Not Afraid to Exploit a Tragedy

[This post by Quang Tran, SJ is also featured on The Jesuit Post, where the author is an ATL Correspondent] January 2. Dr. Peter J. N. Linnerooth, 43, an army psychologist who spent time with troops in Iraq helping them cope with PTSD, shot himself at Reno, VA, after being denied the help to which he thought he… Read More On Suicide: Something has got to change

As the world gets to know Pope Francis, one thing is becoming overwhelmingly clear: this is a man who takes the symbolic meaning of his actions very seriously.  From the way he travels to the way he preaches, from where he stays to how he prays, this is a man whose dispositions and actions reveal… Read More To Practice Resurrection

The week before Pope Benedict announced his resignation, I found myself at my parish on both Saturday and Sunday without quite managing to go to Mass. I did facilitate a workshop with a good friend on Saturday and attended yet another planning meeting on Sunday, but didn’t take the few steps upstairs to the sanctuary,… Read More Pope Francis: Side with the Victims and Heal This Church

We are all aware of the challenges that being a Catholic can bring.  The Church is often presented in a negative light by the media due to huge scandals like the sex abuse crisis and controversy over statements like Benedict’s comments regarding homosexuality last Christmas. But in the past week, the tone of that attention… Read More Faith, Reason, and the Secular Perspective

The media has been full of stories about Pope Francis’ alleged complicity with the junta that ruled Argentina between 1976-1983. Some have claimed that, as the young Jesuit Provincial of Argentina, he was complicit in the kidnapping, torture, and imprisonment of two Jesuit priests at the junta’s most infamous torture center. (Fr. Tom Reese and… Read More Pope Francis and the Dirty War: Why His Role Then Matters Today and Reasons for Hope