The 2020 presidential election reached far beyond political boundaries to challenge fundamental moral values, and the resolution of the electoral contest will not mitigate the moral discord that has destabilized the political sphere and disrupted our personal relationships. The emotional toll is heavy for those on both sides of the aisle. At the risk of… Read More Where Do We Go From Here? My Post-Election Confessions.

Human desire never seems to cease. We are confronted with this inconvenient truth whenever we realize that something we want is totally out of reach. Some of us try (in vain) to “stuff away” our desires in an attempt to bypass that sense of dissatisfaction. But repression often turns into all kinds of tricky complexes… Read More John of the Cross, Romeo Santos, and Awakening the Heart’s Desire

This has been quite a year. A pandemic, raw racial tensions, contentious elections, and the responsibility of homeschooling kids while maintaining careers are among the widespread issues that have exhausted the emotional reserves of many of us. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of newsworthy events occurring daily—and easy to tune… Read More Our Immigration System Continually Violates the Rights of Children. Do We Still Care?

When surveying the various Catholic arguments over which presidential candidate deserves the support of American Catholics, a revealing pattern quickly emerges. Catholics write compellingly about the immorality of abortion, racism, family separation at the border, the use of force on peaceful protestors, and the death penalty. Many Catholics clearly understand ourselves within a moral universe,… Read More When Voting, Issues Matter But Protecting American Democracy is Essential

Highlights from Pope Francis in chapter 4 of Fratelli Tutti: Ideally, unnecessary migration ought to be avoided; this entails creating in countries of origin the conditions needed for a dignified life and integral development. Yet until substantial progress is made in achieving this goal, we are obliged to respect the right of all individuals to… Read More Pope Francis on Universal Fraternity and Social Friendship: We Are Either All Saved Together or No One is Saved

In his newest encyclical, Pope Francis calls on Catholics and people of good will to “dream together” (no. 8) as members of a “single family dwelling in a common home” (no. 17) in order to build a “community of belonging and solidarity” (no. 36). Fratelli Tutti reinforces themes Francis has stressed throughout his pontificate: the… Read More Fratelli Tutti: A Call To Love and Accept All

I have spent most of my life in school. From preschool, elementary, middle, high school, and college to high school once again (this time as a teacher) to full-time graduate school where I now live in a first-year residence, nearly every waking year of my life has been spent in a school building. Despite my… Read More Reopening Schools is Immoral and Undermines Educational Values