CATHOLICISM AND LGBT DISCRIMINATION The Catholic Church can't just congratulate itself on condemning violence toward LGBT people. We need to do better and fight to end discrimination of all kinds.
CERTIFIABLY CATHOLIC Want to prove you’re a good Catholic? You’ll have to do more than feed the hungry and teach your children the Lord’s Prayer in at least four modern languages and one or two dead ones.
DIVORCE IS NOT A MORTAL SIN The most serious and most common misrepresentation of Catholic Church teaching is the claim that those who have divorced and remarried are not allowed to receive communion because they are in a state of mortal sin.
DOING VIOLENCE IN GOD'S NAME We see countless examples of this in history. From the time that we first gained self-consciousness, we've done violence in God name.
EXAMINING OUR SOCIAL SINS What does it mean to embrace honestly an examination of conscience at a time and in a world where racism, violence and environmental degradation are so present?
IS IT TIME FOR A CULTURAL DETOX? The #MeToo movement is driving important dialogue about privilege and sexual abuse, but let’s not pat ourselves on the back for a job well done just yet.
MERCIFUL GOD, MERCIFUL CHURCH In this wide-ranging exclusive Commonweal interview, Cardinal Walter Kasper discusses mercy, Pope Francis, the CDF, and the Catholic Church's stances on marriage, divorce and communion.
MERCY, TRUTH, AND PASTORAL PRACTICE A huge number of persons today no longer go to church or have a very strained relationship to their churches because what they've met in their churches doesn't speak well of God.
ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Religions impact public life; they are not wholly private. But what does religious liberty mean if churches aren't above public laws?
PROPHETIC PRAYER & MORAL RESISTANCE The Role of the Faithful in the Trump Era... We can slumber through the next four years or wake up to this moment’s encroaching darkness with our spirits on fire.
THE COMMON GOOD PERSPECTIVE Imagine a world in which we are able to dialogue about abortion, civil rights, voting requirements, climate change, and a host of other contentious issues without slinging one-liners at one another.
THE DARK NIGHT OF OUR NATION'S POLITICS Our nation’s political campaign has already distinguished itself by its debased level of public discourse. When national politics takes a dark turn, the road to renewal is also at hand.
THE GOSPEL ISN'T SINGLE-ISSUE Pope Francis’s new apostolic exhortation
Gaudete et Exsultate warns against elevating any issue, abortion in particular, over all others. And so 'he wants to prevent the faith from being shaped to suit political ideology.' In other words, the Gospel isn’t single-issue.
THE GOSPEL OF NONVIOLENCE Neither passive nor weak, Jesus’ nonviolence is the power of love in action for the well-being of all. Is it time for the church to reconsider its approach to peace?
US FIRST! More and more, we are making ourselves the priority and defining ourselves in ways that are not just against the Gospel but are also making us meaner in spirit and more miserly of heart.
WATERED DOWN, OR DRIED UP? FAITH & DISAFFECTION In the end, reducing faith to political checklists can neither lift Christianity above the superficiality of bourgeois religion nor reverse the rapidly advancing disaffiliation of the young.
WHEN DOES FAITH DISAPPEAR? Is ceasing to believe in something the same thing as losing one's faith? Not necessarily. Rejecting a set of theological propositions is not the same thing as losing one's faith.
A CHURCH FOR PEACE? The message of fifty years of social teaching is that the entire church’s mission is to celebrate God’s gift of peace.
BLACK LIVES, WHITE CATHOLICS Consulting and collaborating with historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and theologians can help reveal the scope and tenacity of racism.
NEVER AGAIN IN THE AGE OF TRUMP In
Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council made a list of several infamies which degrade humanity and human dignity, including... deportations.
WHAT IS SOCIAL JUSTICE? Few terms have become as unmoored from their Catholic origins, and have thus lent themselves to misunderstanding in contemporary discourse, as has the term “social justice.”
PEACE BY PIECE Peacebuilding is everyone’s responsibility—as a church, in our schools, as individuals. It’s not just something for governments to do.
THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR MIGRATION We must encourage countries to coordinate more suitable and effective responses to the challenges posed by issues of migration.
POLITICS: OLD AND NEW While separation of church and state is an important protection for all religions, it doesn’t mean we as people of faith shouldn’t engage in our civic duties and the political process.
ST. EPHREM’S LAMENT In an about-face that was as stunning as it was ill conceived, the undisputed symbol of Western supremacy in a war-torn part of the Middle East turned its back on a faithful ally. The year was 363.
THE GOSPEL ECONOMY Basically, to understand the Gospel in its purity and in its transformative power, we have to stop counting, measuring, and weighing.
IT'S TIME FOR OUR BIASES TO GROW Find out the four biases she suggests to counter the toxic kinds that are plaguing U.S. society today. Decorum in differences must be reclaimed, says Sr. Joan Chittister.
THE REVOLUTION OF TENDERNESS The Emmaus Community is a successful example of how people with various disabilities can be integrated into society.
SANCTUARY CITIES AND THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY The idea of sanctuary cities arouses strong moral passions. For some, the term “sanctuary city” evokes images of a local community resisting unjust immigration enforcement, while for others it connotes lawlessness and disorder.
PROMOTING HUMAN DIGNITY IS OUR BAPTISMAL CALL When we fail to make what Christ is doing the starting point as we take up the social ministry of the Church, we end up with a distorted view of the Church and our very call to holiness.
NEW YORK CITY’S UNKNOWNS COME ALIVE "Portraits of Immigrants" will showcase 18 of Betsy Ashton's portraits and stories, from refugees to undocumented migrants. It runs from Feb. 14 - March 8 at Divine Mercy Parish in Williamsburg.
PENTECOST DEMANDS A FAITH THAT MOVES The Spirit sent the disciples out from silence and into the street. This Spirit was the very same Spirit that guided their prayers—the same Spirit that guides ours.
CORONAVIRUS: A NEW RESPONSIBILITY Institutions can give the money, but they don’t dispense the compassion. That’s up to us. Now is the absolutely worst time for the world to fall apart in petty nationalist squabbling. There is a greater than ever need to pull together and work together.
WHY BLACK DEATHS MATTER When we mourn, we understand how hollow the safety and comfort provided by our world really is. We see our own exposure to death, as well as our shared humanity constituted by this vulnerability. The deepest meaning of Black Lives Matter is a call for new life rather than better life.
SIX LESSONS FOR POLICE REFORM FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH The Catholic Church and the U. S. law-enforcement system have something in common: They are both powerful institutions with fiercely loyal agents who have covered up misdeeds — clergy sex abuse and police brutality — and have been in need of reform.
BLIND TO EQUALITY YET? Consideration of racism is grounded in fundamental scriptural beliefs: equal dignity of all people, created in God's image; and Christ's redemption of all. The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it.
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM NEEDS A REBOOT Not only do we need better political leaders, we need more prophets to challenge us and to call us to follow the path leading to a better world for our grandchildren. If we do that, we will be truly exceptional.
ART, RACISM, AND THE PROBLEM OF WHITE JESUS If a society decides to do away with some commercials they deem hurtful and dangerous, they can do that and they probably should. That’s not “erasing history”... It’s part of keeping the public safe, even if it doesn’t look like it to you.
CATHOLIC NUNS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 50 YEARS ON The change for U.S. Catholic women in religious life between 1960 and the mid-1980s cannot be overstated. It was an historical, theological, sociological and psychological transition of epic proportions – personally, professionally and spiritually.
TAKING FREEDOM TOO FAR When read carefully, the USCCB’s brief in the Bostock case proves to be only another example of Catholic leaders setting aside the Church’s moral theology for the sake of a “win” in the culture wars.
A CHURCH THAT IS POOR? In many countries, including the United States, the Catholic Church is not only an important advocate for the voiceless, but also literally a lifeline. What are the costs for the poor of having a poor Church?
DON'T PLAY POLITICS WITH PEOPLE'S LIVES DURING A PANDEMIC Catholic social teaching recognizes that personal charity is not enough, that just societies must be measured by the degree to which they ameliorate the conditions faced by the poor — not by the amount of money they bestow upon the wealthy.
ONLY RECONCILIATION CAN CANCEL TRANSGRESSIONS Our task––our common task––is to try to desire reconciliation, and reconciliation requires building something together, and building something together requires a forgiveness the likes of which is unimaginable.
A BETTER WAY TO SERVE AND PROTECT Police militarization has led to excessive use of force, says Tobias Winright, an officer-turned-theologian. We as a church are supposed to be a sacrament to the world, a community of all communities. What can we do to facilitate, to encourage, to be a catalyst for bringing these groups together?
STILL A SIGN OF CONTRADICTION Liberal, conservative, traditionalist, progressive: Dorothy Day's life defies these conventional, increasingly inadequate categories. Dorothy simply tried to live in accord with the convictions that drew her to the church.
TROLLING THE CATHOLIC VOTE Appealing to voters based on religious identity or values has a long and often inspiring history. What is disturbing about CatholicVote is its apparent cynicism about the intelligence and faith of its prospective audience.
MORAL DISCERNMENT OR (EVIL) GENIUS? How demonization of Catholics with whom we disagree is a detriment to evangelization and undermines Christ's mission, which impedes the important call to reach those who have left the faith or contemplating doing so.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RACISM IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH If you are a Catholic in America today, this is your chance. History is offering you an opportunity for conversion and unity. Our identity comes from the theological aspect of the sacrament: We are all one in Christ.
REIMAGINE FAITHFUL CITIZENSHIP, RESTORE THE COMMON GOOD One of the key signs of our times is the fact that the U.S. constitutional republic is facing its greatest stress test since the Civil War. Yet the U.S. Catholic bishops, in their quadrennial reflection on political responsibility, seem oddly out of tune...
POPE TO TAKE COVID CONCERNS TO GLOBAL STAGE AT UN Pope Francis will speak about using the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to rethink economic, political and environmental policies when he addresses the UN General Assembly via video message on September 21.
READING MATER ET MAGISTRA Mater et Magistra, published in May 1961, came at a significant moment in the life of the Church. In tone as well as in content, it was beginning to manifest what would later be called the “Spirit” of Vatican II.
LAND OF THE FREE, HOME OF THE SELF-CENTERED Clearly, the land of the free and the home of the self-centered have a lot to learn from the people of all ages and all countries who manage to wear masks, avoid pool parties and understand that the fines that go with activities like those are in recognition of everybody else's rights.
GOOD POLITICS FOR THE COMMON GOOD The Christian response to the pandemic and to the consequent socio-economic crisis is based on love, above all, love of God who always precedes us. He loves us first...
WORKING FOR JUSTICE MEANS TAKING SIDES Every Catholic bishop should be willing to take a side, to say without qualification, “Black lives matter,” not just because it’s true, but because that’s what needs to be said now.
THE CORRUPTION OF THE WORD The word has a performative quality. But so does the lie... We have ample evidence of the damage done by organized, systematic lying in our politics. The impact of it in the Church remains to be seen.
HYPERFOCUS ON ABORTION ISSUE OBSCURES CALL OF COMMON GOOD This hyper focus, paired with the political manipulation of the issue, draws a false line in the sand and creates a litmus test for the role of people of faith in the public square that obscures the multiple ways in which we participate in a culture of death.
VOTING CATHOLIC: SHOULD CATHOLICS EVER BE SINGLE-ISSUE VOTERS? Catholic teaching is always that in your core of your heart, when you are just there with God, after you’ve listened to the teachings of the church, after you’ve listened to other issues.... You sit down and you pray and ask what is God calling you to do?
THE ARCHITECTURE OF PEACE A collection of Catholic theologians, historians, and political theorists offer reflections on different aspects of the Pope’s new encyclical, and the challenge it holds out for our times.
WHY THE POPE'S COMMENTS ON CIVIL UNIONS ARE SO MOMENTOUS Some will say this is a new departure given the Vatican’s past opposition to civil unions, but the Pope has stressed that on the LGBT question he is following the Church's catechism which states that gay people be treated with “respect, compassion and sensitivity”.
HOW TO BE ANTI-RACIST AT WORK: SUGGESTIONS FOR WHITE CATHOLICS If we provide opportunities for dialogue on race, if we practice listening, if we follow up on public pronouncements of solidarity, if we examine our work structures from hiring to retention and if we believe that the image of God is imprinted within all, then our prayers and our acts of faith must honor that.
POPE FRANCIS AND CIVIL UNIONS The confusion around Francis’s comments about same-sex civil unions is not merely a media crisis, but also a moral one. We need clarity, not a media blackout.
WHAT DID THE EARLY CHURCH SAY ABOUT ECONOMIC JUSTICE? In an age when Christianity is comfortably entwined with consumer capitalism, the early Christians’ passion for social and economic justice can come as a shock. From the first... the duty to care for the poor and marginalized was at the center of the gospel.
WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE? It’s something humans are notoriously bad at; Why we should be quicker to judge our own side than we should others. We must recognize that our ultimate confidence lies in God’s judgments, not our own.
WE WILL BE JUDGED ON CHARITY "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we didn't serve you?" Jesus answers this question, in the unusual and severe capacity of judge of humanity: "Whatever you did not do to one of these least, you did not do to me."
POPE URGES "TRANSFORMATION" OF ECONOMY POST-COVID "It is time to let 'the poor' and 'the excluded' become protagonists in society." In a video message for the 'Economy of Francesco' event, Pope Francis has urged a "transformation" of the economy post-COVID
DOROTHY DAY'S WRITINGS FROM COMMONWEAL “The most significant, interesting, and influential person in the history of American Catholicism.” A complete collection of her decades of contributions to Commonweal Magazine.
SOCIAL TEACHING | CATHOLIC CENTRAL What do hymns, holy water, and incense have to do with defending human rights around the world? - An entertaining little reminder how much Catholicism's official vision for our society overwhelmingly aligns with progressive values.
THE SUPER RICH, PHILANTHROPY AND POPE FRANCIS'S DREAM Some billionaires have cashed in on COVID. So are they morally bound to share the wealth? And Pope Francis has endorsed the controversial idea of a universal basic income. (The Religion and Ethics Report presented by Andrew West)
POPE FRANCIS, FAKE NEWS, AND POST-TRUTH JOURNALISM At the heart of the rigidity and self-isolation of groups within the Church—whether on the left or the right—is not an ideological problem but a spiritual one, for which ideology provides the rationale or justification.
REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH: A MEDITATION ON AMERICA If we can’t find some sort of common ground, some shared values or goals, the chasm dividing our nation will continue to widen. How, then, might we begin to repair the breach and to restore the dwellings that our divisiveness has so damaged? How can we make our cracked foundations whole?
THOMAS MERTON'S WRITINGS ON RACE RESONATE He was a white guy, who spent most of his life alone in the woods in a then-Jim Crow region. But the words Thomas Merton on racial justice resonate as strongly today as they did when they were published more than a half-century ago.
5 THINGS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT EMPATHY Empathy is a skill that can be learned and enhanced. But it has its limits, and can even promote conflict. Here’s what some experts say about how it works.
HEALING THE WOUNDS OF A DIVIDED AMERICA We cannot will healing into happening. We also can’t expect our elected officials to fix this for us. It’s going to take effort—and in equal measures from individuals across the political spectrum.
WORKERS DESERVE A LIVING WAGE, NOT JUST A MINIMUM WAGE For more than a century, Catholic social teaching has advocated not for a minimum wage but for a living wage for workers. Sadly, however, the U.S. Congress cannot even increase the minimum wage because of parliamentary rules...
THE POPE IN IRAQ, ARMED WITH A MESSAGE OF PEACE Here was a reminder that the Pope is not a world leader who comes to a country backed by any military or economic power. Judging by the joy of ordinary Iraqis on the streets of Baghdad, his is a message that just might be getting a hearing.
IS FRATELLI TUTTI A “LEFTIST” ENCYCLICAL? A primary purpose of any social encyclical is to correct the errors and excesses present in the ideologies of its day. To assert that Fratelli Tutti promotes a leftist ideology is a serious disservice to the Holy Father’s thought.
"GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE" More Catholic religious orders, schools and institutions have signed onto the Tyler Clementi Foundation statement standing up against #LGBTQ bullying, joining 14 US bishops and over 100 Catholic groups.
VOW OF SILENCE? The silence from Catholic bishops when it comes to systematic, partisan, and racist efforts to undermine voting rights is a failure to apply Catholic social teaching to one of the most brazen injustices of our time.
U.S. BISHOPS CALL FOR 'HEALING' AFTER CHAUVIN VERDICTS "The death of George Floyd highlighted and amplified the deep need to see the sacredness in all people, but especially those who have been historically oppressed. Whatever the stage of human life, it not only matters, it is sacred."
THEOLOGIANS CALL VATICAN STANCE ON SAME-SEX UNIONS UNBIBLICAL An international group of theologians and scholars released an academic statement on May 4 alleging inconsistencies in the Vatican's arguments against same-sex relationships, and urging the church to review its stance in light of modern research.
THIS IS WHY AMERICA NEEDS CATHOLICISM The idea that Catholic social teaching can inspire secular politics is not new. Today Pope Francis addresses his writings to “all people of good will” rather than to the Catholic faithful alone...
NEVER MORE WAR It would have taken courage to have chosen a different path after the provocation and suffering of 9/11. Twenty years later it is not clear we will have the courage to press for peace when that decision looms before us again.
WHAT CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS — AND IS NOT To hear some describe it, critical race theory is Marxism, a threat to the American way of life, reverse racism and a scheme to indoctrinate children. The reality is less sensationalistic
FORGIVENESS AS A “WORK OF LOVE”? We live in fractious times. Resentment, anger, and injustice seem to abound — a situation that seems to be exacerbated by the apparent desire to be hyper-vigilant in seeking out new ways to take offence, new “wrongs” to unearth.
WOMEN WITNESSES FOR RACIAL JUSTICE This eries features 15 Black Catholic Women who shaped Catholic tradition as they fought for racial and reparative justice in their religious communities, in the Catholic Church, and in their country.
TO BECOME WHOLLY PRO-LIFE, CARE FOR FRAGILE FAMILIES A decades-long study on vulnerable families aligns closely with the themes of Catholic social teaching. “Being pro-life” means enabling people to be who God created them to be. It is not pro-life enough just to keep someone alive.
POPE WARNS AGAINST 'CANCEL CULTURE' Francis has issued a warning against “cancel culture” saying it is undermining the ability of countries to work together and that misinformation was harming the global response to Covid-19.
WHAT’S RELIGIOUS ABOUT BEING WOKE? Who speaks for the church in this moment of fragmentation and conflict? What does the church stand for? If these questions seem awkward and artificial, that is because they are.
HOLY WEEK PAIN, EASTER HOPE IN UKRAINE The culmination of these days ahead is not the cross; it is the Resurrection. Beyond the pain there is hope. Hope in Christ; hope in the Spirit that can change hearts and inspire works of peace, justice and love.
NEVER AGAIN, AGAIN The time is right to retrieve world peace from the punchlines of Miss America jokes and restore it to its rightful place atop the wildest dreams and highest aspirations of humankind.
WHAT IS LIBERATION THEOLOGY? Liberation theology often calls for reorganization of social, governmental, and economic structures so that the poor are not merely cared for, but brought into the fullness of human flourishing.
WEAPONIZING THE EUCHARIST Instead of beginning every discussion with “Who do we get to exclude?”, we should, like Pope Francis, preach the good news of the grace and mercy of Christ to every person from conception to natural death.
WHEN TIMING IS PARAMOUNT What the public has not heard is a matching statement from the Church’s leaders spelling out the components of a “culture of life” that would protect and empower vulnerable women and children.
RETHINKING OUR METHOD ‘Fratelli tutti’ and the need to reconsider the nature and approach of Catholic social teaching and social engagement, May 12, 2022, at Forum Plus, the European Catholic Forum for Social Engagement.
GETTING USED TO IT One measure of a sick society is how much suffering it can resign itself to. By this measure, the United States isn’t doing very well these days.
PROPHETS WITHOUT ROBES OR STAFFS Today and always, the prophet confronts a dark object, a menacing, enigmatic, obdurate reality affecting the entire community. How to grasp that dark object?
NO ONE CAN DISPOSE OF OR ABUSE HUMAN DIGNITY The Holy Father's message for the 43rd Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples: A person cannot make the journey of self-discovery alone; the encounter with the other is essential.
A HIDDEN STRUGGLE For many Catholic women experiencing infertility, the Church has not been a welcoming, listening place—and that’s something that needs to change.
WITHOUT THIS VIRTUE, YOUR MORAL LIFE IS UNSTABLE In the midst of harrowing violence and grave constitutional danger facing the country, the courage of women and men gives both relief and hope. The common denominator in all of these people is courage.
FELLOW BOOMERS: HAVE A LITTLE FAITH IN GEN Z Parents always think the world is going to hell in a hand basket, and their kids are the hapless passengers in the front. Parents are usually wrong, but not for the reasons they would think.
WHAT DOES GOD REVEAL IN TRANSGENDER BODIES? An informative conversation on Catholic teaching and gender by two noted female professors of theology with backgrounds in gender studies. The comments that follow the article are just as informative.