Toward the end of his life, American journalist and historian Henry Adams, dissatisfied with the adequacy of his traditional education, composed his memoir, The Education of Henry Adams. “The object of education,” he suggested, “should be the teaching . . . [of ] how to react with vigor and economy” …

On Oct. 3, Pope Francis promulgated the third encyclical of his pontificate, Fratelli Tutti, signed at the tomb of St. Francis on the vigil of the saint’s feast day. The Holy Father takes his title – “All Brothers” – from St. Francis’ Admonitions, a short series of spiritual exhortations to …

    “History” is not the accumulation of facts in the past, but rather what we say about, and the use we put to, those facts. This is not to say the facts are unimportant, nor should they be manipulated by the historian. A conscientious historian wants to be as …

Twentieth Century theologian John Courtney Murray, S.J., remains the most important interpreter of the American Catholic experience of citizenship and religious liberty. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1960, Father Murray was a chief architect of Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty. In his seminal book, We Hold …

Because of well-publicized, persistent instances of racial discrimination, the summer of 2020 has seen a rise in race-consciousness across the political, ideological and religious spectrum. And it is correct to note that racism in American society is, in some sense, systemic. Despite authentic legal, political and social progress, racism can …

Social distancing in my family, with six children at home, has been less about loneliness and more about trying to find a place in the house to be alone. While, of course, there are challenges, my days of “isolation” have been filled with all sorts of interactions (and distractions) with …

For many Catholics, the most difficult and distressing effect of social distancing has been the suspension of Masses and other public liturgies. Prior to March 2020, many of us cannot remember the last time we missed Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation. The Church’s liturgies are where …

It is impossible to divorce religious faith (or lack thereof) from political commitments. While legislators and judges might try to keep religious and political institutions distinct from one another—to build Thomas Jefferson’s famous “wall of separation between Church and State”—belief (or unbelief) is a necessary factor in the way all …

Your students give me great hope for the future of the Church within our archdiocese,” a friend recently texted me, referring to the seminarians I teach at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. She said this in the context of a recent public liturgy that had no official affiliation with the seminary, …

Among the decisions that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made at its annual meeting last November, two stand out as especially important. First, the bishops elected Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gómez – an immigrant to the U.S. – as the USCCB’s first Hispanic president. Second, the bishops …