The Gospel passage from this past Sunday, Matthew 16:13–20, told the famous story of Jesus asking the apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responds in...
“The God who loves us all, unconditionally.” From the first words Pope Leo XIV spoke as pope. Before any doctrine, before any policy, before a single question about who belongs and who doesn’t. Simply that. Unconditionally. I was born a...
In some sense this is an “after the fact” rewrite of my recent return to canon law and Catholic commentary. I am attempting to reflect and write as I grapple with an event overshadowing my celebration of Canada Day with...
On a sunny Santa Clara mountainside, I stood in shocked silence. It was lunchtime at the retreat center, and the buffet was ready. Prayers were said, and everyone stood. An unassuming woman in a loose-fitting dress leaned over to me...
“The world is a global village” has become one of the most familiar metaphors of describing modern existence. Although coined by media scholar and philosopher Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s, it captures something true about our time: technology, travel, and...
Alex was about 20, a strong young man from a troubled family. His mother, who tried to drown him shortly after he was born, died in a mental asylum. His older brother had been committed to an asylum, where he,...
For better or worse, preachers have always used “canned” content. There has been a wide variety of “homily hints” resources to draw upon, long before the advent of artificial intelligence. Given that, is there anything new or different in generating...
In the past couple of weeks, two readers reached out to me asking if I had ever written anything about how theology about suffering is misused in coercive ways within the Church. Then yesterday, unprovoked, a friend sent me this...
At the prompting of several friends from the Catholic traditionalist and apologetics community, I started writing this piece — unsure exactly what I feel compelled to write, not knowing where we will end up. I suspect this will be more...
Dawn Eden Goldstein, theologian, canon lawyer, and author, who has written Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.’s Spiritual Sponsor, a biography of Fr. Edward Dowling, who was pivotal to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, sees a link between 12...
Shortly after the white smoke went up from the Sistine Chapel on May 8, 2025, I received a phone call from a producer at TRT World, Turkey’s 24-hour cable news network, asking if I was willing to appear on the...
“I am a dreamer, dazzled by the light of the Gospel, and I look with hope into the visions of the night. And whenever I fall, I discover anew in Jesus the courage to continue fighting and hoping, the courage...
