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Catholic Church

The Author’s Corner with Leah Mickens

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 15, 2022

Leah Mickens is August Wilson Project Archivist at the University of Pittsburgh. This interview is based on her new book, In the Shadow of Ebenezer: A Black Catholic Parish in the Age of Civil Rights and Vatican II (NYU Press,...

Do Americans still believe in the common good?

John Fea   |  August 23, 2021

It’s a fair question. Here is Kentucky-based writer Silas House at The Atlantic: Refusing to sacrifice for the common good is an American problem, not just a Kentucky one; opposition to masking and vaccination is happening in such disparate places...

Commonweal writer slams the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops

John Fea   |  June 29, 2021

Molly Wilson O’Reilly, a practicing Catholic, pulls very few punches in this piece at The Atlantic. The context, of course, is the bishops’ efforts to ban Joe Biden from communion for his views on abortion. Here is a taste: It...

Supreme Court upholds Obamacare (7-2) and religious liberty (9-0)

John Fea   |  June 17, 2021

Here is Politico on the Texas challenge to the Affordable Care Act: The Supreme Court on Thursdaythrew out a lawsuit threatening the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, finding that Republican-led states behind the case did not have legal ground...

Yes, Pope Francis is Catholic

John Fea   |  March 15, 2021

Pope Francis says priests cannot bless same-sex unions. Here is Chico Harlan and Sarah Pulliam Bailey at The Washington Post: In a decree approved by Pope Francis, the Vatican on Monday said that priests cannot bless same-sex unions, describing such...

Does the Catholic Church have a Joe Biden problem?

John Fea   |  March 15, 2021

Or does Biden have a Catholic problem? Biden is the second Catholic president in U.S. history. He also supports abortion rights. Over at The Atlantic, Emma Green interviews Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas. Here is a taste: Green: When...

Pope Francis’s scathing critique of American life

John Fea   |  November 27, 2020

Yesterday at The New York Times, Pope Francis published an excerpt of his new book Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. He offers a devastating critique of the selfishness that we Americans try to pass off as...

Thomas Howard, RIP

John Fea   |  October 17, 2020

Catholic writer Thomas Howard has died. When evangelicals of a certain age think about Howard several things may come to mind: He is the brother of Elisabeth Elliott, the husband of Jim Elliott, one of the evangelical missionaries killed by...

Notre Dame president tests positive for COVID-19 after visiting the White House

John Fea   |  October 2, 2020

Fr. John Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, has tested positive for COVID-19. He was at the White House last week for the announcement of Amy Coney Barret as Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. Here is...

More on charismatic Catholicism

John Fea   |  September 28, 2020

In our continuing efforts to make sense of Amy Coney Barrett’s religious community, here is my friend Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, on the charismatic Catholicism that informs People of Praise. Catholic...

People of Praise and South Bend, Indiana

John Fea   |  September 28, 2020

Over at Politico, Adam Wren writes about the relationship between People of Praise and the city of South Bend, Indiana. Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court has brought attention to this small Catholic community. Here is a taste...

Local coverage of the South Bend People of Praise community, 1977

John Fea   |  September 26, 2020

Sun, Aug 7, 1977 – 30 · The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Indiana) · Newspapers.com Later today Trump is expected to announce his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court....

Amy Coney Barrett and the People of Praise

John Fea   |  September 26, 2020

It looks like Trump will nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court later today. Over the next several weeks, Senators and pundits will want to know more about People of Praise, a Catholic charismatic group in which the Barrett...

Watch Springsteen’s convocation address at Boston College

John Fea   |  September 11, 2020

Get up to speed at the end of this post. If you don’t want to watch the entire thing, here are the highlights: Context: (For more on Created and Called for Community at Messiah University click here)....

Former *Christianity Today* editor Mark Galli will convert to Catholicism

John Fea   |  September 10, 2020

I did not see this coming. Here is Yonat Shimron at Religion News Service: On Sunday (Sept. 13), Mark Galli will stand before Bishop Richard Pates in the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, Illinois, to hear these words:...

A “progressive evangelical thinker” responds to the Eric Metaxas punch

John Fea   |  September 3, 2020

Apparently, I am now a “progressive evangelical thinker.” Perhaps this may restore my reputation among some in the academic profession. 🙂 Here is Samuel Smith at The Christian Post: While some on social media, including at least one progressive evangelical thinker,...

The “moral complexity” of Junipero Serra

John Fea   |  August 17, 2020

Father Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest who established some of the earliest Spanish missions  in California, has been under attack of late. On June 19, 2020, activists pulled-down a Serra statue in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The following day,...

What is happening at *Sojourners*?

John Fea   |  August 15, 2020

Aysha Khan at Religion News Service is reporting that the progressive Christian magazine Sojourners has replaced Jim Wallis as editor in chief and “announced a new policy of editorial independence from the organization’s advocacy work.” Wallis founded Sojourners and is President...

Catholic Archbishop of Washington D.C. Condemns Trump’s Visit to John Paul II Memorial Today

John Fea   |  June 2, 2020

Today, in an attempt to shore-up his support among Roman Catholics, Donald Trump visited the John Paul II National Shrine in Washington D.C.  America magazine has it covered here. Here is Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory: I find it baffling and...

Is Trump Pro-Life?

John Fea   |  January 24, 2020

John Gehring is Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life Action and the author of The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope’s Challenge to the American Catholic Church.  Here is a taste of his Religion News Service piece “Trump Woos Catholics...

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