Here is Elizabeth Bruenig at The Atlantic: Late last month, hundreds of leaders from Catholic relief and aid organizations met for the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, D.C. What ensued was “a scene of real panic,” Stephen Schneck, […]
catholicism
Pope Francis tells jokes
And in The New York Times no less! Here is a taste of Pope Francis’s “There Is Faith in Humor“: Jokes about and told by Jesuits are in a class of their own, comparable maybe only to those about the carabinieri […]
The Joe Rogan of American Catholicism
Check out Molly Worthen’s fascinating piece on Robert Barron, the bishop of Winona-Rochester (MN) and founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Here is a taste: Now is an unlikely time for a Catholic ministry to grow. Fewer and fewer […]
The Author’s Corner with David M. Emmons
David M. Emmons is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Montana. This interview is based on his new book, History’s Erratics: Irish Catholic Dissidents and the Transformation of American Capitalism, 1870-1930 (University of Illinois Press, 2024). JF: What […]
The Author’s Corner with Richard L. Kagan
Richard L. Kagan is Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus and Academy Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. This interview is based on his new book, The Inquisition’s Inquisitor: Henry Charles Lea of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024). JF: What […]
The Author’s Corner with Jeremy Beer
Jeremy Beer is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of AmPhil. This interview is based on his new book, Beyond the Devil’s Road: Francisco GarcĂ©s and the Spanish Encounter with the American Southwest (University of Oklahoma Press, 2024). JF: What led you […]
Pope Francis: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are “against life”
On a recent flight from Singapore to Rome, Anna Matranga of CBS News had a question for Pope Francis: Your Holiness, you have always spoken in defence of the dignity of life. In Timor-Leste, which has a high birth rate, […]
The Catholic faith of JD Vance
Over at The New York Times, Elizabeth Dias profiles the GOP vice-presidential candidate. Here is a taste: In Washington, he connected with a Yale Law alumnus who had become a priest at the Dominican House of Studies. Before joining the […]
Nuns for Trump
Donald Trump may be struggling to win over white suburban women and Black women, but he has some fans among Catholic nuns. Here is a taste of Elle Hardy’s piece at Unherd: Bespectacled and berobed, a softly spoken nun may […]
“They like the singer but not the song”
Pope Francis’s 60 Minutes interview is still making waves. Evangelicals are freaking out because Francis said that human beings are “good at heart.” Progressive Catholics are mad about his remarks on the ordination of women as deacons and his comments […]
Headline of the day: “History Major Discerned Call to Priesthood While Working at Wawa”
How could I resist calling your attention to a headline containing the words “History Major,” “Priesthood,” and “Wawa”? From Catholic Philly: Born and raised in Glenside, and a parishioner at Saint Luke the Evangelist Church, Transitional Deacon Brendan Zehner says he […]
The Author’s Corner with Mark Richard
Mark Richard is Professor of History and Canadian Studies at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. This interview is based on his new book, Catholics Across Borders: Canadian Immigrants in the North Country, Plattsburgh, New York, 1850-1950 (State […]
“The most interesting Jesuit in the world”
Yesterday I came across James T. Keane’s piece in America magazine on Clement James McNaspy, S.J., a former associate editor (1960 to 1970) at the magazine. Keane writes that McNaspy, who taught music at Loyola University in New Orleans, “was […]
Are American conservatives more Catholic than the Pope?
The Catholic Church is dividing along culture war lines. For many conservative Catholics associated with the “old guard leadership” of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic cable channel EWTN, Pope Francis is enemy number one. David Gibson, […]
The Author’s Corner with William Cossen
William Cossen is a teacher in the Social Studies Department at The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology​. This interview is based on his new book, Making Catholic America: Religious Nationalism in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Cornell University […]
Episode 114: “How Slavery Helped Grow the American Catholic Church”
Did you know the Jesuits were some of the largest slaveholders in colonial America? Our guest in this episode is Rachel L. Swarns, author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved And Sold to Build the American Catholic Church. We […]
When Dorothy Day met Ignazio Silone
The Catholic socialist Dorothy Day was a fan of Italian (also Catholic, to an extent) writer Iganzio Silone. She wrote about meeting Silone as part of January 1, 1968 piece in The Catholic Worker: In wrestling with the problem of […]
Pope Francis on Ukraine
The Pope wants peace in the Ukraine. He opposes Russian war crimes, but is not acting diplomatically on behalf of the West in the way John Paul II did during the Cold War. Over at The Atlantic, John Allen, the […]
What William F. Buckley thought about Dorothy Day’s Catholicism
Here is a taste of David Mills’s column at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: In 1960, the leader of American conservatism treated a leading radical, and as it happened fellow Catholic, like an idiot. The first, who died in 2008, is now […]
Episode 54: “Respecting life, but not all costs”
A Catholic expert on right-to-die cases testifies at the Terri Schiavo trial. Episode 54: “Respecting life, but not at all costs’ dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. To listen […]