Category: Current Issues

Jane Stannus is a journalist and translator. Her writing has also appeared in the Catholic Herald of London, The Spectator USA, and the National Catholic Reporter. It’s raining spiritually again. The Pope has scandalized faithful Catholics and delighted progressives of every stripe by expressing support for civil same-sex unions. Waugh fans will recall one of English literature’s most obnoxious Canadians, Rex Mottram, receiving instruction for baptism from a priest who quizzes him on his grasp of the doctrine of infallibility. What if the Pope were to say it was raining, but it wasn’t? Well, Rex says, “I suppose it would be sort of raining spiritually, …

Regis Martin is Professor of Theology and Faculty Associate with the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He earned a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Martin is the author of a number of books, including Still Point: Loss, Longing, and Our Search for God (2012) and The Beggar’s Banquet (Emmaus Road). His most recent book, also published by Emmaus Road, is called Witness to Wonder: The World of Catholic Sacrament. He resides in Steubenville, Ohio, with his wife and ten children. We’ve been hearing a great deal …

Editor’s note: This article was excerpted from a homily preached by Father Stravinskas on October 17, 2020 at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan. Fr. Peter M. Stravinskas is the founder and superior of the Priestly Society of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman. He is also president of the Catholic Education Foundation and editor of The Catholic Response. As the grandson of immigrants, I was raised to think that to be Catholic automatically meant being a Democrat; after all, it was the Democratic Party that had been so involved in assisting the newly-arrived with possibilities for financial security and upward mobility. …

Emily Finley holds a Ph.D in Politics from The Catholic University of America and is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University. She is the managing editor of Humanitas, an academic journal of politics and culture, published by the Center for the Study of Statesmanship. No one should be surprised by the recent revelation that Pope Francis believes that civil unions between same-sex couples ought to be legal. Just as no one should be surprised by the promotion of Wilton Gregory—Archbishop of Washington, D.C., oligarch, and political activist—to the College of Cardinals this past Sunday. The two are intimately connected, as many …

I wasn’t surprised to find that my last column, “Against Women’s Suffrage,” attracted some criticism. I was rather surprised—and very pleasantly so—by the overwhelmingly positive feedback I received from women. In fact, the majority of detractors were men who were offended on behalf of their wives and daughters. I commend these gentlemen. It shows the proper feudal spirit. Though perhaps misguided, they appear instinctively to understand that the public arena is properly their domain. They didn’t send their women-folk into the fray: they confronted me themselves. And so, again: bravo. It is to these chaps that I’ll address the current article—mano a …

By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer  a legal analyst for the Judicial Education Project. A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 30, the day the high court issued the 5-4 decision that made clear that the U.S. Constitution required Montana’s modest tuition-assistance program to be available for use at all private schools, including religious ones. Espinoza is about more than righting the ugly past of anti-Catholicism. It’s about our present and future. Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue vindicates the free exercise of religion — all religions — but has special meaning for America’s Catholics.  At long …

Editor’s note: Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has released this powerful letter today to President Trump warning him that the current crises over the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd riots are a part of the eternal spiritual struggle between the forces of good and evil. He encourages the president to continue the fight on behalf of the “children of light.” Mr. President, In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides that I would call Biblical: the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the …

The reversal was a swift victory for Bishop Donald J. Hying, who argued that the agency Public Health Madison & Dane County was singling out people of faith with an unconstitutional limit on attendance at Holy Mass and other religious services. MADISON, Wisconsin — Less than 48 hours after refusing to budge on their 50-person limit on attendance at Holy Mass and other religious gatherings, local health officials abruptly dropped the rule on Friday in the face of a certain lawsuit by the Catholic Diocese of Madison and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The reversal was a swift victory …