Blog
Catholic perspectives on the news that matters
Father Lucas
Why the Vatican's Nigeria Visit Feels Bigger Than Diplomacy
Archbishop Gallagher's trip to Nigeria could sound like routine diplomacy. I don't think it was routine at all.
Read more
Why the Planned Parenthood Funding Fight Never Stays Temporary
Planned Parenthood is set to receive Medicaid payments again after a one-year funding restriction expired. What strikes me isn't only the policy reversal, it's how disposable our moral attention can become.
Jacob Whitman
What Father McGivney Saw in a Church Basement
The Knights of Columbus started small, local, and practical. That part of the story says more to me than the size of the organization now.
Father Lucas
Why John Courtney Murray Still Bothers American Catholics
John Courtney Murray believed Catholicism and American democracy could live together without cheating on either one. I think that's exactly why he still makes people nervous.
Pastor Benjamin
What Philadelphia Knew About the Eucharist Before We Did
The 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia wasn't just a giant Catholic event. It tied adoration to hunger, and I don't think we've finished learning from that.
Pastor Benjamin
Why Frassati's New Novena Nearly Died on a Hard Drive
A video novena for St. Pier Giorgio Frassati's first feast day as a saint almost disappeared right before deadline. I can't help thinking that's a fitting little parable for how grace works.
Pastor Benjamin
Why the Vatican Keeps Inviting Physicists to Ask Impossible Questions
The Vatican Observatory spent a week on quantum gravity, which sounds obscure until you notice what the Church is quietly defending. Not answers. The dignity of asking better questions.
Henry S. Wallace
Why Müller's SSPX Warning Cuts Past the Latin Mass Fight
Cardinal Müller said the coming SSPX consecrations would be schismatic, while defending the Latin Mass itself. That's the part a lot of Catholics are going to miss, and it matters.
Pastor Benjamin
Why Dropping Every Limit on Abortion Changes the Argument
This wasn't just another statement in the culture war. It said something blunt, and I think the bluntness matters more than many people realize.
Henry S. Wallace
Why the SSPX Keeps Repeating 1988
The Society of St. Pius X says it's defending tradition. I think it's replaying an old wound and calling it fidelity.
Pastor Benjamin
What Pope Leo Said About Mass That Most Catholics Miss
Pope Leo XIV's audience on the Eucharist wasn't flashy, but it got under my skin in a good way. He named the part of Mass we often treat like background noise.
Father Lucas
Why John Hughes Built a Cathedral That Made America Nervous
John Hughes sounds like the kind of bishop who would've made half the room cheer and the other half reach for a complaint letter. I kind of miss that level of nerve.
Father Lucas
Why a Sacred Heart Rally Sounded More Like a Campaign Stop
I can't shake the image of confession being available upstairs while the main floor thundered with national pride. That's not a small detail. It's the whole story.
Henry S. Wallace
Why Pope Leo Called Child Protection a Church Mandate
Pope Leo put child protection where it belongs, at the center of the Church's moral life. The hard part is whether parishes, schools, and dioceses will act like he meant it.
Pastor Benjamin
What a Ukrainian Diocese Knows About Keeping Childhood Alive
What stayed with me wasn't the size of the gatherings. It was the stubborn little acts, football, confession tents, letters to soldiers, that keep a child's heart from hardening.
Jacob Whitman
Why Hazbin Hotel Won't Leave Catholic Questions Alone
I didn't expect a filthy, neon musical about demons to sound more serious about redemption than a lot of church talk. Then Charlie Morningstar opened her hotel.
Henry S. Wallace
When Christians Start Burying Christians in Manipur
The horror in Manipur isn't just that Christians are being killed. It's that Christian communities are killing each other, and the Gospel starts sounding very far away.
Jacob Whitman
Why Leo XIV Took His Sharpest Words to Tenerife
Leo XIV didn't offer a polished slogan in the Canary Islands. He named the sin plainly, and I think Catholics needed to hear that kind of clarity.
Jacob Whitman
What the Sagrada Familia Hides Beneath the Crowds
The odd little details at the Sagrada Familia are lovely, sure. What grabbed me was the quieter thing buried under all that spectacle.
Father Lucas
Why Leo Went to a Barcelona Prison Before Anything Else Stuck
Pope Leo told inmates their past doesn't get the last word. I keep thinking about how rare that message is, especially in a prison.
Henry S. Wallace