What is a Catholic, from a contemporary perspective? The stereotype is that he or she is a sort of reactionary simpleton, a bit mean, a bit senile, obsessing over abstruse texts, preferring Mass to sleeping in on Sundays, and insisting on obeying an antiquated sect whose main activity is covering up sexual abuse. This pious Read more
According to US Bishop Daniel Flores, October’s Synod on Synodality aims to address human reality – not abstractions. Flores (pictured) is a member of the global assembly’s preparatory commission. He says the Synod aims to share Christ and his Gospel more effectively. We can’t respond with the Gospel if we don’t know the reality people Read more
Believing that the Gospel of Christ is worth spreading means God is outside and within the Church. It does not imply that God is nowhere outside the Church, Anglican priest and theologian Professor Nigel Biggar said in discussion with The Tablet in Dublin about the divine commission and colonialism. Biggar is the emeritus Regius Professor Read more
Not only is the United States a divided country, but the Catholic Church in the U.S. is as divided as the nation. And the presidential election drove home that point. According to a PBS report in CathNews, VoteCast declared that 50 percent of Catholics backed Trump, while 49 percent voted for Biden. Many Catholics, like Read more
Cardinal George Pell says his Christian faith helped him survive prison, and offered advice on how to overcome grief and stressful situations. Pell spoke to an online silent retreat hosted by the Australian Catholic Students’ Association about suffering and the tools one can use to remain steadfast in faith through hard times. Pell says his Read more
People dying alone during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic were the focus of Pope Francis’s prayers in his Mass on Tuesday. Francis dedicated the Mass to people dying alone or who have already died, saying: “Today we pray for the deceased who have died because of the pandemic. “They have died alone, without the caresses of Read more
In 2018, a national survey exploring the impact of loneliness revealed that this condition is now at epidemic levels and poses a severe health risk to the general population. Survey results were released by Cigna, a global health service company, based on the UCLA loneliness scale, an instrument that measures and assesses subjective feelings of Read more
Cersei Lannister is the usurper queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She has two brothers, Jamie Lannister, called the Kingslayer, and the dwarf Tyrion Lannister. But, of course, you know all of this unless you are more removed from civilization than, say, the Starks of Winterfell or the White Walkers who roam beyond the wall. If Read more
Resisting large-scale Muslim immigration is a responsible exercise of one’s patriotism, Cardinal Raymond Burke told a pro-life, pro-family conference last week. While the church must be generous to “individuals that are not able to find a way of living in their own country,” this is not the case for many Muslim migrants “who are opportunists,” Read more
The North Korean regime fears the Gospel’s light being spread above all other threats, the first annual World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians was told last week. Former North Korean Christian missionary Kim Chung-seong went on to explain why the country is so afraid: “[It is] because the Bible and the Gospel speaks the Read more