Category: Essays & Profiles
Time to Learn from a Blues People by Alex Mikulich
Lament is not only a critical feature of the blues, it is also central to Catholic faith—we sing during Eucharist that we too, with God, “hear the cry of the poor.”
Passionate about the Wilderness: Edward Abbey and the American Tradition by Leonard Engel
In a time when we are losing the contemplative dimension of the wilderness experience, this 20th-century desert father speaks to us anew.
“Father, If You Are Willing, Take This Cup from Me”: On the Coronavirus Pandemic by Fr. Bedros Shetilian
The great task before us is to face this crisis with dignity and to keep our integrity. It is not easy, but it is possible.
The Sacrament of Ambiguity by Ed Burns
Jesus knew what was in the heart of man, but he also recognized the fundamental goodness that was in us and continually challenged us to live up to that goodness.
Editorial: Confronting the Unconsumed Past: On New Approaches to Criminal Justice
The moment has arrived to reimagine not just the nature of policing, but the whole complex of policies, procedures, and laws that prop up our broken criminal justice system.
Wresting for Light: A Note on Police Violence by Jermaine Woodard Jr.
A personal appeal for empathy, solidarity, and change.
The Sacrament of Personal Responsibility by Ed Burns
Maybe the issue of living out our Christian lives is not the matter of having power and control over the events of our lives and our institutions. Maybe the issue is rather the matter of having fidelity to our convictions, and a willingness to assume personal responsibility for living out these convictions.
Editorial: Extending the Boundaries: Tomáš Halík and the Post-Covid Church
Tomáš Halík imagines a future for the church on the other side of Covid-19—a future that is not built on unattainable ideals, but that rises out of the real needs of people confronting a dramatic irruption.
The Collapse of Time by Anne Kerrigan
The way that time seemed to morph, collapse, fall in on itself makes it hard to recall specifics. All I know is that it was a horrific experience, a personal nightmare which has been shared by so many others around the world.
A Microcosm of Covid-19’s Impact on America’s Poorest by Jamie Manson
This pandemic has laid bare the shocking inferiorities of so many systems in our country: the fragility of our social safety net, our gutted public health system, our stark economic inequalities that are often the result of systemic racism and xenophobia.
The Harmonious Center By Ciro Festa
Lessons from Dante Alighieri on how we can seek moderation and balance in a time of fearful uncertainty.
“He Is Not Here, for He Is Risen”: Thoughts on the Current Pandemic in the Light of Easter by Jordan M. Miller
Images on a screen, the sound of a voice digitized in one place and re-constituted somewhere else, can never pretend to replace the human person, standing there, alive.
Camus’s The Plague and Our Coronavirus by Patrick Henry
What brings us back to Camus’s novel during our current pandemic is the simple, ordinary morality that he delineates throughout the text. There is no heroism here, just ordinary people behaving in a decent manner.
Women and Power in Catholic Ministry by John Wijngaards
In a church context, the supreme power of love is Christ’s power brought to us through the eucharist and the other sacraments. May we deny people that power because ancient prejudice judged women unfit to channel it?