First Things RSS Feed - Aaron Taylor https://www.firstthings.com/author/aaron-taylor en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:50:49 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/aaron-taylor 60 Lessons From England https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/08/lessons-from-england https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/08/lessons-from-england Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:00:00 -0400 When I was a new convert to Catholicism I used to visit an elderly priest for tea and cake. A fellow convert who shared my love of the Latin liturgy, Father plied me with traditionalist literature, including the uncompromising journal Christian Order . The editorial from the June-July 2006 issue notes the following: 

Continue Reading »

]]> Nashville and Sodom https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/09/nashville-and-sodom https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/09/nashville-and-sodom Mon, 11 Sep 2017 06:00:00 -0400 The Nashville Statement , a largely unobjectionable assertion of classic Christian teaching on sex and gender, has invited criticism from predictable quarters. Salon denounced the document as “bigotry-filled,” while Eliel Cruz, founder of Faithfully LGBT, raged in the New York Times about the “devastating consequences” of the “hateful beliefs” it embodies.

Continue Reading »

]]> Revelation on Tap: Vatican I and the “Amoris Laetitia” Controversy https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/08/revelation-on-tap-vatican-i-and-the-amoris-laetitia-controversy https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/08/revelation-on-tap-vatican-i-and-the-amoris-laetitia-controversy Fri, 25 Aug 2017 06:00:00 -0400 In AD 866, Pope St. Nicholas I condemned the use of torture for extracting confessions as a violation of divine law. He was contradicted when Innocent IV (who had somewhat less rigid views on the morality of torture) approved its use by the Inquisition in 1252.

Continue Reading »

]]> Sin in a Time of Accompaniment https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/12/sin-in-a-time-of-accompaniment https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/12/sin-in-a-time-of-accompaniment Mon, 19 Dec 2016 06:00:00 -0500 While becoming a Christian, I was given a lot of space to figure out what needed to change in my life. No one handed me a stern list of my sins. No one suggested that I discern ways of minimizing the gap between my life and the demands of the gospel, either. Traditional Christian morality, for me, was treasure hidden in a field (with map and digging implements provided), not moral nourishment force-fed to me while I was strapped helplessly to a gurney.

Continue Reading »

]]> The Pope and the Problem of Punishment https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/11/the-pope-and-the-problem-of-punishment https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/11/the-pope-and-the-problem-of-punishment Wed, 05 Nov 2014 00:00:00 -0500 Pope Francis recently gave a speech to the International Association of Penal Law advocating for the improvement of prison conditions and reiterating pleas made by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI for an end to the death penalty.

Continue Reading »

]]> Uncle Sam Eavesdropping Outside the Confessional https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/07/uncle-sam-eavesdropping-outside-the-confessional https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/07/uncle-sam-eavesdropping-outside-the-confessional Fri, 18 Jul 2014 00:00:00 -0400 On 28 March, 1606, Fr. Henry Garnet , an English Jesuit, went on trial in London. He was accused of involvement in the famous “Gunpowder Plot” the previous year in which Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I.

Continue Reading »

]]> Fatherless Churches https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/01/fatherless-churches https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/01/fatherless-churches Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:00:00 -0500 Almost fifty years ago, when the Catholic Church unveiled its new rite of Mass in the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal John Heenan, then Archbishop of Westminster, remarked that if the Church used the new liturgy in ordinary parishes it would “soon be left with a congregation mostly of women and children.” In 1967, Heenan could proudly assert that in his country “not only women and children but also fathers of families and young men” regularly attended Mass.

Continue Reading »

]]> Francis and Benedict on Gay Priests https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/08/pope-francis-on-homosexuality-a-question-of-vocation https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/08/pope-francis-on-homosexuality-a-question-of-vocation Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:05:00 -0400 roman collar

Continue Reading »

]]> No Tears for Exodus https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/06/no-tears-for-exodus https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/06/no-tears-for-exodus Sat, 22 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400 exodus Some years ago, I read Alan Medinger’s book Growth into Manhood , written for Christians with unwanted same-sex attractions. Medinger, a giant in ex-gay circles, was the first Executive Director of Exodus International, the ex-gay umbrella group that has grown to almost three hundred ministries in eighteen countries, but announced it was closing operations this week with a letter of apology to the LGBT community widely circulated on the internet.

Continue Reading »

]]> Called to Celibacy Unchosen https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/06/called-to-celibacy-unchosen https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/06/called-to-celibacy-unchosen Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400 The crisis in family life which has convulsed the West since the 1960s has meant that a good portion of the Church’s teaching mission over recent years has been dedicated to outlining a coherent and compelling vision of Christian marriage, and rightly so. But this should not lead Christians to downplay the nobility of the celibate life, which Christian tradition has always held in the highest regard. This is particularly important to bear in mind as the Church struggles with how best to help homosexual persons to holiness.

Continue Reading »

]]>