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  1. Church history

Grace, Sin, and History

Writing authentic history that is also authentically Catholic has been a tricky business since Cardinal Baronius, if not since St. Augustine. How are we to reconcile the profound and definitive historical ­consequences of the Incarnation with the ­obvious fact that sin continues to permeate the . . . . Continue Reading »

Apostolic Empire

The young are eschewing marriage. Birth rates are collapsing. Abortion and even post-natal infanticide are commonplace. Yawning inequalities divide the haves from the have-nots, spreading decadence among the former while immiserating the latter. Society is losing the thread of its ­noblest . . . . Continue Reading »

The West: Post- or Pre-Christian?

It became clear to me that my personal Christian faith is not tolerated or permitted in the public square, at least by some and perhaps by many.” So said the CEO of one of Australia’s largest football clubs after he was forced to resign one day into the job, following revelations that he was . . . . Continue Reading »

Let's Fight

What are Christians to make of corruption in the history of the Church? There are two common approaches. The first we can dismiss without much consideration. This is the tack taken by those conservative apologists who more or less deny that the Church is ever corrupt. The Inquisition, for example, . . . . Continue Reading »

Forged in Fire

Among secularists, Christianity is associated with intolerance, largely because its attitudes toward sex do not square with the progressive status quo. But Christianity’s reputation for intolerance can be traced back to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, and to public intellectuals such . . . . Continue Reading »

Letters

Lay Leadership Citing mass disenfranchisement in a “papal-episcopal oligarchy,” ­Bronwen McShea (“Bishops Unbound,” January) argues for institutional representation of “entire classes of lay and clerical members of the Church” currently “at the mercy of episcopal authority.” She . . . . Continue Reading »

A Church in Doubt

To Change the Church:  Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism by ross douthat simon and schuster, 256 pages, $26 It is beyond question that the Roman Catholic Church is currently in the throes of one of the greatest crises in its two-millennium history. In human terms, its future might be . . . . Continue Reading »

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