The purpose of Vatican II was to lift the Church from a defensive crouch and turn the Church’s institutions into launch-platforms for mission. Synod-2023’s dominant vocabulary did not reflect that evangelical purpose. Continue Reading »
It is my hope that Pope Francis will start to make a sincere effort to encourage and accompany those of us who are trying to live according to the teachings of the Church. Continue Reading »
“Queerness as an interpretative tool” seems to be no more than the blunt assertion that today’s questions are the only ones worth asking and today’s categories the only ones worth applying. Continue Reading »
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow have claimed that Russia’s so-called Special Operation is needed to defend the wider russkiy mir, the “Russian world.” By this term they mean the Orthodoxy-based Russian-language civilization that Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus . . . . Continue Reading »
Death rates among American children are on the rise. Young people are killed by homicide and car accidents, and they are killing themselves by drug overdose and suicide. Mortality rates for ages one to nineteen rose by 10.7 percent between 2019 and 2020, and went up another 8.3 percent in 2021. . . . . Continue Reading »
For those who do the backstroke or shoot hoops at a functionally agnostic YMCA “swim and gym,” the Christ-centered history of the institution may be surprising. Some believers seek to make it better known. Continue Reading »