In 2025 a record forty-five percent of Americans told Gallup they belonged to neither party, the highest share since the pollster began asking in 1988; Democrats and Republicans drew twenty-seven percent apiece. Both major parties now draw unfavorable marks from most Americans. Heading into this fall’s midterms, more than two hundred independents are...
A homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Before turning my attention to St. Paul, whose great letter to the Romans is the source for today’s second reading, I’d like to note the opening lines from our first reading, taken from the Book of Sirach: “Wrath and anger are hateful things. Yet...
After reading about Bishop Thomas Paprocki’s new funeral restrictions in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, I felt compelled to ask a question on X: “What is it about a certain type of Catholic who wants to strip everything human, personal, or emotional from worship and liturgy?” The ensuing discussion was not reassuring....
In 2025 a record forty-five percent of Americans told Gallup they belonged to neither party, the highest share since the pollster began asking in 1988; Democrats and Republicans drew twenty-seven percent apiece. Both major parties now draw unfavorable marks from most Americans. Heading into this fall’s midterms, more than two hundred independents are...
A homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Before turning my attention to St. Paul, whose great letter to the Romans is the source for today’s second reading, I’d like to note the opening lines from our first reading, taken from the Book of Sirach: “Wrath and anger are hateful things. Yet...
After reading about Bishop Thomas Paprocki’s new funeral restrictions in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, I felt compelled to ask a question on X: “What is it about a certain type of Catholic who wants to strip everything human, personal, or emotional from worship and liturgy?” The ensuing discussion was not reassuring....
Today we’re kicking off Season Three! And we’re starting with something a little different. Earlier this month I was a part of a panel discussion with Aimee Murphy about Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. The panel was for a young adult group in my new diocese. And I’m excited to share it with...
(Today is the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Many years ago, I wrote a long reflection on the tragedy and its implications for Godspy. After discussion with our editorial board, I had intended to update it and republish. On reading it again, however, I found that what I had written was not only the still-meaningful...
Editor’s note: Quod a nobis, promulgated by Pope St. Pius V on July 9, 1568, revised and promulgated the Roman Breviary following the Council of Trent. Two years later, Pius V issued Quo primum, which performed a parallel role for the Roman Missal. Quod a nobis is much less familiar, but it is an...
As God’s people enter the Promised Land, Moses presented the choice ahead of them: “I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live” (Deut 30:19). Similarly, Pope Leo begins his first encyclical by presenting us with the choice we face...
We are all familiar with the passage from the Book of Habakkuk that seems to have been a favorite of St. Paul (he cites it in three different letters – or four, for anyone who credits the Letter to the Hebrews to him): The righteous live by their faith. In Lumen Fidei, Pope...
A nice surprise in the mail from Poland today: my faith reversion story, “A Chapel in the Rain,” is featured in the September–October issue of Rycerz Młodych, a Catholic magazine published by the Conventual Franciscans at Niepokalanów, the “City of the Immaculata” founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe. I wrote about how I chose...
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto issued a canonical warning on June 1, 2026, to retired Deacon David Leatherby Jr. of his diocese. In the decree, the bishop said he had been informed that Deacon Leatherby was cooperating with illicit Masses celebrated in nearby Placer County by his son, Jeremy Leatherby — excommunicated for schism...
Prayer for the Care of Water This month, which begins with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Leo XIV asks the faithful to join him in praying for the stewardship and just distribution of water. In a year which has seen record levels of drought in many regions,...
Pope Leo XIV’s general audience on Wednesday clarified something that many conservative and traditionalist Catholics have been unwilling to face: the pope believes both that the liturgical reform is a good thing and that the reforms carried out following the Second Vatican Council are “firmly rooted in the living tradition of the Church.”...
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