Recognizing humanity’s true wealth
“Those who take care of the sick – play an essential role in today’s society, even if they often do not receive the recognition and recompense they deserve. … Taking care of those who are sick, of those who are...
Tagged: evangelization
What is meant by “Catholic Lite”?
It was perhaps foolish for my wife and me to attempt effective social-distancing with three children under six on a summer evening in a neighbor’s backyard. So we contracted COVID-19 on the Fourth of July. Our symptoms were relatively mild,...
Why Catholics can’t ignore the reactionary fringe
Where Peter Is · Why Catholics can’t ignore the reactionary fringe Continuing our conversation about conversion and growing in the faith, Adam Rasmussen, Rachel Dobbs, and I discuss how a distorted understanding of the faith has been widely promoted by...
Austen Ivereigh on evangelization in the post-pandemic world
Listen to part 2 of our Peter’s Field Hospital conversation with Austen Ivereigh. In this concluding segment, DW Lafferty and I talk to Austen about how to communicate the message of Pope Francis to Catholics who resist his message. We...
Liberalism and the Church’s Response: New Podcast Episode
In this episode of Peter’s Field Hospital, I had a fascinating discussion with DW Lafferty and Dan Amiri about the relationship between the Church and Liberalism. Both recently wrote on how the Church should respond to liberalism (a term that...
The Mission Field and the Culture War
Are we witnessing the ugly end of culture-war Catholicism? The conservative Catholic media landscape—born out of a battle with social liberalism that goes back at least to Pat Buchanan’s popularization of the term “culture war”—seems to have entered a decisive...
The New Americanism: Conclusions
We have come to the final part of this reflection. In the first five installments, we examined the tendencies that constitute what Pope Leo XIII called Americanism. While we should not conclude that holding only one or two of these...
Fr. James Martin and the End of Modernity
The most recent controversy involving CNA’s reporting of a meeting between Fr. James Martin and Pope Francis illustrates well just how much Martin has become a lightning rod, in social media and beyond, for his advocacy for and on behalf...
The New Americanism, Part Two: The Underlying Principle
This is the second installment of our series on the New Americanism. To read part one, click here. The heresy of Americanism was condemned in Testem benevolentiae, Pope Leo XIII’s 1899 letter to James Cardinal Gibbons, then Archbishop of Baltimore....
Querida Amazonia: A Call for Authentic Inculturation
Vatican City — In his latest apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis calls for “authentic” inculturation in the Amazon, so as to allow for the creation of a Church which truly bears the features of the region and the culture of...
How to Avoid Proselytizing Your Children (And Others Too)
The Church in the West is struggling to hand on the faith to the next generation. Parents themselves may find it difficult to remain in the faith. The abuse crisis has shattered trust in the Church, even while the Church...
Catholicism Is Always Right and That’s Why Catholics Are Often Wrong
If you’re reading this, my guess would be that you have a certain level of theological education (formal or not), intellectual curiosity about the faith, and a desire to debate and discuss that faith with others. But this post-modern era...
Evangelization in an Election Year
It is now officially 2020. Political junkies rejoice! For the rest of us, the heightened level of negativity and emotion that elections bring typically means many of us won’t be too eager to engage with others on anything that can...
Christianity Without Guardrails
Fr. Dwight Longenecker finished reading Rusty Reno’s new book and is now ready to declare that we are heading for World War III. But Longenecker’s article illustrates that a world war, spiritual in nature, is already upon us. Longenecker’s review...
Catechesis Is Not the Answer
What figure best shows how dire the Church’s situation is in the West? Is it Mass attendance among youth? Perhaps it is polls of self-professed Catholics that reveal little connection between the Church’s teachings and common practice? We know the...
Growth Requires Strong Roots
America is a melting pot of various cultures and traditions. As American Catholics, we have a unique perspective on both the benefits and the challenges that this can bring as we seek to evangelize in our schools and communities. Multiculturalism,...
Not Mercenaries, but Missionary Disciples
“A missionary disciple is not a mercenary of the faith or a producer of proselytes, but rather a humble mendicant who feels the absence of brothers, sisters and mothers with whom to share the irrevocable gift of reconciliation that Jesus...
Who Jesus Saw
“Where many saw only a sinner, a blasphemer, a tax collector, an evildoer or even a traitor, Jesus was able to see apostles. Such is the beauty that his gaze invites us to proclaim, a gaze that transforms and brings...
The Ship of Peter
In Gianni Valente’s recent book-length interview with Pope Francis, the Holy Father explained the Church’s mission: that per Our Lord’s command, we’re a moving church, always reaching out into the peripheries. He stated, “The Church is either on the move...
A missionary Church: where everyone’s wounds are healed
Pope Francis recently sat down with journalist Gianni Valente of Fides (the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples) for a lengthy interview on some of his favorite topics, including evangelization, what it means to be a...
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