U.S. Catholics: overly assimilated?

Russell Shaw has become the bull in the china shop of U.S. Catholic history, knocking heroes off pedestals and overturning conventional story-lines.

A reformed (and re-formed) College of Cardinals

The recent papal interregnum and conclave underscored the importance of re-forming, and reforming, the College of Cardinals.

Meeting Pope Francis

When Pope Francis stepped out onto the central loggia of St. Peter’s on the night of March 13, I thought of the man I had met in his Buenos Aires office 10 months before.

G.K. Chesterton, ‘major English author’

Chesterton’s rollicking humor, which bound both friend and foe to him, was not a quirk of personality. It was an expression of his Christian faith, hope and love.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! Cristeros and us

Most Americans haven’t the foggiest idea that a quasi-Stalinist, violently anti-Catholic regime once existed on our southern border. Those who don’t know how bad...

Fortnight for Freedom — Social Justice Priorities: Life and Religious Liberty

At this critical moment in history, there are two social justice priorities for the Catholic Church in the United States: the defense of life...

The Bishop of Rome as Christian radical

It was a brief greeting to former colleagues. But if you read Pope Francis’s April 18 letter to the Argentine bishops’ conference closely, you get a glimpse of the man, his convictions and his vision.

The Church and the unions

The defense of nascent trade unionism in late-19th-century America is a bright chapter in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States....

Fortnight for Freedom — Religious liberty and its contemporary enemies

Independence Day concludes the Fortnight for Freedom mandated by the U.S. bishops, a two-week period of reflection and prayer on the defense of religious...

Impoverished spirits

Certain ritual encounters have now become standard operating procedure for a new pope. In each of these meetings, Pope Francis has done something surprising, in his low-key, gentle way.