vatican ii

For all the ink that has been spilled in the last few years over the historic family synods convened by Pope Francis—as well as general prognosticating over the direction he will take Catholic…

Last December, at the end of his tour of Africa, Pope Francis answered a question about Islamic fundamentalism by pointing to the same malady in his own flock. “We Catholics have some—and not some…

It is by now widely accepted that the second half of the 20 th century witnessed a realignment of religious politics in the United States. In particular, many scholars have written about an interfaith…

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones/Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold… who kept thy truth so pure of old. – John Milton on the 1655 slaughter of 1,700 Waldensians at the hands…

Jerry Garcia said once that he didn’t care much for the Western God—but that didn’t stop him from creating a religion of his own, complete with “ tie dye, skulls, and swirling skirts.” But just how…

“There’s a question I can’t answer: is there anyone like the Grateful Dead? It’s an amazing, amazing group. I’d like to give credit where credit is due, one of the ushers, before, wrapped it all up…

In a much talked-about Op-Ed in Time last week in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on same sex marriage, Rod Dreher wrote that Christians “really have to accept the fact that we really are…

The encyclical is finally here. Laudato si was officially released today and has already produced a tremendous amount of commentary online. And yet the political ramifications of the encyclical, at…

The big news of the week was Irish voters’ overwhelming “yes” vote on a proposal to add marriage equality to the country’s constitution. The lopsided nature of the vote in heavily Catholic Ireland –…

Having spent most of the last two years in conversation with Nones, seekers, doubters, and those who feel culturally bound to a religious tradition even while they don’t participate in one, the latest…