The Potlucks of Vatican II

The Potlucks of Vatican II

‘‘The Council’ is an abstraction and as such cannot be allowed to obscure the mix of forces and personalities that marked the Council.’’ 1   In What Happened at Vatican II by John O’Malley, SJ, he mentions that “council” is a bit of a misnomer. I suggest that the...
Laudate Deum: An Overview

Laudate Deum: An Overview

If Laudato Si’ was a gentle and pastoral invitation to care for creation, Laudate Deum is a visceral, prophetic call to conversion. Eight years after Laudato Si’s initial publication, Pope Francis once again takes on the looming challenges of the climate crisis that...
Book Review: Catholics and Contempt

Book Review: Catholics and Contempt

In June, veteran Vatican journalist and writer John Allen Jr. released his newest book, Catholics and Contempt: How Catholic Media Fuel Today’s Fights and What to Do about It, published by the Word on Fire Institute. As the title suggests, Allen’s goal is to convince...
Can Catholic Church Teaching Change?

Can Catholic Church Teaching Change?

In 1992, Pope Saint John Paul II gave a speech recognizing that the Catholic Church’s condemnation of Galileo, a famous 17th-century astronomer, was mistaken. Galileo held that the Earth revolved around the sun rather than the sun around the Earth. This was a point of...