Reflections on life, meaning and purpose

Catholics pray novena for young priest killed in Congo

The late Father Richard Masivi Kasereka, C.R.M., at St. Michael the Archangel Kaseghe parish, in the DRC’s Butembo-Beni diocese, on Oct. 31, 2021, when he was installed as pastor. / Caracciolini Fathers, DR Congo. Butembo-Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, Feb 4, 2022 / 04:05 am (CNA). Catholics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are […]

German Catholic bishop: Benedict XVI did not want to cover up clerical abuse

Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. / Paul Badde/CNA. Rome Newsroom, Feb 4, 2022 / 05:00 am (CNA). Benedict XVI never sought to cover up cases of sex abuse by clergy. That is the conviction of the German Bishop Stefan Oster. In a reflection published on his website on Jan. 30, the bishop of Passau, southeastern Germany, […]

Cardinal Cupich in Dubrovnik for local Feast Day celebrations

American Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, was part of the Croatian celebration of the Feast Day of St. Blase, the patron saint of Dubrovnik, on 3 February, celebrating Mass in the Cathedral of Mary Major and taking part in the traditional procession through the city streets with the saint’s relics. Read all  

A Painter Quietly Changing the Culture

You see a knife drawn across the throat of the priest. Blood drips down the front of his white vestments. Vested for Mass, he holds the Blessed Sacrament and three white roses and five red roses. Purity and martyrdom. Satan VA! (Satan, Go!) frames his head and the halo surrounding it. Abducted by Islamists while […]

Theology Is Not Archaeology

During the early centuries, the Church was rocked by two major Christological controversies. Debate broke out in the early fourth century when Arius charged Bishop Alexander of Alexandria with heresy and went on to claim the begotten Son, precisely because he is begotten, must have “had a beginning of existence.” Hence the Arian slogan, “there […]

Intellectual Freedom in Medieval Universities

Many academics today are dismayed by the growing intolerance of heterodox thinking in contemporary universities, but those aware of the university’s longer history are less surprised at this turn of events. The idea that university teachers should pursue free, open-ended research is a rather recent notion, after all. It has been around only for about […]

Opinion: What is sexual abuse in the Church?

Casey Chalk unintentionally took me back to the 1990s with his recent assertion that, “When it comes to sexual abuse allegations, no other organization is held to the same standard of scrutiny as that of […]