The Dispatch
Pope Leo XIV: I still have a great love for America
The U.S.-born pontiff expressed affection for his homeland in an interview with NBC News on July 29. […]
Sold on a promise: How a Catholic network is rescuing Africa’s trafficked youth
Features
“I held my mother and siblings in a warm, tearful embrace of hope,” Pauline (not her real name) recalls. She pauses, offering a wan and ashy smile as the memory of November 23, 2016, washes [...]
On Twenty Years of Twitter—er, X
Features
Twenty years ago, a small social media platform called Twitter was launched into public life. Few imagined that a service built around brief updates would become one of the principal architects of modern consciousness through [...]
Essay
An Educational Perfect Storm
The 1991 “perfect storm,” made famous by the movie of that name starring George Clooney, resulted from a rare collision of three distinct weather systems that converged to create an exceptionally massive and destructive storm. [...]
Essay
On the Faith of Saint Anne
1Editor’s note: This homily was preached on the Seventeenth Sunday, July 26, 2026, at the Church of the Holy Innocents, New York City. Last Sunday, we considered the centrality of grace in the Christian life and [...]
Books
Exploring Landscapes of Grace: On the Virtues of Wandering Around Outside
I thought of Jeff Gardner’s Landscapes of Grace during a recent mellow evening ramble with my teenage son. I thought of it again last weekend as I slogged uphill on a hot day, with the [...]
Analysis
Listening Without Hearing: A Critique of Synodal Study Group 9 on Homosexuality
Editor’s note: The following essay was penned by a participant in the Catholic apostolate of Courage. Author’s note: I did not read the official response by Courage International before writing this essay, and thus arrived at [...]
Essay
A Transformative Eucharistic Spirituality
Faced with the urgency of “safeguarding the dignity of the human person in the time of artificial intelligence,” Pope Leo addresses his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, not only “to all the Catholic faithful,” but also “to all Christians [...]
Features
Bishop Barres, Catholic sisters sue New York over assisted suicide mandates
The bishop said “we will never submit” to “the culture of death” as the Catholic diocese and religious sisters argue that their faith prevents them from participating in physician-assisted suicide. […]
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In Part One of this essay on Dignitatis Humanae, I made the argument, following Tracey Rowland and Russel Hittinger, that DH should be read minimalistically as a simple affirmation that no person should be forcibly [...] -
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“Indeed it is through chastity that we are gathered together and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into multiplicity.” — Saint Augustine, Confessions (quoted in CCC 2340) “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by [...] -
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A Sane Catholic:
The vast majority of popes have been mediocre. Ratzinger was one of the greatest theologians of modern times. It’s not…
Ron:
I'm aware of a case, perhaps 15 years ago, with a candidate who had student debt that prevented entering the…
DiogenesRedux:
"Pope Leo XIV: I still have a great love for America" The Vatican needs to stay on good terms with…
