Psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson was interviewed by EWTN’s Colm Flynn on Feb. 11, 2024. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in Depth
Denver Newsroom, Feb 28, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).
In an interview with EWTN News, renowned psychologist and author Jordan Peterson shared his perspective on his wife’s “miraculous” recovery from cancer and his view of her embrace of the Catholic faith.
Peterson recounted that upon learning of his wife Tammy’s diagnosis, the couple sought treatment options in various hospitals across North America. Wherever they turned, he said, they were told available treatments had “no evidence for success” and the one-year survival rate for the cancer afflicting Tammy “was zero.”
But as Tammy Peterson also told EWTN News in a separate interview, she ultimately fully recovered from her cancer — and connected with a close friend’s as well as her grandmother’s Catholic faith in the process.
Dr. Peterson, known for his biblical lectures, noted that the Gospels contain numerous accounts of miraculous healings.
“And for anyone who’s conventionally scientific in his or her thinking, those stories are hard to understand,” he said.
Speaking of his scientific background, Peterson said he is not a “reductive materialist.” “I think we would see the miraculous constantly if we weren’t blind,” he observed.
Peterson said his wife’s newfound faith has strengthened her ability to share her “light” in ways she hadn’t previously.
“She’s speaking publicly, which she wouldn’t have done before, although she may have liked to,” he said.
“People hide, even, their desire to have their light shine, much less the light,” Peterson continued. “They hide that from themselves. That’s lack of faith. They’re afraid that if they admitted to the ambition and pursued it, it would come to naught.”
She has also “recovered that state of childhood that Christ associates with the kingdom,” he noted.
“And that’s a remarkable thing to see, because I also knew her as a child, and so I can actually see that re-emerge,” he continued. “And that’s quite the bloody miracle, that is.”
Peterson’s faith
Dr. Peterson’s own relationship to the Christian and Catholic faith is not as clear as that of his wife, who is scheduled to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church this Easter.
Though he has said in the past that Catholicism “is as sane as people can get,” when asked by Flynn if he feels a tug toward Catholicism, he opted instead to say he has an “appreciation” for Catholicism.
“There’s plenty of things the Catholic faith got right,” he told Flynn.
“At some point, every question bottoms out in a mystery, and that’s where the faith has to be,” he said. “Faith is necessary in part because you don’t know everything.”
While Peterson said he is not on the same Catholic faith journey as his wife, he emphasized that the “original proposition” of Christ’s invitation to “take up your cross and follow me” is “obviously” correct.
“Christ faced, and triumphed, over death and hell, and you might say, well, why is that relevant?” he said. “And the answer is, because that’s what you have to do.”
Peterson said it’s important for the Church to stay focused on that original proposition.
“If it’s all guitar and hippies, who the hell cares?” Peterson said, emphasizing that the Church should not try to “be more relevant” by taking up other causes, such as the climate crisis.
“It’s supposed to be an invitation to the great adventure of life,” he said of the Christian faith. “What’s the great adventure of life? Pick up your cross and follow me. Well, what’s more relevant than that?”
In sum, Peterson concluded, “everybody has their own path.” “Tammy’s on hers; I’m on mine.”
The complete EWTN News interview with Dr. Jordan Peterson can be viewed below.
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Denver Newsroom, Mar 15, 2022 / 12:06 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary later this month, the Vatican announced on Tuesday. What does… […]
An Easter Vigil procession at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco. / Credit: St. Dominic Parish/Lorelei Low
CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Five years ago this week, public health orders issued amid the uncertainty of the novel coronavirus turned Mass schedules across the country and the world upside down.
In those early days following the WHO’s March 11, 2020, declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the bishops of every U.S. diocese issued some form of dispensation, suspending the obligation that Catholics must attend Sunday Mass in person.
Thousands of parishes and ministries scrambled to develop plans to offer livestreamed Masses, deliver the sacraments in a “socially distanced” manner, and live out the Church’s life as best they could under extraordinary circumstances. Public Masses at most parishes were suspended entirely for a time, and those that were able to reopen were subject, in many areas, to distancing requirements and numerical or percentage-based attendance caps.
As Catholics nationwide adapted to the changes — not knowing how long this new reality might last — observers feared that many Catholics, barred from their parishes for so long and now accustomed to attending from the comfort of home, might not return after the parish doors reopened.
A study from the Pew Research Center found that most Catholics continued participating in Mass throughout the pandemic — but many were only able to do so virtually. In November 2022, when the survey was done, only about 4 in 10 U.S. Catholics said they attended Mass in person as often as they did before the pandemic.
Indeed, from the start of the COVID pandemic lockdowns in the U.S. to the declared end of the pandemic in May 2023, in-person Mass attendance averaged just 15% — a dismal figure, but not markedly lower than the 24% it was before. (The Catholic Church teaches that Catholics are obligated to attend Mass in person every Sunday, except for a serious reason such as illness or if they’ve been dispensed from their obligation by their pastor or bishop.)
Some bishops lifted the dispensations they had issued as early as late 2020, while a few held out until 2022. In lifting the dispensations they issued amid the lockdowns, many U.S. bishops implored Catholics to return to Mass in person.
While Mass attendance today among Catholics in the U.S. remains much lower than among Catholics in other countries, recent data has suggested that U.S. in-person Mass attendance levels have quietly returned to where they were in 2019 after years of uncertainty over whether they would ever rebound.
For some thriving parishes in the U.S., the lockdowns — while challenging — presented an opportunity to continue sharing the faith in a creative manner and come out even stronger than they were before.
Father John Mosimann, pastor at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fredericksburg, Virginia, told CNA that the parish has seen its numbers grow since the pandemic.
On a typical weekend, Mosimann and his four parochial vicars celebrate 11 total Masses in English, plus another in Spanish at a different parish where they are kick-starting a Spanish Mass ministry.
All told, roughly 3,800 people attended St. Mary’s weekend Masses on a typical week in 2019. According to headcounts, the parish had already exceeded its pre-pandemic levels by 2023, with around 4,300 attendees on average. The parish, which is about 55 miles south of Washington, D.C., has 6,700 registered families and nearly 100 active ministries.
Father John Mosimann poses with altar servers and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father John Mosimann
During the pandemic, St. Mary’s added extra Masses — since for a time, Masses were limited to a smaller-than-usual number of attendees — and continued hosting adoration. Like so many other parishes, the parish had to quickly adapt to a livestreaming paradigm in order to stay connected with the community.
“I was in the office and I was looking at Facebook and I said, ‘What if I hit this button and go live, what would happen?’” Mosimann remembers thinking as the lockdowns began.
“And so I started streaming on Facebook Live and everybody started jumping in … ’What’s going on, Father? What’s going to happen?’ And I didn’t have answers, because I wasn’t that great a prophet. But we did immediately start streaming.”
He said parishioners were grateful for the effort the priests made to stay in touch, despite the occasional technical challenge — a problem far from unique to St. Mary’s.
“If you want perfect sound and you want a studio, go to EWTN. They’ve got professional equipment. If you want to see your priests, come talk to us,” Mosimann said he told his parishioners.
“We’re not going to be anxious over having studio quality, because what’s important is for us to be connected to you. People responded to that. People were very grateful for that. It was very frequently cited by parishioners, how grateful they were for our staying in touch with them during that difficult moment.”
Father John Mosimann baptizes a child at his parish, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Credit: Ginny Foreman
The last of Virginia’s capacity-restricting public health orders on venues was lifted in late May 2021, and Bishop Michael Burbidge of the local Diocese of Arlington in the following month lifted the dispensation he had issued, inviting Catholics to return to Mass throughout the diocese. So far, as in most U.S. dioceses, Mass attendance overall in Arlington has risen significantly but has not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Since the pandemic’s end, Mosimann said his focus has been on encouraging parishioners to use their time and talents generously to help rebuild and grow the parish community.
For Mosimann, the pandemic experience was proof that by remaining faithful even through troubling and difficult times, God can and does bring good out of bad situations through his grace.
“[We] did everything we could to provide the sacraments to God’s people and to make it available as much as possible with all the restrictions. That should be the goal of every parish, every day, whether there’s a pandemic or not,” Mosimann said.
‘We are proud to be who we are’
Father Michael Hurley, OP, pastor of St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, said his parish, which offers what he believes is the largest young adult presence in the entire archdiocese, regularly sees attendance numbers today that are similar to pre-pandemic levels.
The parish was able to safely provide the sacraments to those in need during the pandemic and had, providentially, already set up livestreaming for Masses shortly before the start of the pandemic. To this day the parish maintains a healthy online base of Dominican laypeople who tune in for Masses and prayer.
Father Michael Hurley, OP, (left) and his fellow priests from St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco cross the street in a homage to “Abbey Road.” Credit: St. Dominic Parish/Ivi Fandino
Hurley said he personally never worried during lockdown about people not returning to Mass, instead trusting that Catholics would return when they could. He said his main concern was keeping the church building open safely during the pandemic — in a state with some of the strictest lockdown measures in the country — to maintain sacramental support.
California finally lifted all capacity restrictions on religious gatherings in April 2021 after previously implementing a near-total ban on indoor services that was contested all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The sanctuary of St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco. Credit: St. Dominic Parish/Alex Mizuno
Though the demographics of St. Dominic Parish has changed somewhat, in-person worshippers, many of whom work in the Bay Area’s high-tech sector, have returned in large numbers.
“The Lord is always searching for the strays, right? … All you have to do is open the doors and do what you’re doing, and people will come,” Hurley told CNA.
That said, Hurley said he believes St. Dominic’s beautiful church building, welcoming atmosphere, and a strong sense of identity — as a Dominican-led parish that aims to “radiate the joy of the Gospel in the heart of the city” — helps to make it an attractive place for Catholics, especially young adults. They also keep the church building open for personal prayer throughout the day, a rarity in a city that occasionally struggles with crime.
“We are proud to be who we are as Catholics, and for us as clergy, as Dominicans. And that makes a huge difference,” Hurley said.
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