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News Briefs
  • [ November 15, 2026 ] Three sentenced to death for Jordanian church attack; Churches cancel Christmas celebrations News Briefs
  • [ November 15, 2026 ] Canadian Catholics retain identity more than U.S. Catholics, but decline in practice is similar News Briefs
  • [ November 15, 2026 ] Number of Catholics in Ibero-America fell by 25% over the last 30 years, study indicates News Briefs
  • [ November 15, 2026 ] Singapore’s youngest Catholic priest finds his calling — and wins admirers News Briefs
  • [ November 15, 2026 ] ‘An immense emotion’: Andean missionary nun meets her former bishop, now Pope Leo XIV News Briefs

Articles by James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D.

About James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D.
James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D. is the Director of Emmaus Academic and the Director of Clergy Support at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is also a Lecturer in the Theology Department at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Before entering the Catholic Church with his wife and their six children, he was an Anglican minister in the US and UK for over a decade. He writes for the National Catholic Register, Angelus News, Ascension Press, and Catholic East Texas magazine.
The Dispatch

Passions of the Soul is often rewarding, sometimes lacking

May 17, 2024 James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D. 4

“We live in an age whose chief moral value has been determined, by overwhelming consensus, to be the absolute liberty of personal volition, the power of each of us to choose what he or she […]

The Dispatch

Opinion: Old Age and the Old Mass

March 12, 2022 James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D. 18

You might have missed it. Pope Francis announced a “feast of grandparents” to occur on the last Sunday of July. It came amidst his Wednesday audiences which, since the end of February, consist of catechesis […]

The Dispatch

A father’s plea to the Holy Father: Reinstate Summorum Pontificum

July 18, 2021 James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D. 71

“Why?” asked my oldest son – an altar server at the Traditional Latin Mass (hereafter TLM) – when, upon overhearing my wife and I discuss whether we would be able to attend Mass at our […]

Essay

A Tale of Two Priests: A Word to Our Fathers

May 27, 2021 James R. A. Merrick, Ph.D. 56

It was supposed to be a joyous weekend. It was my daughter’s First Holy Communion. We were anticipating a nice party, celebrating this supernatural gift. But a few days before, I received a text message […]

The Dispatch: More from CWR

  • Jonathan Roumie says ‘The Chosen’ Season 6 deepened his understanding of redemptive suffering

    Francesca Pollio Fenton November 14, 2026 1
  • Carl Trueman chronicles the spiral from sexual revolution to desecration

    Piers Shepherd November 14, 2026 4
  • Fearing God from love, not loving God from fear

    Carl E. Olson November 14, 2026 22
  • Church leaders call for prayers as pre-election violence rocks Nigeria

    Ngala Killian Chimtom November 13, 2026 0

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  • Three sentenced to death for Jordanian church attack; Churches cancel Christmas celebrations
  • Canadian Catholics retain identity more than U.S. Catholics, but decline in practice is similar
  • Number of Catholics in Ibero-America fell by 25% over the last 30 years, study indicates
  • Singapore’s youngest Catholic priest finds his calling — and wins admirers
  • ‘An immense emotion’: Andean missionary nun meets her former bishop, now Pope Leo XIV
  • Jonathan Roumie says ‘The Chosen’ Season 6 deepened his understanding of redemptive suffering
  • PHOTOS: Pope Leo XIV revisits his former cathedral, celebrates Mass in rural Peru
abortion Americas Asia - Pacific Catholic Church Catholic News COVID-19 Europe Jesus Christ Middle East - Africa Pope Francis pro-life prolife prolife2023 prolife2024 religious freedom Ukraine Ukraine War US Vatican Vatican news World
  • Leo Flanagan: We have an excellent Prior from Singapore. He can effortlessly add Aquinas and Josef Pieper in his Sunday sermons without…
  • Chris in Maryland: WSH: Yes (regretfully), those actions must be acknowledged for what they are.
  • Leo Flanagan: Many of us moderns have made a Faustian pact for autonomy and it is harming us in demographic self destruction.…

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  • Leo Flanagan on Carl Trueman chronicles the spiral from sexual revolution to desecration
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Also on CWR
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General

First Mass in 1,500 years held in Iraqi monastery

Carl E. Olson October 23, 2012 0

A story from the Middle East to help put some things in perspective: The Vatican’s ambassador to Iraq and a number of monks held the first mass in 1,500 years in one of the oldest […]

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