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News Briefs
  • [ June 18, 2026 ] Spiritual hunger, Church’s tradition cited as top drivers of U.S. adult conversions, survey finds News Briefs
  • [ June 18, 2026 ] Pew survey: Majority of Catholics say Trump is too critical of Pope Leo XIV News Briefs
  • [ June 18, 2026 ] Church in European Union calls for migration policy that respects inviolable dignity of every person News Briefs
  • [ June 18, 2026 ] Catholic educators call for reform to buck trend of parish school closures News Briefs
  • [ June 18, 2026 ] Pro-lifers rally against constitutional challenge to abortion law in Dominican Republic News Briefs

Articles by Dr. Randall B. Smith

About Dr. Randall B. Smith
Randall B. Smith holds the J. Michael Miller Endowed Chair of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His books include Bonaventure's Journey of the Soul into God: Background and Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 2024), From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body (Emmaus Press, 2022), Aquinas, Bonaventure, and the Scholastic Culture of Medieval Paris: Preaching, Prologues, and Biblical Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide (Emmaus Press, 2016). His next book, Mapping Bonaventure's Itinerarium: Context and Commentary, is due out from Emmaus Press this summer. His articles can be accessed online here.
Features

The rule of law, not of bishops

August 24, 2021 Dr. Randall B. Smith 40

I have for years been arguing that the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church should have been — and in the future should be — adjudicated by Church tribunals according to the provisions of […]

Essay

In Memoriam: Thomas Gordon Smith (1948-2021)—A life spent serving Beauty

August 5, 2021 Dr. Randall B. Smith 7

I have long been fascinated by the project of the late Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) to renew the Catholic appreciation of beauty as a means by which God calls us to Himself. And yet, […]

The Dispatch

Things my wife wishes they had covered in RCIA

April 24, 2021 Dr. Randall B. Smith 42

I am an adult convert to Catholicism, as is my wife. She entered the Church after we were married and knew even less about Catholicism than I did when I entered, which wasn’t much. Because […]

Essay

What kind of relationship with God?

November 28, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith 7

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part essay. Read Part One here. One sometimes hears preachers exhort their congregations to enter into a “relationship” with God. I have no desire to diminish […]

Essay

What kind of relationship? On the “one”, the “many”, and things in the world

November 23, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith 9

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a two-part essay. Read Part Two here. Should we consider “relation” a transcendental property of Being? That may seem an odd question. The transcendental properties of Being are […]

Essay

From our house to “God’s house”

September 7, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith, Thomas Dougherty 8

If the recent coronavirus pandemic has revealed anything to us, it should be how badly we house many of our elderly. But “house” is perhaps not the right term. Instead of “housing” them, we too […]

Features

Liberal Arts and the Pandemic

July 6, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith 6

It’s a shame we’re not in the classroom these days, because the pandemic would be the perfect subject for discussion in a liberal arts university. Indeed, I would suggest it is precisely because of the […]

The Dispatch

Wrestling with a Moral Dilemma

June 1, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith 6

You are a soldier in Vietnam.  You have met and fallen in love with a Vietnamese woman. The two of you have a child, although you are not legally married.  Due to political reasons beyond […]

Essay

Distance education: It’s a long way from real education

May 12, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith 29

Some people ask me what I think about teaching online.  I ask them how they like watching Mass online.  “Really, that bad?” they reply. “No, actually, if you can believe it,” I tell them, “it […]

The Dispatch

Overwhelmed by quarantine possibilities

April 20, 2020 Dr. Randall B. Smith 3

Each day brings with it, along with the bad news, ever more suggestions for what we can do with all our free time during the quarantine. I’m not sure where all the free time is […]

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The Dispatch: More from CWR

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    Agnes Aineah June 18, 2026 1
  • The Front Royal Statement outlines cardinal principles for Catholic education

    Noelle Mering June 18, 2026 8
  • The SSPX leadership against Scripture and Tradition

    George Weigel June 17, 2026 100
  • Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, June 17, 2026

    CWR Staff June 17, 2026 8

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  • Spiritual hunger, Church’s tradition cited as top drivers of U.S. adult conversions, survey finds
  • Pew survey: Majority of Catholics say Trump is too critical of Pope Leo XIV
  • Church in European Union calls for migration policy that respects inviolable dignity of every person
  • Catholic educators call for reform to buck trend of parish school closures
  • Pro-lifers rally against constitutional challenge to abortion law in Dominican Republic
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  • Didn't Think So: I had to go to a protestant celebration of life once for a friend. I obviously disagreed with their presumptuous…
  • The Pitchfork Rebel: "Pope Leo, for example, attributes extreme poverty to unequal distribution of wealth. He says the problem is getting worse, but…
  • Fr. Oscar E. Monroy, PhD in Theology.: On 2005 I was invited to teach in the New Deacons Formation program in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I taught 2…

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A Different Kind of Football Movie

Andrew Svenning August 20, 2014 0

Sports movies seldom deviate from the “underdog” scenario. Many of the true-life sports stories to which Hollywood gravitates involve the “little guys” rising to the occasion and defeating the “big guys.” The formula speaks to […]

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