• What Is Archbishop McCarrick’s Status?
COMMENTARY: Given the ex-cardinal has been assigned the canonical penalty of a life of “prayer and penance,” it is hard to escape the impression that he has begun a sentence for crimes committed yet there has been no trial or other penal process announced. - October 30, 2018
• Jesus’ Response to the Scandals?
COMMENTARY: A little-known book of private revelations to a Benedictine priest offers some answers. - October 30, 2018
• Why Catholic Teaching is ‘Increasingly Embarrassing’ to Church Leaders (Part 2)
“The fundamental point to make is this: we have an official theology that no longer treats the unconverted nature of the world as living under the dominion of the devil, and so inevitably in a state of spiritual war against Christ and his Church.” - October 30, 2018
• Synod 2018: Some Concluding Thoughts by Bishop Charles J. Chaput
Synods are important events in the life of the Church, but nearly four weeks of discussing any subject can become wearying. It’s good to be home, and I’m grateful to all those who offered their prayers and support for the meeting’s success. - October 29, 2018
• Which Future for the Church?
A formerly evanescent creature called “Synodality” has been spotted with increasing frequency in these last days of the Synod on Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment (to give the synod its full working title). - October 27, 2018
• Why Catholic Teaching Is ‘Increasingly Embarrassing’ to Church Leaders (Part 1)
In the first of this two-part interview, philosophy professor Thomas Pink explains why forgetting that we live in a fallen, unconverted world of largely unbaptized people has led many Church leaders to falsely believe the Church can peacefully dialogue with it. - October 23, 2018
• Analysis: Will LGBT debate define the youth synod?
As the fifteenth ordinary general session of the Synod of Bishops draws to a close in Rome, the proposed text of the final document is expected to emerge presently. - October 23, 2018
• On The Verge
The first draft of the final document of the Synod on Youth is being given to the bishops today – many of you may already know something about that by the time you read this, given the six-hour time difference between Rome and the East Coast of America. - October 23, 2018
• Reflections on Archbishop Viganò’s Courageous Third Letter
In thin-skinned times such as these, Archbishop Viganò’s most recent letter shines forth as a clarion call to Catholics everywhere. - October 22, 2018
• What It Takes to Repair the Church
COMMENTARY: An event that took place more than 800 years ago in a rundown church in San Damiano, Italy, is most relevant to our staggering time. - October 21, 2018
• McCarrick Scandal Spotlights Bishops’ Appointment Process
Does the failure to act on reports of the disgraced ex-cardinal’s alleged sexual misconduct reflect problems with the Church’s process of appointing bishops, or were established practices ignored? - October 20, 2018
• Cardinal Wuerl's Resignation a Case of Lost Credibility
COMMENTARY: His resignation Oct. 12 was due more than anything else to the fact that his priests didn’t believe he was telling the truth about Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. - October 12, 2018
• Seven Notable Points From Cardinal Ouellet’s ‘Viganò Letter’
COMMENTARY: While it points backward to St. John Paul and Benedict XVI and their senior officials, it also raises questions about those presently in office. - October 10, 2018
• Viganò & Ouellet: What have we learned about the McCarrick case?
Archbishop Theodore McCarrick has begun a life of prayer and penance in a monastery in Kansas. In any other circumstances, a cleric beginning something akin to an ecclesiastical life sentence would quickly fade from public consciousness. But while McCarrick is now out of sight, he remains very much in mind – both in the United States and Rome. - October 10, 2018
• Do Vatican Officials See Abuse Crisis as a Referendum on the Pope?
ANALYSIS: Many U.S. Catholics wonder how much time the Pope needs to initiate a comprehensive response to a crisis they view as systemic: more complex than the situation of any particular abusing priest or bishop, and broader in scope than the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. - October 8, 2018
• On McCarrick scandal, Vatican responses are tardy, not reassuring
Finally there is some movement. This weekend the Vatican began responding to the dismay of the laity over the McCarrick scandal. The responses are certainly tardy, and still not terribly reassuring. But they are responses, at least; the “stonewall” approach is breaking down. - October 8, 2018
• Two New Statements and the Church's Trust Deficit
Two statements came out from the Vatican over the weekend, basically during the pause in the Synod for the Sunday observances. Both dealt with the McCarrick case, and were partly a reaction to the constant presence of that case and – indirectly – other abuse cases in synodal conversations about the Church and young people. - October 8, 2018
• Put Vigano on Trial?
The thoroughly distasteful melodrama-in-letters playing out before our eyes must stop. Pope Francis has the power to stop it. He should order Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to stand trial in open ecclesiastical court, for the crimes of slander and violation of the pontifical secret. - October 8, 2018
• We Need to Know: Silence Is Not An Option in the Abuse Crisis
EDITORIAL: For the sake of the Church’s future, we need concrete and credible answers from the Vatican — and we need these answers soon. - October 7, 2018
• Papal Aspirations: Day One
Weighing official communications about a Synod – unofficial sources are usually known quantities with greater or lesser degrees of reliability – has always been a guessing game. - October 4, 2018