Author: S&P

A few days after Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s appointment as head of a Vatican “peace mission” to “help ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine” (as Vatican News put it), a startling picture appeared on p. A1 of the Washington Post. That graphic image illustrated just how daunting a task Cardinal Zuppi and the Vatican Secretariat of State face. For it was a satellite photo of Bakhmut, a city in easter...

By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Jun 02, 2023 Maybe I misread the headline, or maybe its wording was changed after I first saw it. Whatever the reason, I looked at this CNA report and saw (or thought I saw): “Cuban priest: 64 years is enough to prove the revolution didn’t work.” The priest in question was talking specifically about the Cuban revolution, and of course he was ...

Recently, I watched a 2017 interview with author Kazuo Ishiguro, talking about his 1988 novel Remains of the Day. He at one point made the statement that most of us, like the novel’s protagonist (a stoic and loyal British butler), essentially inhabit small worlds. As a mother, I find myself reflecting often upon my own small world. It is countercultural to accept, much less embrace, the smallness ...

What’s the point of reading fiction? Wouldn’t it just be better to read works of theology and the spiritual life? Well, I wouldn’t replace spiritual reading with fiction. Novels and shorts stories, however, do make a contribution to Catholic life and culture by engaging our imagination in a vicarious engagement with human action, exploring the psychology of characters in a way that helps us to und...

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Bay Village priest is facing backlash after saying the church is “under attack” and referencing a pro-LGBTQ nonprofit in a sermon Sunday. The Mass was interrupted when someone stood up and challenged the issue. Later, police were called to an incident outside of the house of worship. During a service at St. Raphael Parish, the Rev. Timothy W. Gareau, the church’s pastor, refere...