“It could be said that present-day man does not think things through to the end.”1 Karol Cardinal Wojtyla delivered that fine bit of understatement in 1976, at the outset of the spiritual conferences he gave to the Roman Curia that Lent. At the time, his primary concern seems to have been the tendency of secular men and women to falter in the search for truth, for, as Archbishop of Krakow, he was daily confronted...

Revelation 22 is the final chapter of the Bible, and verse 20 contains Jesus’s final words in all of Sacred Scripture. And yet, with almost 2,000 years having elapsed since Christ’s Ascension into heaven, the modern reader might reasonably ask what exactly Jesus meant when He said that He is coming “soon.” The Greek word for “soon” used in these verses is tachy, which can also be translated “quickly.” The same adverb is used in Matthew 28:8...

One of my fondest memories growing up in the 1980s was the weekly Saturday afternoon creature double feature that used to play on our local UHF station in Detroit. Before the era of streaming and 4k Blu-rays, almost every major city in America had a channel that regularly showed movies like this. My favorite films during this time were the Godzilla films. The tone of these films began in a somber way, but as the series progressed, they catered more to children...

It may not be an official agenda item. But a top priority for the U.S. bishops at their fall meeting next week in Baltimore may well be to get off on the right foot with Pope Leo XIV. Elected in May, Leo’s papacy comes after a complicated 12-year relationship between his predecessor, Pope Francis, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The two parties were widely viewed to be out of sync, with the USCCB facing criticism for downplaying papal priorities and Francis regularly bypassing conference leadership for key appointments.

This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Dedication of the St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. Founded in 324, it’s Rome’s oldest church, the oldest basilica on earth, and a sign of the victory and perseverance of the Church after hundreds of years of Roman persecution. But why do Catholics make such a big deal out of places of worship? Some people criticize our cathedrals and ask...

Pope Leo XIV said artificial intelligence should support the church’s mission of evangelization, urging Catholic technologists and venture capitalists gathered in Rome to build systems that help spread the Gospel. “Whether designing algorithms for Catholic education, tools for compassionate health care, or creative platforms that tell the Christian story with truth and beauty, each participant contributes to a shared mission: to place technology at the service of evangelization and the integral development of every person,” the pope wrote. Pope Leo’s message was read aloud...

You can tell a lot from verbs. In the cleansing of the Temple scene from the Gospel of John this Sunday, you get some violent ones: Jesus “made a whip,” “drove them all out,” “spilled the coins” and “overturned the tables.” Why was he so angry? Not to exact vengeance, but to correct vices: Priests and merchants were gouging a captive market for sacrificial animals and demanding fees to change money from various regions...

Next week is the USCCB Fall Plenary Assembly. I am not making any predictions about what kind of session it will be this year because, frankly, I really do think it could go either way. The bishops are due to convene for the first time under the Leonine pontificate — in which the first American pope has already made it abundantly clear he takes a dim view of publicly fractious exchanges...

The identity of a teacher is often misperceived as an individual who simply conveys information, regurgitates concepts, and assesses a student's academic competency. In many ways, the entire educational process resembles an assembly line of concepts that aim to construct a functional student from a utilitarian perspective. The thought of guiding a student to utilize their intellect, will, faith, and reason...

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