Catholic thoughts

Confirmation: What exactly is it for?

[Why isn’t Baptism enough? Why another one-time sacrament of initiation?]

May 13 • SDG

Pope Leo actually calls out Trump’s lies

[OK, NOW the pope and Trump are feuding?!]

May 6 • SDG

Bishop Barron vs. Pope Leo? War and Church teaching

[LONGREAD: The president and the pope really are at odds. Bishop Barron seems to want to separate them into non-overlapping magisteria.]

Apr 22 • SDG

Pope: [is Catholic]; Trump & Vance: ‘Not like that’

[LONGREAD: hubris, hectoring, lies, and damned lies]

Apr 17 • SDG

How could Thomas disbelieve? How could Peter deny? How could all the disciples doubt?

[reflections for the Second Sunday in Easter]

Apr 10 • SDG

Pope Leo: on Trumpian war blasphemy. Bishop Barron: still on Mamdani ‘collectivism.’

[two episcopal Chicago natives, two very different scopes of what concerns them]

Mar 31 • SDG

What happened to Bishop Barron? Part 2: The MAGAfication of a US bishop

[LONGREAD: What’s the biggest threat to U.S. democracy today? Would you believe … Marxism?!]

Mar 12

Immigration, deportation, and Catholic principles: 21 points

[UPDATED: on the “intrinsic evil” of deportation]

Mar 3 • SDG

Pope Leo, A.I. ‘homilies,’ and true preaching

[Homiletics 101: You don’t know how to write a homily … and neither do I]

Feb 27 • SDG

What happened to Bishop Barron? Part 1

[LONGREAD: lament of a former fan]

Feb 19 • SDG

Prayers to Dorothy Day and other noncanonized people who have died

[a note on Catholic praxis and teaching]

Feb 13 • SDG

Newark’s Cardinal Tobin: Defund lawless ICE

[Catholic pastoral messaging in the Trump era]

Jan 27 • SDG

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