The things we most cherish demand a “Platonic turn,” one that reaches into the muck of incomplete ideas, and with a bit of virtuous unknowing produces a glimpse of goodness worthy of deep affection.

The sooner we reject false fatalism, the sooner we can get on with addressing the Church's deepest problems at their root.

We should demand bishops who are willing to accept their "special responsibility." And we should strive to be as harmonious as possible.

For all the failures of the American bishops, it would be foolish to suppose they're anything less than successors to the Apostles. But if we believe this, we should vigorously demand it. 

The youth synod is timely, but extremely ironic. We can't really hope that trends in faith or vocations will change anytime soon.

My Catholic identity still rests on elements of faith instilled in my childhood. Not on a keen sense for sniffing out good churchmen.

There are three falsehoods I'd like to avoid, and that I'd like to make clear in case they weren't before. "Enlightened civic discourse" demands nothing less.

Kavanaugh's confirmation process has both enshrined Trumpian sexual deviancy and rendered the pro-life cause itself finally and utterly worthless.

The Catechism, today, shows more about the distortions of Catholic intellectualism than a failure by the Church to teach the truth.

Francis's teaching on capital punishment represents a discontinuity in the life of the Church. But one that highlights a deeper continuity.

We believe there's a secret option, that there are better political instincts than those that have been tried before.

We're all victims, and enablers, in a culture of addiction that's endemic to Christians as much as anyone else.

What good happens in spite of my shortcomings, because of my nature, isn't an accident, but a participation in God's life, and in his design for fatherhood.

The present moment, both for the Church and for humanity, is one that we should entrust a bit more to "jesuitical" brilliance.

The cure to materialism is equally caustic. It affects our scientific mind, and even dimensions of our apparent psychological well-being.

For Christians to be politically significant, we must do more than just participate in the political activities that are handed to us. We must set a political agenda through our personal choices.

Someone who wants everything to be clear and sure presumes to control God’s transcendence.

Our model for sifting faithfulness is broken. What makes Christian faith attractive is the claim it lays to things beyond our rational horizons.

Does permanence cut against the remaining shreds of humanity left for social networking? Or does anonymity pose too much risk for forming accountable, human structures for communication?

Stifling Pope Benedict's voice, who is perhaps the moral theologian par excellence, endangers not only the clarity of the moral message of the Church, but the formation of all Christian consciences.