Rebecca Bratten Weiss

"Flirting with authoritarianism is, in a sense, part of the Catholic tradition — the part that far-right radical traditionalists want to reclaim," writes Rebecca Bratten Weiss. 

If the bishops had listened to the many Catholics who raised the alarm about Trump early on, we might have avoided our current disastrous national trajectory. Their belated response is also a failure of synodality.

"The '80s may be 'once upon a time,' " writes Rebecca Bratten Weiss, but "The show's themes of government overreach and the exploitation of women are pressingly relevant." 

 Writer and actor Marianne Leone's St. Christina the Astonishing presents a figure of liberation, inspired in part by the author's experiences in an immigrant family in 1960s Boston. 

Cinema tends to reduce female characters to stereotypes, and nuns are not exempt. While some recent films (and a TV show) have upended the stereotype, there are still nun stories we aren't telling.

Paul Elie's exploration of the struggle between art and faith in the 1980s offers valuable insights for anyone seeking clarity on faith in public life today.

The culture’s fascination with Francis’ papacy indicated a hunger for the simplicity and humility he projected. It was an antidote we craved.

Amidst the gore and guts and body horror, Rebecca Bratten Weiss says "The Substance" is a subversive vindication of female self-worth.

In Advent Scripture readings, we hear much about joy and peace. But so, too, do we hear about wrath and judgment; and this year, Rebecca Bratten Weiss writes, that feels validating.

Anyone serious about reducing abortion will focus on building a strong economy that serves the working and middle classes, with robust safety nets and accessible, affordable resources, writes Rebecca Bratten Weiss.

"Christian rage at drag queens representing a Gospel scene indicates that many have forgotten what it means to live that Gospel in a diverse and rapidly changing world," writes Rebecca Bratten Weiss.

Some claim that purity culture keeps women and girls safe from sexual abuse and assault. But Rebecca Bratten Weiss argues that allowance for abuse, manipulation, cover-ups and victim shaming is woven into its very fibers.

 "Father Justin" debacle makes Rebecca Bratten Weiss "wonder whether some Catholics would be more likely to welcome a robot pope overlord than they would be to accept a woman in a position of ministerial leadership."

Conservative Catholics frequently reference Paul VI's prognostications in an attempt to connect sexual abuse with contraceptive use. But ignoring millennia of history simply isn't arguing in good faith.

Even though Roe v. Wade was overturned, the U.S. bishops still name abortion as their top priority. But for all their fixation, they haven't bothered to learn much about it, Rebecca Bratten Weiss notes.

Rebecca Bratten Weiss once believed it was her Christian obligation to forge friendships across ideological lines. But over time, she has realized that setting boundaries can be a valid Christian response. 

Much of the division in the church is a symptom of deep-rooted injustices inflicted on marginalized groups, says Rebecca Bratten Weiss, so any solution has to go beyond simply finding common ground.

The ways maleness, femaleness, sex and reproduction occur across different species and kingdoms in the natural world make clear that categories of male and female reside on a spectrum. 

Rebecca Bratten Weiss prefers Gothic architecture and older styles of European music, but that doesn't mean that her preferences are the only ways to be reverent at Mass.

Recent notable Catholic converts seem to be attracted less to the church founded by Jesus, and more to a powerful institution that has, historically, sometimes allied with oppressors instead of with the oppressed.