Napa Institute

Distinctly Catholic: It will take more than COVID-19 to kill the ideologies of our day that distort our political landscape. But let's try slaying some of the ideological stupidities the crisis has brought into focus.

We say: The Catholic Church in the U.S. is for sale. Money provides individuals and groups entrée to the highest levels of church leadership and affords others an inordinately large say in church affairs.

Archbishop Charles Chaput has already presented his resignation notice to the pope, following church law as he turns 75 Sept. 26. Philadelphia Catholics spoke about Chaput's eight-year tenure, which will soon end.

Your thoughts: NCR readers are welcome to join the conversation and send us a letter to the editor. Below is a sampling of letters received in the month of July 2019.

At the closing address of the ninth annual Napa Institute conference, Republican Sen. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina delivered an entertaining appeal for the reelection of President Donald Trump.

We say: In placing Burke as the keynoter, the Napa Institute sent a clear signal of an attempt to reconstitute clericalism, rejecting the dynamism of Pope Francis' model of accompaniment.

Catholic commentator George Weigel and high-profile papal critic Cardinal Raymond Burke exhorted the predominantly affluent Catholic assembly at the ninth annual Napa Institute to fight pervasive error, division and apostasy in the church and embrace its immutable teachings.

After less than two decades on the air, EWTN claimed $49 million in assets and annual income from contributions of $19 million. Today, the financial support of its weathliest contributors correlates with the pro-Republican and anti-Francis editorial direction of the network's programming and news coverage.