Perspective: God's story is more like these fairy tales, pieces of a great narrative tapestry that stretch back further than we can know. We're still weaving it together. We're still imagining what it might become.
Commentary, Part 2 of 3: For years, bishops proclaimed the sanctity of life in the womb while playing musical chairs with child molesters. They kept the closed system operating, until insiders leaked information.
The Peace Pulpit: There has to be very well developed programs so that when a person is ordained a priest — that person is basically healthy, psychosexually and psychologically. If we don't do those kinds of reforms, the situation will not get better.
Appreciation: Jason Berry remembers Richard Sipe, a major voice in the clergy sexual abuse scandal, and the metaphor for a conflicted church that was Sipe's feud with Andrew Greeley.
Humanae Vitae at 50: The present situation rests on a significant difference between the official hierarchical teaching and the position of Catholics. The total church should be primarily concerned about moral truth, but the contemporary situation prescinds from this important issue of moral truth.
Just Catholic: It's important to consider the other person's point of view, but if you visit the "Heavenly Bodies" exhibit at the Met, get ready: It's about as "other" as you can get.
Book Review: Lakeland's book returns toward its end to the idea of the Catholic imagination, which is ultimately a sacramental one. Fiction can offer a world infused by grace in a manner that nonfiction and poetry might struggle to get across.
