Catholics need to speak up for press freedom. As Jesuit Fr. John Courtney Murray put it in 1963: "The freedom of the press to inform is nothing really but the other side of the rights of the people to be informed."
No straight path exists to sort the way through Catholic-Jewish tensions when Israel's resort to violence raises objections in many quarters. Yet we can show the world examples of love that overcome fear and division.
We should not be surprised if Catholics are asked to pay a price for what their leaders are compelled to do in service of the Gospel. Sometimes the Gospel requires that we bear a burden.
We are encouraged by the bishops who have spoken out against the Trump administration's assault on human dignity. But to those bishops who have remained silent, we ask one simple question: What are you waiting for?
Authoritarianism thrives on resignation. This is why the most urgent task before us is not simply political opposition, but moral recovery. We must relearn what it means to be a people capable of nonviolent resistance.
With his invasion of Venezuela and capture of its leader, President Trump dares us to take stock, dares us to say that he has gone too far, and dares us to engage in acts of resistance equal to his destructive behavior.
