Theological Errors in Catholic Political Analysis, and the Concept of “Intrinsic Evil”

October 22, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer Jared D. Carl We must be on guard against theological errors lurking behind ostensibly Catholic political analysis and commentary. Too often, partisan politics obscures bad theology. That’s because we like the political conclusion, so we don’t question the underlying theological assumptions, or we accept them as “Catholic” at face value. As a result, pernicious theological errors creep into our lives through our politics, corrupting our faith and moral conscience. A perfect example of this is... Read more

Gaudete et Exsulate, Pope Francis, and the Abortion Question in U.S. Politics

October 8, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer Jared D. Carl Once again, Catholics have emerged as a crucial constituency in presidential politics. Both President Trump and former Vice President Biden are courting Catholics, each one laying out why they’re the true pro-life candidate. Catholic writers and advocacy groups have also joined the fray, arguing for this or that candidate, with some actually trivializing the issue of abortion. Perhaps surprisingly, the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsulate has become a key component of this strategy. But... Read more

Navigating Abortion Politics as a Catholic and an American

August 25, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer William M. Shea, PhD The background to this argument is my acute awareness of the two century long tension between being a Roman Catholic and being an American. I don’t at all think that Catholics thought or felt that there was any difficulty with being both but Protestant Americans surely did and they carped on it endlessly. They thought the papacy was a danger to democracy and lay Catholics were political sheep. A few... Read more

Discovering God’s Love After Growing Up In an Abusive Catholic Home

August 23, 2020 By guest writer

by guest contributor For anyone who has grown up in a Catholic household with abusive parents, there is a day of reckoning (many days, weeks, honestly, years of reckoning) that must take place before the love of God can even begin to make sense, before it can be internalized and then become a lived truth. When the foundational aspect of parental love is lacking or broken or conditional or abusive, you’re building your life, and your entire point of... Read more

Bernstein’s Mass: Not Just Liturgy, But Cultural and Theological Commentary

August 19, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer Gregory Moomjy Bernstein’s Mass was written for the opening of the Kennedy center in Washington D.C. As such, Bernstein wanted to write a piece that would reflect something essential about President Kennedy. Bernstein chose to focus on the president’s faith because to date he is the only Catholic president in U.S. history. However, the piece is not a straightforward setting of the Catholic liturgy. Rather, it is a theater piece built around the ritual of... Read more

The Role of Theocracy in Verdi’s Don Carlo

June 3, 2020 By guest writer

This is part of a series of reflections on opera, religion, and culture by guest writer Gregory Moomjy Being an opera lover from such a young age, my understanding of my favorite operas deepened as I grew older. For instance, when I first saw Verdi’s La Traviata (1853) when I was eight years old, I had no concept of the importance of family honor in 18th century Europe. (At the time I was more interested in spotting... Read more

Personal Faith and Manipulative Religion in Puccini’s “Tosca”

May 20, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer Gregory Moomjy As an opera lover, I know how easy it is to make fun of operatic tropes. Perhaps none is easier to lampoon than that of the put-upon soprano dying for love in the end. To be sure, there are many operas where this is the case. Unfortunately, tropes have a way of dampening the gravitas of their subject matter. And Puccini’s Tosca (1900) has fallen victim to this pattern. Tosca is a unique opera... Read more

Has Pope Francis Betrayed His Supporters By Failing to Enact Reform?

May 14, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer William M. Shea This is a follow up to a previous piece addressing criticisms of the pope by progressive Catholics. I think that Jamie Manson [NCR 4/14/20] in her recent column on Pope Francis is journalist on a crusade. There is nothing wrong with that. Thank God for journalists on crusades! Had it not been for Jason Berry and Spotlight we might still be in the dark about sexual corruption among our clergy. They kicked... Read more

Is Pope Francis Blocking Women’s Progress In the Church?

May 10, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer William M. Shea Christopher Lamb, in an interview by Charles Collins [Crux 4/29/20], makes this comment: “For liberals, Francis is too conservative and for conservatives he’s too liberal.The pope is an old-fashioned Jesuit who can’t be put into a box.” (Crux 4/29/20) Throughout his seven year pontificate Francis has undone the stereotypical image of the papacy, even more than John XXIII of happy memory. He has proven to be such for many it seems, not least for... Read more

Religion and Morality in Verdi’s ‘Otello’

May 5, 2020 By guest writer

by guest writer Gregory Moomjy As children, we all have formative experiences. Perhaps few rival that of the great composer, Giuseppe Verdi. Serving as an altar boy in Busseto, Italy at the age of seven, Verdi was once so transfixed by the beauty of the church organ, that he missed his cue to provide holy water during mass. Unfortunately, his slight was met with a frustrated kick from the presiding priest, causing the maestro to fall down several steps. In... Read more