A look at Catholic Parler

December 4, 2020 By Brian Fraga

Until recently, I had not been interested in downloading and signing up for an account on Parler, the new social media app popular in right wing circles. Months ago, there was supposed to have been an exodus of American conservatives, Catholics included, seeking refuge from the “censorship” of Facebook and Twitter, which in the past year or so have been cracking down on accounts sharing misinformation about the coronavirus and American elections, as well as hate speech, violent threats, harassment,... Read more

Post-Trump, A New Catholic Approach to Political Engagement Is Needed

November 20, 2020 By Brian Fraga

It should go without saying, but we’re not living in “normal times” in 2020. Apart from a pandemic that is once again raging through the country and prompting a new wave of hospitalizations and COVID-19 deaths, we just had an election where the loser, President Donald Trump, is refusing to concede his defeat to Joe Biden. We’re also wrapping up four years of a presidential administration that from Day 1 was a whirlwind of various petty scandals, angry Twitter outbursts,... Read more

Covering Father Michael McGivney’s Beatification: A Picture Diary

November 3, 2020 By Brian Fraga

I had the privilege of covering the Oct. 31 beatification Mass of Father Michael McGivney, the 19th century parish priest who founded the Knights of Columbus. As I wrote in a subsequent news analysis on Blessed McGivney, Church leaders believe the holiness of his life has important lessons to teach the faithful in a time of division and polarization, in and outside the Church. They also hope his example and elevation to the ranks of the blessed can remind all... Read more

Catholic Media Spotlight: Pope Francis and Civil Unions

October 28, 2020 By Brian Fraga

Father Brian Massingale was in a Zoom meeting last Wednesday morning when his phone began to “blow up” with elated text messages from his friends, many of them Catholics who identify as gay. “They were universally jubilant,” Father Massingale said in describing his friends’ reactions to reports that Pope Francis, in a new documentary, had expressed his personal support for civil unions for same-sex couples. Father Massingale, a theologian and ethicist at Fordham University who himself is gay, told me... Read more

USCCB Religious Liberty Chairman Applauds HHS Move to Ensure Spiritual Care During COVID-19

October 22, 2020 By Brian Fraga

Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty, applauded this week’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights that it has taken action to ensure hospital patients have access to spiritual care during the novel coronavirus pandemic. “Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, gave us the sacraments to convey God’s grace and healing,” Archbishop Wenski said in prepared remarks. Said the... Read more

A look into the People of Praise

October 20, 2020 By Brian Fraga

I recently wrote about the People of Praise covenanted community for Our Sunday Visitor. You might have seen some other stories about PoP in secular media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post. The community has gotten a lot of scrutiny lately because of Judge Amy Coney Barrett and her all-but-inevitable confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. From my story: Barrett, who currently sits as a judge for the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago,... Read more

Guilt Tripping and Manipulation: A Catholic Campaign Strategy?

October 20, 2020 By Brian Fraga

If someone’s go-to political strategy is to warn people that they are fake Catholics or hell-bound unless they vote for a specific candidate, that tells you they have no real argument. Unable to persuade you by facts, reason and logic why their candidate deserves your vote, they try to emotionally manipulate or scare you. If anything, they should disqualify themselves from your support and you would be advised to ignore their toxic campaign messages. I’ve been seeing a lot of... Read more

Catholic Takes on Whether Police Can Be Reformed or Need to Be Defunded, even Abolished

October 19, 2020 By Brian Fraga

The Biden-Harris campaign has gone to some lengths to distance itself from the “Defund the Police” movement, which the Trump campaign and its surrogates are all to eager to associate with the Democratic ticket. But the debate over whether police departments can be reformed or need to be defunded – even abolished – is playing out on the streets, in universities and in op-ed pages, including in America Media, which recently published two columns online from Catholic academics with opposing... Read more

EWTN CEO Endorses Donald Trump for President

October 19, 2020 By Brian Fraga

EWTN CEO Michael Warsaw only mentions Donald Trump by name once, and never tells the reader specifically who to vote for. But the takeaway from his “Publisher’s Note” in the National Catholic Register on Oct. 17 is unmistakably clear. In Warsaw’s view, a vote for Trump is a vote for a vision of America as “a great country, with much to offer,” where the Christian faith is embraced and religious freedom is protected, and where the right to life is... Read more