Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of... Read more
At least since Vatican II there has been discussion about married clergy in the Western Church, with many people advocating for it to address the vocations crisis, and with equal numbers arguing in support of the current discipline. Often missing from these discussions is the fact that the Church has been quietly experimenting with married clergy in the Latin Church (as opposed to the Greek Churches, which have always had a married clergy). Beginning under Pope John Paul II, exceptions... Read more
Vox Nova is pleased to present the following guest post by Ben Johnson. The turbulence and division caused by the most recent presidential election reminds me that we are not immune to chaos. We are in an already shaken nation. No matter how safe we feel, destructive, chaotic events simply occur in nature and take us by surprise when they do. What will we do when we are swept into it? How can we calm the storm? One hopeful answer,... Read more
Last April, a number of prominent Catholic scholars and organizations focused on peacemaking (including my fellow “Mennonite Catholic” Gerald Schlabach) gathered at the Vatican for a conference on “the Catholic Church’s history of and commitment to nonviolence” (which has become the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative). The phrasing is key: while some may portray the conference’s call for the Catholic Church to “recommit to the centrality of Gospel nonviolence”, whether favorably or unfavorably, as a hoped-for break with tradition, magisterial reexamination of the subject is... Read more
This post is sort of related to the recent post on Trump’s election, but it is much more personal. Let me start with a story. About forty-five years ago, when I was six or seven, my family quit our parish, St. Patrick’s, and moved to Annunciation, the adjacent parish. I was young, and though my mother told me some of the story in later years, I am not sure that I know all the details. Apparently, my brother and his... Read more
It appears that all of us on Vox Nova have been on hiatus for the past month. This is in part due to the natural rhythms of the season – for those of us affiliated with universities, this is a hectic time. Speaking for myself, however, all I can say is that I have felt at a loss for words. One month ago today, half of the country was rejoicing, while the other half felt shocked, appalled, and aggrieved. If... Read more
Mending Wall By Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I... Read more
This will not be about voting. It is, however, about lying awake imagining all the possible quasi-apocalyptic outcomes and after-effects of the impending election. I am truly hard-pressed to think of any realistically possible good outcome – of the election itself, of the probable backlash, or of the one or the other set of scandals and indiscretions that will inevitably plague the next presidency before it even starts. Despite my repeated insistence on where Christians’ ultimate hope and allegiance are, I must confess: the... Read more
It was August 1, 2016. Groggy from a red-eye flight, I found myself moving in a trance-like state, barely able to make sense of what was happening around me. Just three days earlier I had been in Poland, surrounded by thousands of young Catholics from around the world, praying the Stations of the Cross with Pope Francis. Now, jet-lagged and exhausted, I was walking among the real Stations of the Cross, the original Via Dolorosa. I could barely believe my... Read more
Polarization in the US Catholic Church: Naming the Wounds, Beginning to Heal. Edited by Mary Ellen Konieczny, Charles C. Camosy and Tricia C. Bruce Liturgical Press, 2016 Universality – that is, small ¨c¨ catholicity – and, therefore, unity amid diversity are fundamental to Roman Catholicism. But in recent years, divisions around issues that are by now all too familiar – perhaps most notably, issues of gender, sexuality and authority – have rent the Catholic Church in the United States. –... Read more
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