The Working Catholic: Too Much Talk by Bill Droel A book discussion group is a plus for a neighborhood. In fact, any neighborhood with several such groups likely has a strong social fabric. However, a discussion group is mistaken to think it is social action–even if its selections are current affairs. A small group gathers for breakfast after the 9 A.M. Mass.  Its regulars share parish comings-and-goings and the latest on clergy shenanigans around the country.  The breakfast club certainly... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine Part Eight by Bill Droel Always do for others what they cannot do for themselves. That’s the rule of charity. Never do for others what they can do for themselves. That’s the rule of freedom. The Catholic principle of subsidiarity maintains the tension between the two. It guides the interplay of functions. It prevents charity from becoming disabling help and prevents freedom from becoming selfishness or libertarianism. Both extremes violate both charity and justice. The... Read more

The Working Catholic: Sin by Bill Droel U.S. Catholic participation in the sacraments has declined for nearly 55 years. Fewer weddings, fewer priestly ordinations, fewer sick people receive a sacramental anointing. Reception of the Eucharist is down, but not as dramatically as participation in the sacrament of reconciliation (aka confession). Confession has not lost its popularity because U.S. Catholics are suddenly angelic. It is because, as one theory has it, psychological categories have replaced moral categories. This is the thesis... Read more

The Working Catholic: Personnel Shortage by Bill Droel Nearly every nursing home is understaffed. The shortage is not new, but Covid-19 makes it acute. Since 2020 facilities across the country have seen 420,000 employees leave. Employers have difficulty paying competitive wages because insurance reimbursement is inadequate. The nurses and aides on hand are older. They have an increased case load and longer hours. Morale suffers. There are “several newly energized efforts to use robots and other technology to solve some... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine Part Seven by Bill Droel There are scores of books explaining Catholic social doctrine. The outline for many of them is a chronology of papal encyclicals (from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 On the Condition of Labor to Pope Francis’ 2020 On Social Friendship). Or the author might pick issues like peace, health care delivery, labor relations and the environment; quoting relevant official documents in each chapter.       The Church’s Best-Kept Secret by Mark Shea (New City... Read more

The Working Catholic: Abortion Stereotypes by Bill Droel One gets the impression nowadays that to be a member of the Democratic Party is to favor a woman’s autonomous right to unimpeded access to abortion, at least during the first six months of her pregnancy. Further, all Democrats supposedly favor the federal government as the guarantor of that right. In fact, many members of the Democratic Party have a textured view of the abortion issue. Some Democrats support Consistent Life organization... Read more

The Working Catholic: Routine by Bill Droel Clocks are everywhere because our modern economy needs to know the time. Our “regular measurement of time and the new mechanical conception of time arose in part out of the routine of the monastery,” writes Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) in Technics and Civilization (University of Chicago Press, 1934). It was long ago that Pope Sabinianus (d. 606) ordered bells to be rung seven times per day to alert the faithful to the liturgy of... Read more

The Working Catholic: Culture Despisers by Bill Droel Cardinal Francis George, OMI (1937-2015) of Chicago was a conservative who often bemoaned the defects in our society. Yet George insisted that people must love their society before they can improve it. Negativity ends in futile resentment, sometimes accompanied by violence. Those who despise can be found in marginal groups, including some with a religious appeal. In the Catholic Church, for example, some people are counting on the collapse of the institution.... Read more

The Working Catholic: Easter Mess by Bill Droel   Advent is Lent; Christmas contains Easter and Easter contains Christmas. The Incarnation is Redemption and Resurrection. Tom Stella (www.tomstella.org) of Soul Link in Colorado has a story: Once upon a time three monks were praying. The first imagined angels carrying him to heaven. The second imagined chanting while in the company of angels and saints. The third, quite distracted, imagined the variety of food awaiting him in the refectory.  Later the... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine, Part Five Catholicism ducked its appointment with modernity for about 400 years. Not until Vatican II (1962-1965) did Catholicism open the door to dialogue with the modern world—not a wholesale acceptance of every modern trend, but an engagement conducted with patience and sophistication. Catholicism opposed the Protestant Reformation (from 1517) because it was part of modern trends of individual standards, of sundry forms of worship and of authority structures unattached to Catholicism. Catholic officialdom was... Read more