In coming days it is obligatory for all preachers to dust off their “Keep Christ in Christmas” sermon. The villain is commercialism. The remedy is to shop less, donate time or money to the less fortunate and to increase one’s prayer. I’m tired of this message. My concern, particularly during Advent, is my inadequate appreciation for Christ’s Incarnation and consequently my distraction from the true locus of Christ’s church. In a recent column Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI paraphrases a social... Read more

In a sense every sincere Christian is evangelical because the word means to live and proclaim the gospel, the good news of Jesus. From the mid-1700s there emerged a distinct evangelical movement within Protestant Christianity. The word movement is important. Some denominations are entirely evangelical, some congregations within a mainline Protestant denomination are evangelical and a small group within any one or another Christian church can have evangelical fervor. Plus, as this article will detail, in recent times the term... Read more

Here are suggestions for improving a Catholic’s appreciation for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Number one. Instead of the usual binary choice (symbol or real presence), let the next survey include a third option like: The Eucharist is both really Christ and a symbol of a convivial dinner, of an intimate relationship, of self-sacrifice, of collective action as well as a preview of heaven. Let’s see what such a survey reveals. Polar positions on the Eucharist gradually... Read more

Pope Gregory XVI (1765-1846) opposed gas street lamps and railroad engines. Although these examples are silly today, Catholicism’s cautious stance toward modern advancements had some merit. For example, our modern notion of individual liberty is a monumental achievement of modern thinking.  But Gregory XVI was well aware of the downside. The French Revolution (1789-1799), waged under the banner of liberty, was accompanied by Reign of Terror. It involved over 16,000 executions, including many clergy and religious. Property was confiscated; Catholic... Read more

International Workers Day (May Day), the counterpart to our September Labor Day, was inspired by an 1886 event here in Chicago. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor obtained a city permit for a May rally/demonstration in the Haymarket area (now a trendy restaurant spot).  Late in the evening someone at the rally threw dynamite. Police began to fire wildly into the dwindling crowd. Soon seven officers and four workers were dead. Eight workers were quickly rounded up, including a... Read more

A major cause of our loneliness epidemic is the 50-year deterioration of intermediate-sized groups—ethnic clubs, lodges, parishes, neighborhood associations, precincts, young adult clubs and even families. The extended family no longer lives within walking distance. Seniors relocate among strangers; their children often live in other towns. A person who uses a social media platform has, on average, about 150 “friends.” Several surveys reveal that if friendship implies steady, close and dependable, the actual number is less than five. Gallup Poll... Read more

I’m against social distancing. I’m into physical distancing instead. There is already too much social distance in our country. Covid-19 is accompanied by a dramatic increase in the amount of time people spend alone. “People last year spent far less waking time—an hour and a half less [per day], on average—with people outside their own household,” write Ben Casselman and Ella Koeze in N.Y. Times (7/29/21), summarizing a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov). Time spent all... Read more

The Working Catholic by Bill Droel Modern Catholic social doctrine dates from May 1891 with the publication of On the Condition of Labor by Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903). Customarily, social encyclicals are subsequently released on significant anniversaries of On the Condition of Labor. In May 1981 Mehmet Ali Agca, a criminal from Turkey, shot Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) in St. Peter’s Square. Thus John Paul II’s anniversary encyclical was delayed until September 1981. It is titled On Human Work.... Read more

The Working Catholic: Labor Day Part IIby Bill Droel Covid-19 brings us an opportunity to experiment with different work arrangements, including shorter hours. For example, the 100 employees at Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com), a popular crowd-funding platform, will work four days per week in 2022, a minimum of 32 hours. Their pay remains the same as when the company required 40 hours. Aziz Hasan, Kickstarter CEO, says this is not a gimmick. “It’s really about…a more potent impact… [And] it opens up... Read more

The Working Catholic: Shrine, Statue and Boat by Bill Droel Three Catholic women, champions of the poor, are honored with landmarks in lower Manhattan. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, SC (1774-1821) came from a prominent New York City family and married a wealthy merchant. But difficulties arrived soon enough, including the death of her husband to tuberculosis. Thereafter Seton became a Catholic and moved to Maryland. There she established a Catholic academy for girls; the first Catholic school in the U.S.... Read more