The Working Catholic: After Covid by Bill Droel The parish’s live-stream Mass should continue. In fact, we should invest in a second camera and even consider some programming during the week. No, say other parish leaders. Live stream was helpful, but its continuation will discourage people from returning to the church building. Similar questions are raised about parish meetings via Zoom; about the merits of investing more time and money in the parish website; about the viability of the parish... Read more

The Working Catholic: Truth by Bill Droel God has a plan and God plants purposefulness inside God’s creation. The universe has an order, even though we do not yet completely know all about it. Behavior is purposeful, even if we sometimes are guided by impulse or at times violate the intended purpose of nature and life. Events are meaningful, even if our complete understanding of them eludes us. As God’s purposeful partners, we are capable of imposing meaning even on... Read more

Lent is the time for particular attention to sinfulness. Yet this year as in years past an increasing number of Catholics and others forego participation in the sacrament of reconciliation (aka confession). Why? The dominant explanation is that workaday Christians simply do not feel sinful. Our culture is saturated with psychological language about self-fulfillment, replacing the language of evil. Yesterday’s poor behavior is merely a step on the way to a better self. As particularly related to sinfulness, the insights... Read more

  Elite liberalism is the default philosophy in our society. (This modified liberalism is not liberalism in the sense of Democratic Party. Both Republicans and Democrats subscribe to elite liberalism, particularly those in Silicon Valley, in Los Angeles, in lower Manhattan, in the Beltway, on college campuses and in technical hubs.) This liberal philosophy prizes individual freedom and individual achievements. It believes in self-improvement; that is, in meritocracy. Thus inequality is justified with the saying: “What you earn depends on... Read more

The Working Catholic: Populism by Bill Droel The term populism is wrongly applied to authoritarians like Viktor Orban in Hungry and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey or to right-wing politicians like Marine Le Pen in France or President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasil. Nor does it have anything to do with those inspired by former president Donald Trump, writes Thomas Frank in The People, No (Henry Holt Co., 2020). To use the word populist to describe demagogues and wannabe revolutionaries inverts... Read more

  Can fashion design be a Christian vocation? No, because isn’t it true that the entire apparel industry is corrupt—from its sweatshops to the manipulative designers to dishonest marketing and sales?  And, isn’t it true that fashion contributes nothing to culture or society? And, isn’t it true that there is over-the-top flamboyance in the industry? Bill Cunningham (1929-2016) pursued his vocation in the real world of fashion. His interest began in grammar school and stayed constant as he thoroughly participated... Read more

The young adult activists who inspired the world this past summer now have the challenge of translating their fervor into practical reform. It is the transition from mobilizing to governance. The founders of our country were more prepared for the transition to governance than other revolutionaries, argues Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). She compares France to the United States in her classic On Revolution (Penguin, 1963). By the time of their 1787 meeting in Philadelphia, our founders were able to craft a... Read more

Small is beautiful. No bigger than necessary. Act local; think global. Deborah Fallows and James Fallows (he, a longtime national correspondent for Atlantic magazine) were traveling these recent years. Not by car or train; their transportation mode was a single-engine airplane. They spent two weeks in each of 25 towns and a shorter time in 25 more. Many places are “doing better in most ways than most Americans realize,” they write in Our Towns (Pantheon Books, 2018). A popular tendency,... Read more

A couple years ago we spent some days after Thanksgiving in Milwaukee. One purpose of the trip was Christmas shopping. Thus we found ourselves in a large shopping mall. I sat on a bench with my coffee while my wife heated-up our credit card. A young Pakistani-American woman and her baby sat down next to me. An older, well-dressed woman approached and presumably mistaking me for the grandfather said: “You are lucky. This child is a great hope to us... Read more

The term populism is wrongly applied to authoritarians like Viktor Orban in Hungry and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey or to right-wing politicians like Marine Le Pen in France or President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasil. Nor does it have anything to do with those inspired by former president Donald Trump, writes Thomas Frank in The People, No (Henry Holt Co., 2020). To use the word populist to describe demagogues and wannabe revolutionaries inverts its meaning. This error leads to a... Read more