Articles
- Last weekend, I was in Philadelphia for the Society for Catholic Liturgy. This “multidisciplinary association of Catholic scholars” seeks to promote the “scholarly study and practical renewal of the Church’s litur...
School as Personalist Community
Education is power. I’ve heard this many times, and I don’t disagree. However, our educational system is in crisis. Our diocesan schools are in crisis, and the solutions coming from the top don’t really seem to be helpi...
St. Francis of Assisi: Icon of the Hospitable Imagination
Jessica Keating argues, following St. Francis, that putting on Christ in baptism does not mean putting on only that part of Christ I agree with.
Liturgical Catechesis
Liturgical catechesis—the act of reorienting our lives in and by the liturgical act—is quite a hot topic in ministerial circles currently. Liturgical catechesis should allow the grace of God to work through the words, actions...The Perfect Family Is an Idol
Anna Keating, author of The Catholic Catalogue, discusses why the American idea of family, the nuclear family, is way too small.
One Story at a Time
Different stories are here at Notre Dame. It’s time to find them.Our Baptism in Ordinary Time
"Jesus answered, and said to him: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (Jn 3:3). We, the baptized, have been born anew. This can only sound routine if we have thoroughly domesticated our...Church Life is the Heart of the Catholic Imagination
Church life must once again become the heart of the Catholic imagination, but the onus of avoiding beauty’s revenge is not entirely upon the artists.Don’t Panic About Nones Who Stop Believing
Sooner or later—probably sooner rather than later these days—children stop believing in Santa Claus. My younger brother was an exception to this rule, although to be fair there were a lot more cultural supports for Santa Clau...
The Body in Early Monasticism
If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” It was with the inspiration of this Gospel passage that St. Antony the Great took off to the deserts of Egypt to begi...The Catholic Imagination is Ecclesial (Or It's Not Really Catholic)
In two previous articles, Artur Rosman, the Editor-in-Chief of Church Life, has advanced a proposal for what constitutes the Catholic imagination. According to Rosman, the Catholic imagination is often employed in…Friendship with the Beloved Disciple as Type in a Theology of Friendship
In the Fourth Gospel, the nameless character is introduced at the Last Supper as “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). He is explicitly named again under the Cross (John 19:26), at the empty tomb (John 20:2), and post-resu...Friendship with God is the Basis for All Friendships
The imagery of friendship is present in the first half of John’s narrative, but it comes into sharpest focus in the second half of the Gospel, particularly during the Last Supper, when Jesus refers to his disciples as “friend...
Human Need in Game of Thrones and the Word of God
Keep this in mind, dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for a person’s anger does not fulfill God’s justice. Strip away all that is filthy, every vicious excess. Humbly ...An Enduring Basis for Friendship as Taught by Jesus in the Gospel of John
Coming to South Bend in the Summer of 2016 from the Maltese islands, a little more than rocks in the Mediterranean, I marveled at the vast expanses of the Midwest and its array of tall, verdant trees. My daily route from the Notre Dame c...Reading Recommendations from the Catholic Imagination Conference
I would like to wrap up my reflections about Fordham's Catholic Imagination Conference, which are part of Church Life Journal's discussion of what the "Catholic…The Dramatic Double Vision of the Catholic Imagination
For the Catholic imagination, the world is fallen but redeemable. It is not parked firmly in either heaven or hell.The Single Most Important Thing I Noticed at the Fordham Catholic Imagination Conference
As I mentioned previously in the piece Things I Received at the Fordham Catholic Imagination Conference, at the end of April I was given the opportunity to attend the 2nd…Jesus and the Old Testament
The Word of God grows its roots in the heart the more one shares it with others. That is why one of the surest ways of growing in knowledge and love for the Scriptures is to teach them to others, an opportunity I had for the first time (...Using Metaphors to Teach Prayer
Scriptures pulse with metaphorical phrases and images (“The Lord is my shepherd . . .”). Jesus’s description of the Kingdom of God is a metaphor. The National Directory for Catechesis [NDC] urges catechists to recognize...