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Select a Month March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

March 2021

March 10, 2021

Four Takeaways from Oprah’s Interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

People are inclined to defend institutions rather than persons, especially when the institution is long-lived,...

March 03, 2021

Catholics Are De-Toxing From their Experiences With Traumatic Religion. How You Respond to them Matters

Do you feel that the work people are doing to recover from religious trauma is...

February 2021

February 15, 2021

People are in Therapy to Recover from Religion – We Need to Ask Why

Religion ought to be, not a bulwark for oppressive powers, but a solace for the...

January 2021

January 31, 2021

Who Speaks for the Church? And Which Church?

We are still not willing to address with brutal honesty how gravely the church, our...

January 12, 2021

Conspiracy Theories, Alternate Reality, and the Perils of Totalitarian Religion

A sacramental imagination should engage us with what is real and present. It should not...

December 2020

December 29, 2020

What Is Wrong With the Christian Religion?

White supremacists should hate and fear all that the church stands for. Yet look how...

February 2020

February 26, 2020

The Inevitable Impotence of Male-Only “Authority”

For the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s good works through members of the Body of...

February 19, 2020

Do Catholic Feminists Wish to Smash the Church’s Patriarchy?

The idea of patriarchy is connected with the idea of dominion, and of orders of...

November 2019

November 27, 2019

Silent No More: A Survivor’s Message of Gratitude

For those who have not believed me, who have openly mocked me, called me a...

November 11, 2019

No, Celibacy Is Not the Problem

No, the kink in the clerical moral life is not celibacy, and of this I...

November 04, 2019

Is There A Fundamental Flaw In the Institutional Church’s Approach To Sex Ethics?

It is notable that while the Church has often been on the forefront in issues...

October 2019

October 06, 2019

Shaking The Dust From My Shoes: A Survivor’s Testimony

My faith became intrinsically interwoven with Fr Sam. To reject him was to reject God....

September 2019

September 07, 2019

To Reform the Church, We Must Rethink, Repair, or Replace Its Failed Institutions

I’m saying that the Catholic church needs to rethink the institutions it has relied on,...

August 2019

August 09, 2019

Seven Steps Towards Ending Clericalism

This is the seventh in the "Reform" series by guest writer William M. Shea Answers...

August 02, 2019

The Model Needed For Reform: Not Another Protestant Reformation

The hierarchism and clericalism that characterize the Roman Catholic Church ( and other Christian churches!...

July 2019

July 25, 2019

Without Ending Clericalism, There Can Be No True Reform

Every reform movement in the Church has been assimilated by the clerical culture with varying...

July 20, 2019

Abandoning the Church’s Corrupt Leadership – But Not Abandoning the Church

Remember: Judas was an apostle and a bishop according to their own interpretation of the...

July 13, 2019

As Canonization of Fulton Sheen Proceeds, Should the Faithful Be Concerned About a Buried Accusation? UPDATED

As long as this accusation goes uninvestigated, as long as the hierarchy continues to ignore...

July 08, 2019

An Open Letter to Franciscan University of Steubenville

None of the men who failed me are being held accountable. Most are still alive...

July 05, 2019

Is Reform Possible, Within the Current Institutional Structure of the Church?

If the conclusion that the church needs restructuring cannot not be warranted, it seems to...

June 2019

June 30, 2019

It’s Not the Church That Has Let Me Down – It’s the Clergy

The church has not let me down but popes and bishops have, too often and...

June 22, 2019

On the Need for Radical Moral Reform of the Clergy

Their leadership has been exposed in the past century and previous centuries as devoid of...

June 13, 2019

What Makes a Religious Practice “Demonic”?

So yes, I do think we should ask whether a particular religious practice inclines towards...

May 2019

May 20, 2019

No, Bishop Nickless, Being Assaulted is Not an “Easy Way Out”

I fervently pray that you had no idea the way your words would sound. I...

May 10, 2019

Women Deacons, Rachel Held Evans, and the Pushback of Patriarchy

Pope Francis’ announcement, a few days ago, that the results of the commission to study...

April 2019

April 25, 2019

The Real “Crisis” And “Scandal” In the Church

In short, the “crisis” or “scandal” in the Roman Catholic Church (and other religious organizations...

April 19, 2019

Burning In The Cathedral – And Benedict’s Imagination

While the original look and “feel” of the Notre Dame’s spire cannot be replicated, and...

March 2019

March 17, 2019

The Worst Possible Way to Respond to a Victim of Abuse

THAT was the part of that story that shocked you?...That was the news worthy part...

March 14, 2019

Why Do People Refuse to Believe Victims of Abuse?

This inability to hear is also associated with a need to protect institutions. People don’t...

March 11, 2019

I Am Catholic. And I Am Entirely Okay With Pete Davidson’s Comments About the Church

Davidson’s criticisms are not anti-Catholic, however. They are anti-rape, anti-assault, and anti-injustice. And insofar as...