Mary Is Made for You

Sometime ago a priest gave what may initially seem a cryptic kind of homily. Personally, I have not heard a homily about Mary such as this, and yet this is precisely the homily that men need (and, by direct extension, what women need men) … [Read more...]

In Praise of Patriarchy and Headship

For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. (Ephesians 5:23) He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. … [Read more...]

Autumn Book Reviews

Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015), xi + 279 pp. Reviewed by Dr. Joshua M. Evans. Catholics and Protestants: What Can We Learn from Each Other? … [Read more...]

A Gift from Edith Stein (1891-1942)

A Modern “Mother” of the Church

Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family on the Feast of the Atonement, 1891, and died a Catholic Carmelite nun, St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, in Auschwitz in 1942. She is an "eminent daughter of Israel and faithful daughter of the … [Read more...]

Early Fall Reading

The Concept of Woman: Volume III: The Search for Communion of Persons, 1500-2015. By Sister Prudence Allen, R.S.M., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016. 546 pages. Reviewed by Joshua M. Evans, Ph.D. Revelation. Catholic Commentary on Sacred … [Read more...]

Marching Toward a “New Feminism”

The aftermath of this year’s several Women’s Marches around the country has offered me an opportunity to reflect upon the role of women, both in the country as a whole, as well as in my own daily life. I spent a great deal of time thinking b … [Read more...]

Do men and women no longer admire and trust each other?

As it is posed, the question is too absolute. And I would not give any absolute answer to it. However, it does imply something; and yes, I think there is less admiration and trust between the two sexes than before. Nevertheless, there … [Read more...]

Feminine Empathy in Two Daughters of Israel

On the feast of St. John of the Cross, 1934, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St. Edith Stein) highlighted the age-old battle between good and evil, sin and death: The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and an … [Read more...]

Women Deacons: At What Price?

(This article was originally published in the print version of Homiletic & Pastoral Review, July 1996.) Now that Pope John Paul II has "definitively" ruled out women priests in his apostolic letter to the bishops, others are … [Read more...]

Mystical and Motherly

Mystical wisdom played a key role in the contributions of the four women honored as Doctors of the Church. They demonstrate on a limited scale the primacy of contemplative prayer in the work of evangelization. None of the women who bear … [Read more...]

Catholic Men, the Spiritual Life, and Our Growth in Holiness-Perfection

Living Faith as Conversion, Knowledge, and Joy According to the Thought of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

A Catholic Christian spiritual life has often been described in terms of “ways,” “stages,” “degrees,” and “conversions.”[1. See, e.g., among many books on the topic, Fr. John J. Pasquini, Light, Happiness and Peace: Journeying Through Tradit … [Read more...]

On the Ordination of Women and the Priesthood of Christ

In the past half century, discussion about women priests in the Christian Churches has intensified. Most Churches, in particular, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, have held firm to the traditional view that only males … [Read more...]

How Priests Can More Effectively Evangelize Catholic Men

Though the New Evangelization has been a major effort in the Catholic Church for over forty years, it has failed to stem the disastrous losses of the faithful in the U.S. The New Evangelization is faltering: since 2000, 14 million Catholics … [Read more...]