Finding God in Our Secular Age: Ignatian Insights

Ministry in Our Secular Age Any person who preaches regularly, and who is engaged in pastoral ministry in the Western world, does so under the invisible but all-pervasive influence of our secular age. The secular age is the … [Read more...]

Mass Attendance and Cura Personalis

The novel coronavirus pandemic resulted in novel dilemmas for Catholic parishes. In compliance with local health mandates, many parishes quickly augmented their technological capabilities to offer “virtual Mass” to provide members a safe opt … [Read more...]

Pope Francis and the Girardian Moment

The promulgation of the Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exsultate constitutes a decisive moment in the Magisterial teaching of the Church. Perhaps its most obvious contribution is breathing the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola into the … [Read more...]

Pope Francis and the Purification of Heroic Desire

It is the duty of pastoral homiletics to call the faithful to heroic virtue. Virtue itself, to be sure, is a core fruit of receiving the Gospel, but, at times, we need to hear the call to heroic virtue; that is, we must know that the next … [Read more...]

Late Fall Reading for November 2014

Three Moments of the Day: Praying with the Heart of Jesus. Fr. Christopher S. Collins, SJ (Ave Maria Press: Notre Dame, Indiana, 2014) 160 pages. (Reviewed by Fr. Vincent L. Strand, SJ) Reading the New Testament: An Introduction, … [Read more...]

A God of Created Desires

Editorial for June 2014

The Lord has given us desires, and wants to fulfill them, with his care, and with his peace; he wants us to flourish in knowing him, and directing all endeavors and expectations to him. St. Ignatius of Loyola knew, better than most, of … [Read more...]

Abuse & Scandal

Editorial for May 2014

We see in Francis’ interactions with children Jesus’ own special affection for God’s littlest and most vulnerable ones.  And it is that same reverence and love which must be the work of every Christian, priests first and foremo … [Read more...]

Time Magazine Nominated Pope Francis as “Person of the Year”

A Statement from the Society of Jesus on Time Magazine’s Selection of Pope Francis as Person of the Year Head of U.S. Jesuit Order Congratulates Pope on Honor December 11, 2013 — Pope Francis has been named 2013’s “Person of the Year, … [Read more...]

Jesuitizing the Church: Under Francis, Would That Be So Bad?

Francis has made this strategy the most visible difference in the lifestyle he has adopted as Bishop of Rome ... rejecting ... the “riches and honors” that, over the centuries, have attached themselves to the papal office like barnacles to a … [Read more...]

Knowing Enough History to Defend It: Catholic History and Apologetics

The Church is distinctive among institutions in the history of mankind: it is human and yet divine; perfect, yet in need of reform; holy, yet made up of sinners; infallible, yet led by fallen, fallible humans. While many seem to … [Read more...]

An Ignatian Bishop of Rome

Like Bergoglio’s choice of the name Francis—after the Poverello of Assisi rather than the Jesuit Francis Xavier—the phrase “presides in charity” and its evocation of “the other Ignatius” may turn out to be interpretive keys to the unpretenti … [Read more...]

The Interior Life

The interior life for a Catholic means finding God in all things, leading to a life of contemplation in action. Faith in Jesus Christ has consequences.  A devout Catholic, who takes his faith seriously, will live in way that is in … [Read more...]