The closer we look at decisions to deploy a second atomic weapon against Japan on August 9, 76 years ago, the more morally audacious the tactic appears. Step outside the American explanatory cloud—we bombed military installations to force unconditional imperial surrender—defining public understanding to see: the US Government explicitly targeted civilian populations, a violation of Read more
Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers. The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against the privacy and security concerns Read more
One of the gifts of ageing is retrospection. We look back on the patterns in our life and see the way God has played with us, always taking us to a larger place of faith. We see the winters that turned into spring growth, loss that made way for a new kind of, gain, steep Read more
On Friday submissions close for the Government’s proposed changes to the Human Rights Act 1993. The proposal, which the Government “agrees to in principle”, is to make illegal “hate speech” against a range of different groups of people. This is a very dangerous step for any society to make. It seems incongruous, doesn’t it? Surely Read more
No doubt we need to listen to those who are protesting against compulsory vaccinations, who feel “bullied” by a State they believe is encroaching on their own intimate space. Our freedoms are a precious commodity. Society must not become the domain of permanent policing and it is to the credit of democracy that these debates Read more
Why should Catholics reach out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics or, more broadly, to LGBTQ people? We should reach out not simply because they are Catholics—meaning LGBTQ Catholics, who are part of the Body of Christ—but because we are Catholic. Part of being Catholic, part of being Christian, is standing on the side of those who are Read more
The combination of pandemic lockdowns and Zoom have spawned a new way of being Catholic. Or, they have spawned a new way of seeming to be Catholic. We are moving toward a Catholic Metaverse. A metaverse is a virtual world, like those existing in virtual reality games such as Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnight, where individuals Read more
“When I first came to Ars, there was a man who never passed the church without going in. “In the morning on his way to work, and in the evening on his way home, he left his spade and pickaxe in the porch, and he spent a long time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I was a visitor celebrating a parish Mass. I was introduced to the congregation by the choir leader who had sung at my diaconate ordination 36 years ago. After mass, she expressed her displeasure that Pope Francis had announced changes to the Code of Canon Law, lumping together the issues Read more
You are lying asleep in your bed in the home you own. It should be the most comfortable place but, before the sun is up, police are knocking on your door and you will have to convince them you deserve to stay. They’re shining a torch into your face, holding back a German shepherd “frothing at the Read more