Her white clergy robes flowing behind her, Sandra Signarsdotter walks down the aisle of Stockholm’s Gustaf Vasa church greeting parishioners, a ritual of hers and a familiar sight in Sweden, where women now outnumber men as priests. In the Scandinavian country, often hailed as a champion of gender equality, the statistics are clear. As of Read more
Elections in the United States, a global pandemic and human rights protests have crowded the news coverage for most of 2020. But activists and sexual abuse survivors continue to ask that the protection of minors and vulnerable adults in the Catholic Church and elsewhere remain a priority despite losing momentum, as risks of online and Read more
Disruptive innovation is not a common term in theological and liturgical discussions. The term comes from Clayton Christensen’s 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma. Christensen explains that successful companies are those that can meet not only their customers’ current needs but anticipate their future ones too. Disruptive innovators – disruptors – are more likely to displace Read more
We tend to assume disseminating public health messages is solely the role of public servants such as Victorian chief medical officer Brett Sutton and his former federal counterpart Brendan Murphy, both of whom have become de facto celebrities during the pandemic. But to ensure vital health information reaches everyone in our community, we need a Read more
Fr Matthew Hood of the Archdiocese of Detroit recently discovered that his baptism as an infant had been invalid when he watched a family video that showed Deacon Mark Springer saying, “We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Congregation for the Doctrine of Read more
As US presidential elections heat up and life issues are expected to figure prominently in the campaign, the Vatican’s top official in the area has cautioned against turning the pro-life cause into an ideological weapon, saying making the protection of life a political football risks doing “great harm.” “Life is a great gift that comes Read more
When Jerry Falwell Jr. inherited the presidency of the university his father founded, he was a reluctant leader, according to a recent Washington Post profile. Yet in his 13 years in the president’s chair at Liberty, Falwell has slowly expanded his influence from Liberty University’s campus to the national political scene and shown that leadership Read more
Just as Christians in the 21st century are heirs of the apostles and martyrs of the early Church, Christians in Japan are heirs of the martyrs and hidden Christians of that country from the early 17th century to the late 19th century. That is true whether we modern believers are Japanese or not, Catholic Christians Read more
University of Chicago Divinity School student Rebecca MacMaster entered seminary out of a desire to make the Catholic Church “the best it can be” and to answer a calling to teach and work in college or parish ministry. “My Catholic identity is so important to me, and it informs so much of how I interact Read more
On Election Night 2016, I went to bed sad, but not surprised, after writing a short presentation for an academic panel on why I had supported what appeared then to be the failed campaign of Donald Trump for president. While Trump was not my first (or even second or third) choice among the expansive field Read more