It's not just the right words, careful timing, thoughtful stories, our tone and everything else; it's all of it.

Add to the top of the list how we personally live our Catholic faith in our everyday lives, and we have the short list of what matters when trying to connect with our friend, sibling, co-worker, adult child or whomever it might be as we hope to enliven their faith.

Spreading the good news is no simple or one-size-fits-all matter.

But in doing the research for my new book comparing the 53 percent of American Catholics who attend Mass "a few times a year" or "seldom or never" with the 47 percent who attend monthly or more often, I've learned a lot about cultural Catholics.

I want to share a few findings and offer some ways we might better reach them.

Reaching out to cultural Catholics

First, there are some notable areas in which cultural Catholics demonstrate, perhaps surprisingly, high Catholic belief and practice.

In asking if certain beliefs are "essential" or "somewhat essential" to the Catholic faith, more than three-fourths of cultural Catholics say this of Jesus' physical resurrection from the dead (88 percent), helping the poor (82 percent), devotion to Mary (81 percent) and having a pope (77 percent).

These percentages (and many of the others in this article) are lower than frequent attenders' percentages, but they still reveal a strong pull toward certain core Catholic beliefs.

For those concerned about cultural Catholics' desire to pass the faith to their children, there is good news: 62 percent of cultural Catholics agreed that it is important to them that future generations of their family remain Catholic.

The unknown question is how well equipped are these Catholics to actively pass their faith along.

A heartening finding was another 62 percent agree that the sacraments are important to their relationship with God.

Although these Catholics are not receiving the Eucharist regularly, this demonstrates that rites like baptism, first Communion and matrimony are still important to them and for their children to receive.

And many cultural Catholics see themselves as firmly planted within Catholicism.

When asked how likely they are to leave Catholicism on a 1 ("I would never leave the Catholic Church") to 7 ("Yes, I might leave the Catholic Church") scale, 27 percent chose 1, 18 percent selected 2, 10 percent said 3, and 19 responded 4, with only 26 percent spread across the final three choices.

Loosely tethered

At the same time, there are some areas that reveal they are very loosely tethered.

For instance, although 12 percent say the Catholic Church is either "the most" or "among the most" important parts of their life, 42 percent say "quite important to me, but so are many other areas of my life," 35 percent respond, "not terribly important to me," and a final 11 percent say "not very important to me at all."

They are less likely to show that Church teaching on political issues makes a difference to their own opinion.

Frequent Mass attenders are more likely to agree with the Church teaching than cultural Catholics, regardless of whether it is a "blue" or "red" issue.

For example, 44 percent of cultural Catholics agree with the church's opposition to the death penalty, compared to 60 percent of frequent attenders.

And 79 percent of cultural Catholics support access to euthanasia for those "who are terminally ill and in great pain" while only 48 percent of frequent attenders do. And cultural Catholics are less involved than frequent attenders in their local communities, too.

Fortunately, they report overall positive experiences of parish life.

Although they are more likely than frequent attenders to say that parishes are too big and impersonal (50 percent) and that church leaders are out of touch (64 percent), a full 84 percent believe that parish priests do a good job.

Mass attendance

When asked why they don't attend Mass more frequently, two answers rise to the top. First, 45 percent of cultural Catholics say work or family obligations pull them away.

Parish leaders might consider how they can demonstrate the relevance of parish involvement for stronger families and a sense of vocation to one's occupation, especially on days like Christmas and Easter when more cultural Catholics are in attendance.

For example, they might announce the various family- or kid-friendly activities your parish will host on each of the 12 days of Christmas.

Second, 40 percent say they do not attend Mass more often because they are simply not a religious person.

I wonder where we went wrong with so many; when did we fail to show them the meaning and purpose and God's in-breaking in countless ways in our lives? Of course, we are all religious persons.

Some of us simply have yet to discover this. How might we change course and make this more obvious in faith formation programsme?

These are just a few of the findings I uncovered in my analysis.

What can we do?

But a big question we each face in this data is what can I do about it? Not, "What new programme should my diocese or parish start to address this?"

Yes, that is an important question, especially for those in ministry, but it is not the question for all of us.

Instead, we must each ask, "What can I, what can each and every one of us do for the cultural Catholics in our own personal lives?" How do we accompany our parents, neighbours, godchildren, friends and all the rest?

Here is how I would begin: Read more

• Maureen K. Day is a Research Affiliate at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture as well as the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, both housed at the University of Southern California.

The report, released just before Italy's first Synodal Assembly, highlights a shifting landscape in Italy's religious practices and challenges for the Catholic Church.

Growing individualism

Of those identifying as Catholic, only 15.3% attend church regularly, while 34.9% participate occasionally and 20.9% say they are "practising".

This trend is particularly stark among younger Italians, with just 10.9% of 18-34 year-olds practising their faith.

The report points to "religious individualism" as a key factor, with 56.1% of those disengaged from the Church and citing a preference for private, personal expressions of faith.

Giuseppe De Rita, president of Censis, says "The grey area in the Church of today is the result of the prevailing individualism of course, but also of a Church that struggles to indicate a beyond.

"The Church has always helped Italian society to go beyond.

"It must rediscover this capacity, because a Church which is only horizontal does not intercept those drunk with individualism. For them, it is not enough to replace ‘I' with a ‘we'. They need something beyond, something that takes them past the self.

"It is no coincidence—and this should concern us as Catholics—that extremisms are on the rise globally."

Old-fashioned Church needs to adapt

The report identifies disconnects between younger Catholics and traditional church practices.

Almost 58% of young Italians claim some connection to Catholicism, yet many express disinterest in conventional participation.

Among practising Catholics, 60.8% believe the Church needs to adapt to contemporary society, a sentiment reflecting broader cultural shifts.

Research also suggests concerns over the Church's relevance, with many viewing it as "too old-fashioned".

Among those who feel disconnected, 45.1% say the Church is outdated while 27.8% cite a lack of clear direction.

Additionally, 43.6% of Italians view the Church as male-dominated, with women's roles a noted point of contention.

Abuse scandals impact Church credibility

Abuse allegations within the Church have further affected public perception, with 7 in 10 Italians, including 6 in 10 practising Catholics, stating that these scandals undermine the Church's credibility.

Many see the Church's slow response to modern issues as another reason for disengagement.

"The desire for a more courageous Church is evident" the study notes, as 49.2% of Italians call for a stronger lay involvement. This finding aligns with a broader push for the Church to be more inclusive and transparent.

Faith remains integral to Italy's cultural identity

Despite these challenges, 79.8% of Italians say their cultural roots are Catholic. 66% pray and 61.4% consider Catholicism central to Italy's national identity.

Religious symbols like the cross and figures such as the Virgin Mary remain significant for many Italians, even among non-believers.

As the Italian Bishops' Conference prepares for the Synodal Assembly which will host delegates from across Italy, the study emphasises a crucial challenge: how to modernise the Church while preserving its role in Italy's spiritual and cultural life.

Source

• Avvenire

Yeast, he wrote, is an agent of infusion, of integration and penetration that transforms the flour into which it is introduced. He compared this with the integrating quality of faith.

Father Ong had good authority for the metaphor. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God as being like leaven.

I would like to contrast this metaphor of yeast with a metaphor of "frosting," as applied to Catholic education.

Rather than infusing a cake the way yeast does, frosting does not permeate the cake, but only layers itself upon it.

These two metaphors capture in a simple, but I believe accurate way, two competing visions of Catholic education, from preschool to university.

Yeast

Father Ong explained that the function of yeast has parallels in the etymology of the word "catholic," which comes from the Greek katholikos, from kath or kata ("throughout") and holos ("whole"): "throughout-the-whole."

Like yeast in a loaf, faith, in a genuinely Catholic education, interacts with all other disciplines, such as the humanities, sciences, social sciences and the professions.

Faith does not replace disciplines or transform them into itself; rather, when faith encounters reason, it reveals and orders reason's deeper realities of truth and goodness.

Like yeast, faith expands throughout the whole educational enterprise because there are no limits to its borders.

Faith, not a mere emotion but a divine illumination, is the theological virtue that expands the mind and soul, enabling us to see more deeply and more broadly.

When faith views a human being, it sees everything the natural eye sees, but it pierces more deeply into the depths of human reality.

It does not fall prey to the reductive sight that sees only a biological organism whose value can be measured in strictly economic terms.

Instead, the eyes of faith perceive a unique and unrepeatable immortal soul, made in the image of God and intended for the kingdom.

Faith sees the invisible in the visible, the spirit in matter, the immeasurable in the measurable. Faith is a habit of mind whereby eternal life begins in us, where we see the end in our beginnings.

Closer to home, it is with vision leavened by faith that I can see the image of God in that student in the back row with the baseball cap, whose bored look signals that I cannot teach him a thing.

Faith and other disciplines

Examples of bringing faith into contact with other disciplines abound in the Catholic educational tradition.

A few examples among many include the early church fathers, who built upon the Greco-Roman philosophical tradition, bringing out the intrinsic complementarity of faith and reason.

Another classic example is that of the scholar/saints like Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, who performed a similar yeast-like operation when a flood of ancient writings (often filtered through Muslim thinkers), especially of Plato and Aristotle, swept through European societies and were integrated into the work of universities.

More recently, Catholic social teaching has engaged with business theory and practice, exploring the relationship between the social nature of property and capital, applying a Christian view of justice and its implications for wages and prices and wealth distribution, as well as contributing to an understanding of the nobility of the vocation and the work of business leaders.

Another recent example might be found in the current dialogue among scientists, theologians and philosophers on some of the most momentous scientific questions facing us, such as the theory of the Big Bang, the origin of the universe and evolutionary thought.

These conversations and insights of integration enrich both the various disciplines and faith itself.

The disciplines become more nourishing and less reductionist, and faith is purified by seeing more concretely what the legal scholar Helen Alvaré calls the "inbreaking of the Kingdom."

Tension and debate will no doubt arise in the interaction of faith and reason, but this is nothing new in the Catholic educational tradition.

The medieval university's pedagogical approach was structured on such questions and debates. Its pedagogy was dialectical, including both lecture and disputation.

The lecture was not given to evoke mere assent, but as a prologue to disputation.

The Socratic method—the art of the question—was incorporated into Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae, proposing questions and articulating both sides of an argument in search of a deeper synthesis.

Yet students are increasingly afraid to disagree with others, often out of fear of being labeled or of simply being wrong. This is a debilitating condition for education.

A Catholic education should hone the art of the question that is "questing" not for slogans or political correctness (whether left or right), but what the Rev. Luigi Giussani called the "religious sense," an ultimate meaning that is discoverable but never exhaustible.

The metaphor of yeast and the meaning of the word catholic point us to two key integrating principles of Catholic education: the unity of knowledge and the complementarity of faith and reason.

The ability to integrate knowledge is the highest activity of the human mind, and it is these two leavening principles that move the mind to wisdom.

If Catholic schools cease engaging such principles, they will no longer operate as yeast. Instead, they are likely to merit the second metaphor mentioned above: Catholic education as frosting. Read more

• Michael J. Naughton is the director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota.

"We sacrificed to send them to Catholic school. They went to youth group. We did everything we thought we were supposed to do. What happened?"

It's one of the most common questions we get from callers to our radio program and clients in our pastoral counseling practice. And despite its frequency, it never gets any less heartbreaking to hear.

The Catholic Church is facing a spiritual epidemic. A recent study found that only 15 percent of children raised in Catholic homes will grow up to be faithful Catholic adults.

The conventional wisdom about raising Catholic kids doesn't work, but until recently, no one knew what to do instead.

As a result, we've clung to giving the same old advice to parents (go to Mass, send them to Catholic school and youth ministry, and hope for the best).

Then, when it fails 85 percent of the time, we chalk it up to our kids' "free will." Of course, that's true as far as it goes. We can't force our children to be faithful adults. But it's cold comfort, and parents need better answers.

Looking for better answers

To try to provide those better answers, The Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life (an apostolate of Holy Cross Family Ministries) worked with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate to create the Future Faithful Families Project.

First, we looked at data from the Global Social Survey, a representative sample of 2,600 Americans, to identify the general characteristics of families that successfully raised faithful adult kids.

More importantly, we identified Catholic families that successfully raised all of their children to a faithful adulthood, and we interviewed both parents and faithful adult children from those families.

We found that while things like regular Mass attendance, Catholic education, youth ministry and parish involvement were important, they were seen by these families as secondary and supportive of the way they lived their faith at home.

I want to clarify the last part of the above statement because when people hear us talk about the importance of living their faith at home, they tell us that they imagine that these families are always on their knees in prayer and somehow immune from the pressures of the real world. That is not true.

While families who successfully raised all of their children to a faithful adulthood did have regular family prayer times (usually some kind of morning, mealtime, and/or bedtime prayers), that doesn't appear to be the main factor responsible for their success.

Faith as a source of warmth

What mattered most was a family dynamic in which the family (especially the children) experienced their faith as the source of the warmth in their homes.

Children raised in these households experienced their family's faith as something that drew them together in good times and bad.

Of course, these families faced the same stressors and conflicts that all families encounter. Still, they felt their family prayed about these problems in a way that led to better conversations and stronger relationships. Read more

• Dr. Greg Popcak is an author and the director of www.CatholicCounselors.com.

Now almost blinded by macular degeneration, 88-year old Cowley is about to launch a new book of rhymes and nonsense, where shadow and light play a big part.

A long faith journey

Cowley's own life has been one of shadow and light. So is everyone else's, she indicates.

"We all get crucified and then resurrected, unless we get stuck in the tomb of self-pity and blaming" Joy Cowley says.

"We've got to understand that every gift we're given has a shadow. Sometimes we see the shadow and don't see the gift ... but we also need to understand that the shadow is the area of growth."

Life is a birthing process, she says.

"I have long since accepted that at this time of life, this is when the body goes into labour to give birth to the soul. So losing sight is the first indication of going into labour. And that's a positive for me."

She didn't always know this though. She had some very dark times, which led to a deliberate drug-overdose.

That overdose changed her life as a young woman, Cowley says.

At the time, her marriage to her first husband had just ended. She had four children and was likely to lose two of them to her husband and his new partner. Not coping, she tried to die.

What happened next was a near-death, out-of-body experience.

"There I was flying, into a light, which cannot be described as we describe the sun or electric lights or anything like that.

"It was also presence. It was love ... It was something I had known always. And I was going into it. I was going home."

Then she sensed herself "falling back".

"I could feel the weight of my body ... and there were voices around me. I was in hospital."

To her, it felt like 10 minutes had passed. In reality, she had been in hospital for three days.

For a time she was blind and paralysed ... and ready for a spiritual search.

"I started looking at all the allusions to light; first of all in the New Testament, in the Bible — Jesus described himself as the light of the world — and then talking to people who had had near-death experiences.

"From a moment which was the worst time of my life, it became suddenly the most beautiful" she says.

Cowley says her faith shares characteristics with the Catholic Church, which she joined after a three-month trip around South America.

"I'd been learning Spanish. And I'd go and just go and sit in these beautiful churches ... and there'd be a puddle on the floor ... and there'd be an empty beer can somewhere else on the floor ... and somehow that made sense to me.

"That's me, deeply spiritual and messy."

New book

Joy Cowley's new book "A Lot of Silly: A Book of Rhymes and Nonsense" is a collection of amusing short stories and poems.

Feeling desperate?

• Need to talk? 1737, free 24/7 phone and text number

• Healthline: 0800 611-116

• Lifeline Aotearoa: 0800 543-354

• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828-865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

• Samaritans: 0800 726-666

• The Depression Helpline: 0800 111-757

Source

• ODT

The Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is of the same view.

Faith in God comes with two "inseparable" elements, Bartholomew said on Sunday which was the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

He said these two elements are the God-given dignity of the human person and the integrity of God's creation.

Religious groups must help

Francis says religious groups must help fight climate change because true progress will require conversion.

Bartholomew agrees.

"Genuine religious faith dissolves the arrogance and titanism of humankind" by helping people realise they are not God.

A person has no right to abolish "all standards, boundaries and values, while declaring himself ‘the measure of all things' and instrumentalising his fellow human beings and nature for the satisfaction of his unquenchable needs and arbitrary pursuits.

"Respect for the sacredness of the human person and the protection of the integrity of the ‘very good' creation are inseparable."

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Bartholomew's predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, instituted the annual day of prayer for creation in 1989.

In 2015, Francis added the day to the Catholic Church's annual observances.

His message for the 2024 day of prayer also speaks of the conversion necessary to leave behind "the arrogance of those who want to exercise dominion over others and nature itself, reducing the latter to an object to be manipulated".

Instead, it asks for people to embrace "the humility of those who care for others and for all of creation".

He said that "With God as the loving Father, his Son as the friend and redeemer of every person, and the Holy Spirit who guides our steps on the path of charity and obedience to the Spirit of love - this radically changes the way we think: from ‘predators' we become 'tillers' of the garden".

A shared message

Like Francis, Bartholomew's statement emphasised the connection between care for creation and love for one another, especially the poor.

"There is a close and indissoluble bond between our care of creation and our service to the body of Christ, just as there is between the economic conditions of the poor and the ecological conditions of the planet" he said.

"Scientists tell us that those most egregiously harmed by the current ecological crisis will continue to be those who have the least."

Source

• Our Sunday Visitor

How does it feel to give an interview to a Catholic publication?

John Cleese (pictured): "The question slightly amuses me, but I see why I'm being asked that.

"I do have a very mixed view of the Catholic Church, because I think what happens to most religions is that after the initial spiritual height of the early generations ministering the religion, that spirituality slowly diminishes and the churches begin to take on an ordinary human egotistical aspect.

"For example, you have Christ's teaching, which is primarily of poverty, humility and tolerance; then 2,000 years later you have a Catholic Church that is very rich and very powerful and quite authoritarian.

"Similarly, I find it hard to believe that Jesus Christ would have regarded burning people alive as a correct interpretation of his Gospel of love.

"There can be a very large gap between the teachings of the founder of the religion and the people centuries later who are administering it.

"This does not mean that there are not some very fine people within the Catholic Church. I have known a couple myself and they work within the Church, trying to do the best job they can even if it is within a framework that they often cannot truly believe in.

"So, I have no worries at all about being interviewed by a Catholic publication because some of the people reading the interview will understand and probably be reasonably sympathetic to my views."

How would you describe your personal relationship to faith and religion, and its development?

Cleese: "I think my lifelong quest, albeit a very dilettante one, has been to try to find meaning. And I think that any such meaning that would satisfy me would have some element of religion about it.

"However, when I'm asked if I believe in God, I simply have to say I don't know what it means.

"I do believe there may be a real purpose in the Universe and I believe that there may be a force out there that people who have a religious experience contact.

"I think some people who have undergone rigorous spiritual training may contact that beneficial force more often than most of the rest of us are lucky enough to do.

"And I believe contact with that benevolent force is very beneficial to the people who manage it and even to the people around those individuals who manage it.

"Also, I don't think there's any question that some degree of stillness sometimes brings a spiritual experience which causes people's behaviour to become increasingly unselfish."

Did you ever think that religious people would one day regard ‘The Life of Brian' in a positive way? Read more

• Sebastian Moll has a PhD in Divinity from Edinburgh University and works at the Theological Faculty of the University of Mainz.

A myriad of health conditions resulting in his being tube-fed since he was three months old have prevented him from consuming the Eucharist.

Nonetheless, Gannucci has always wanted to be able to receive the Body of Christ.

And so he did - on 3 June this year, just before he turned 21. It is the only solid food he has ever consumed.

Practice and prayer

For Gannucci, to swallow the Eucharist required a year's practice and a lot of prayer each day with his family.

Father Richard Kunst has known Gannucci all his life.  He prepared him for his first Reconciliation two years ago and recognises Gannucci's faith.

Gannucci, who also has a learning disability, impressed Kunst with his longing to receive the Eucharist.

His grasp of the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated Host was impressive, Kunst told the National Catholic Register.

His hunger for Jesus in the Eucharist continued to grow. His first reconciliation and his niece's first Communion saw him arguing his case harder.

Supportive family

"Paul has a very simple faith" his father told the Register.

"He has great trust. We had been wanting Paul to receive all the sacraments for years, and we put it in God's hands to determine when that time would come. Our whole family trusted that Jesus would make this happen."

Night after night for months, his father gave him a little water and a fragment of unconsecrated wafer Kunst had provided.

Initially he would gag and retch even over that tiny piece, his father said.

Eventually he was reliably able to swallow an entire host.

An inspiration

Gannucci also wanted to be confirmed. After checking with his bishop, Kunst was permitted to administer this sacrament.

He chose a patron saint - "Padre Pio" - St Pio of Pietrelcina.

He celebrated his first Communion and confirmation with his immediate family, many extended family members and about 45 weekday Mass attendees.

When Kunst explained the unfolding events to the weekday congregants they were delighted. Some wept when Gannucci received the sacraments.

Later, several spoke of relatives unable to receive the Eucharist because of physical limitations.

"This gives them hope that maybe this can happen for their family member as well" his mother said.

His father hopes his son's story will impact other Catholics.

"The biggest thing is that it is truly Jesus that we are receiving" he said.

"So many Catholics nowadays don't even believe in that — when they have such a great treasure! We know how important it is to receive Jesus. Other people maybe will rethink it if they don't believe in the True Presence."

Kunst hopes "Paul's story and his earnest desire for this will inspire people, including those of us who might take it for granted because we receive it all the time. God's timing is perfect".

Gannucci now receives the Eucharist whenever possible. It remains the only solid food he consumes.

Source

• National Catholic Register

Anne Marie Brillante, a member of the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico, says the recent removal of a cherished painting from St Joseph Apache Mission that had been prominently displayed in the Church came as a real shock.

"Hearing we had to choose, that was a shock" Brillante said tearfully, recalling the moment she learned of the incident.

Integration of cultural identity and faith

The painting in question, an 8-foot "Apache Christ" created by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz in 1989, had been hanging behind the church's altar for 35 years.

For Brillante and many other parishioners, it symbolised the harmonious integration of their indigenous cultural identity and Catholic faith.

On June 26 while the region was grappling with devastating wildfires, the church's then-priest, Peter Chudy Sixtus Simeon-Aguinam, removed the icon along with other indigenous artifacts.

The action left Brillante and her fellow parishioners stunned and hurt.

"To her, and many others in the Mescalero Apache tribe... who are members of St Joseph Apache Mission, their indigenous culture had always been intertwined with faith. Both are sacred" explained a community spokesperson.

Brillante, who serves on the mission's parish council, found herself at the forefront of a community struggle to preserve their cultural heritage within their spiritual home.

Pope Francis had apologised

The removal of the artifacts seemed to suggest that their Apache cultural identity was incompatible with their Catholic faith, a notion that deeply wounded Brillante and others.

The incident has reopened old wounds for Brillante, reminding her of historical attempts to erase indigenous culture.

It appeared to contradict recent efforts by the Catholic Church to reconcile with indigenous communities, including Pope Francis's 2022 apology for the church's role in residential schools.

"Our former priest opened old wounds with his recent actions, suggesting he sought to cleanse us of our 'pagan' ways" Brillante explained, highlighting the emotional toll of the incident.

Path forwards

While the Diocese of Las Cruces has since returned the items and replaced Simeon-Aguinam with another priest, Brillante is looking for more.

For her, the way forward necessitates a deeper understanding and respect for the Apache way of life within the Catholic Church.

As she continues to advocate for her community, Brillante remains hopeful that this incident will lead to meaningful dialogue and lasting change.

Source

• AP

Making history

Today, she is one step closer to making history again.

On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term amid concerns from within their party that he would be unable to defeat Republican Donald Trump.

Mr. Biden's departure frees his delegates to vote for whomever they choose.

Ms. Harris, whom Mr. Biden backed after ending his candidacy, is thus far the only declared candidate. Should she secure the Democratic nomination, she would be the first Black woman to lead a major party ticket.

Few, if any, presidential candidates have had as much exposure to the world's religions as Kamala Harris, the 59-year-old vice president from California.

Harris' ethnic, racial and cultural biography represents a slice of the U.S. population that is becoming ascendant but that has never been represented in the nation's highest office.

Harris and her faith

Here are five faith facts about Harris:

She was raised on Hinduism and Christianity.

Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was from Chennai, India; her father, Donald Harris, from Jamaica. The two met as graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley.

Her name, Kamala, means "lotus" in Sanskrit, and is another name for the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. She visited India multiple times as a girl and got to know her relatives there.

But because her parents divorced when she was 7, she also grew up in Oakland and Berkeley attending predominantly Black churches.

Her downstairs neighbor, Regina Shelton, often took Kamala and her sister Maya to Oakland's 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland. Harris now considers herself a Black Baptist.

She is married to a Jewish man.

Harris met her husband, Los Angeles lawyer Douglas Emhoff, on a blind date in San Francisco. They married in 2014. At their wedding, the couple smashed a glass to honor Emhoff's upbringing (a traditional Jewish wedding custom).

It was Harris' first marriage and his second.

An article in the Jewish press described her imitation of her Jewish mother-in-law, Barbara Emhoff, as "worthy of an Oscar."

She was criticised for not proactively assisting in civil cases against Catholic clergy sex abuse during the years she served as a prosecutor.

After graduating from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Harris specialized in prosecuting sex crimes and child exploitation as a young prosecutor.

But two investigations by The Intercept and The Associated Press found that Harris was consistently silent on the Catholic Church's abuse scandal — first as San Francisco district attorney and later as California's attorney general. Read more

• Yonat Shimron is an RNS National Reporter and Senior Editor.

It occupies your home, your car, your workplace, your pocket.

Even your mind.

Every aspect of your daily routine is seamlessly integrated with this sophisticated technology.

It anticipates your needs, completes your thoughts, deciphers your emotions, plays your favorite songs, drafts your emails and even suggests your next meal.

It serves as your personal assistant, confidant, entertainment hub and your lover.

Life becomes smooth, convenient and tailored to your every whim.

Authenticity lacking

But something crucial is missing.

A sense of unease begins to take root.

Interactions feel hollow, conversations lack depth and relationships become superficial and transactional.

The more we rely on AI, the more we find ourselves yearning for something it cannot provide:

Authenticity, meaning and opportunities to connect on a fundamentally human level.

This is where the church re-enters the scene, not as a relic of the past, but as a symbol of the present, a sanctuary of authenticity.

At this tipping point of artificiality and superficiality, people start craving transcendent values that algorithms cannot encode. They seek the warmth of human connection, the comfort of shared beliefs and the solace of timeless rituals.

Spiritual journeying

Imagine a young professional, immersed in the digital hum of a bustling city, surrounded by a sea of screens and synthetic voices. It's not difficult to imagine, of course, that this is the reality for millions of people around the world from New York City to New Delhi.

Despite the convenience of their AI-enhanced lives, they find themselves restless at night, staring at the ceiling (or the phone), pondering the bigger questions:

• Why am I here?
• What is my purpose?
• What does it mean to be truly connected?

These are questions no AI-generated bot can satisfactorily answer. Why? Simply because such questions delve into the depths of the human soul. And AI doesn't have a soul. Not yet, anyway.

Gradually, this professional notices a shift among their peers. A friend mentions attending a Sunday service not for the sermon but for the sense of community, the genuine smiles and the feeling of belonging.

Another friend speaks about the meditative peace they find in the quiet of a church, away from the relentless pace of technology. Intrigued, our professional decides to explore.

Walking into the church, they notice that people are present, genuinely engaged and open-hearted.

There is a tangible sense of something greater than oneself, something that transcends the algorithmic curation they have become accustomed to. The hymns, the prayers, the very atmosphere speak to a part of the human experience that technology cannot touch: the spiritual.

In the dim light of the stained-glass windows, our young professional feels a profound sense of peace. It's not about rejecting technology but about finding balance.They realise that while AI can enhance life, it should not define it.

As more people reach this tipping point, the Church starts to see a resurgence. It becomes a counterbalance to digital dominance, a place where people can reconnect with their humanity.

It's not about nostalgia or clinging to the past; it's about rediscovering the value of the sacred and the communal in a world that increasingly feels like a digital illusion.

A constant need

These scenarios — where AI inadvertently leads people back to religious spaces — are not as far-fetched as they might seem at first glance.

Throughout history, humans have sought meaning, connection, and understanding beyond the immediate physical world.

This quest has been intrinsic to our nature, deeply embedded in our collective psyche since the Middle Paleolithic era. From ancient cave paintings to complex religious systems, this spiritual inclination has been a constant, an ever-present phenomenon throughout our journey.

Religious belief, in its many forms, has always provided answers to the big questions — questions about existence, purpose, morality and the afterlife.

These are not just abstract concepts; they are core to what makes us human.

The rituals, stories and communal gatherings found in religious practice offer a framework for understanding our place in the universe, a sense of belonging, and a connection to something greater than ourselves.

Now, enter the age of AI. Modern technology is rapidly transforming our world. It's infiltrating every aspect of our lives. Algorithms, data analytics and machine learning models dictate what we see, how we interact and even how we think.

While these innovations bring unparalleled levels of convenience and efficiency, they also introduce a sense of literal artificiality. The digital world, no matter how advanced, lacks the nutrients provided by real-life experiences.

In such a context, it is only natural for people to seek balance. When faced with the sterile precision of AI, the messiness of human life — its unpredictability, its emotional depth, its sheer rawness — becomes even more precious.

A God-shaped vacuum

Of course, sports clubs, book clubs and other social gatherings undoubtedly foster community and camaraderie around shared interests. However, they differ significantly from religious institutions like churches, mosques and synagogues in terms of spiritual nourishment.

Religious centers can serve as focal points for believers, nonbelievers and everyone in between — those seeking answers to existential questions and a deeper connection to the divine.

Through rituals, prayers and sacred texts, these institutions provide a framework for understanding life's purpose, morality and the metaphysical, offering a sense of transcendence and spiritual upliftment that secular clubs generally do not replicate.

Moreover, religious communities offer a unique sense of belonging and support that extends well beyond social interaction.

They create sacred spaces conducive to contemplation and meditation, an opportunity for individuals to connect with the divine. Religious institutions also offer a counterbalance to the isolation that can come from over-reliance on technology.

In times of crisis or existential doubt, people have, throughout history, turned to these communities for support, wisdom and solace.

A return to religious spaces should not be considered a step backward. On the contrary, it could help us reclaim a crucial aspect of human life that technology cannot replicate.

In the words of the great philosopher Blaise Pascal, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man, which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator."

This profound insight speaks to the core of our human experience.

The hunger for something transcendent in nature — an itch that cannot be scratched by AI girlfriends, VR headsets, and promises of the Metaverse — remains ever-present. We are, at our core, God-seeking souls, and no algorithm can fulfill that eternal quest.

• First published in Religion Unplugged
• John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist focusing on psychology and social relations.

My sister-in-law and her husband visited to tell us the tumours in her brain hadn't shrunk following rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. She died three weeks short of the surgeon predicting that she has six months to live. Her husband and adult son were in a state of shock.

Then the landline rang. It was my niece sobbing uncontrollably. Following a road rage incident my big sister and brother-in-law were in induced comas, in critical care and in separate trauma hospitals in Sydney.

As I put the phone down and entered the lounge again, I was dazed. One tragedy on its own was serious enough, but two happening simultaneously was disbelieving.

What did I do you ask? What would anyone do given this situation. I made a cup of tea but used my best china!

Coming ready or not

Whether we're ready or not, skilled or not, have the answers or not, coming to terms with such life changing realities comes as a sudden shock. Earthquake like. We're suddenly thrust onto an unfamiliar path, not quite sure where it will take us.

Over the last four months we've celebrated Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sundays bringing us stage by stage to the Body and Blood of Christ. This feast wraps up this ‘run' of entering into the facts of our faith, but at the same time remains open ended.

Deliberately so, because God's presence is constantly ‘on-tap'. An intentionally indelible living presence in the journey throughout life.

God is all about life. Our lives. The good, the bad and ugly. But it's when the carpet has been pulled from under our feet in unexpected tragedies that a battle of wills can emerge i.e. my will verses God's will. Possibly the first time we realise how little control we have over our own day?

God co-operates

Jesus tells us in Romans 8:28 by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him. The trouble is often we can't see it just at that time.

Popular one liners like: If life throws you lemons, just make lemonade - well, everyone has it tough, you're not the first one to suffer - or - God only gives you what you can handle - or - put it at the foot at the Cross - or God's in charge, while helpful in part, aren't entirely.

I couldn't change the circumstances of that day, nor pray them away as if it were a bad nightmare. Answers from prayer do come, but often not in our expected way or time.

There is a God of life's circumstances I figured, that calls us to a certain spiritual maturity because God does speak to us in the concrete realities of life.

But first we must be prepared to enter into the paradox of the parable of the seed (Luke 9:24) to realise that life only comes through dying. The trouble is, surrendering isn't exactly a walk in the park. It's scary stuff.

In the desperation of hardship, the book of Job spells out to the reader to remain faithful to God and to reject God won't fix the situation either. Sixteenth century Spanish mystic St John of the Cross described profound turmoil as the "Dark night of the Soul".

Jesus asks us to stay the course in exactly the same way He did Himself. St Peter explains in 1 Peter 2:21-23…. because Christ suffered for you, left an example for you to follow the way He took. He had not done anything wrong, but trusted with all His might in His Father. That's all He had, but all He needed.

Our indebtedness for all that God did in Jesus that Easter weekend assures us that we can fall apart knowing that God's arms are already outstretched to catch us.

The secret is out. The mystery has been uncovered - that God is present and alive in the darkness and pain of life's tragedies.

Let's not be frightened of the dark. Don't stay in your comfort zones. Be displaced. Vent your anger. Feel insecure. Own the anxieties. Cry out loud. Enter those blue days.

Acceptance and not rejection of the consequences of life's circumstances will lead us to that same realisation that Jesus did, that God is there - already!

My sister-in-law died just before Christmas in peace.

My sister suffered irreversible neurological injuries and is in full time care. My brother-in-law made a slow and full recovery and visits her every day.

The third driver involved in this car pile-up was killed instantly and the young culprit who was high on drugs, walked away uninjured. At the court inquest he couldn't remember anything!

• Sue Seconi is a writer and a parishioner from the Catholic Parish of Whanganui - te Parihi katorika ki Whanganui.

So says Joachim Bouflet, a historian and specialist in mystical phenomena.

"The mystical search is not noisy; it plays out in the most intimate places. We do not need to accumulate signs to believe; the Gospel should suffice," Bouflet told La Croix's Christophe Henning in an interview.

Bouflet's known for his extensive research on religious mystics and supernatural events.

The interview

La Croix : The text [the Vatican document on Marian apparitions], comes from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: what does this mean?

Joachim Bouflet: In a society sensitive to the marvelous and the supernatural, it is an opportunity to invite people to distance themselves from these phenomena.

"It is important to remember that signs, whatever they may be, do not change our faith. This should lead to greater rigour in the face of such propositions.

"For example, why turn to the pseudo-mystic Maria Valtorta (1897-1961), when the Church does not recognise her writings as being of supernatural inspiration?

"Especially when there are so many authentic and recognised mystics, such as John of the Cross, Edith Stein, and Madeleine Delbrêl.

La Croix : Isn't it primarily the apparitions of the Virgin that are at the heart of this debate?

Joachim Bouflet: The apparitions of the Virgin nourish the imagination, but do they nourish faith? I am not certain.

"When pilgrims go to Rue du Bac in Paris, whether the Virgin appeared or not does not change their prayer to Mary.

"Do they even know that there has been no official recognition of the apparitions to Catherine Labouré [1806 - 1876, French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul]?"

What's the attraction?

La Croix : How do you explain the enthusiasm for these signs that could support the Christian faith?

Joachim Bouflet: Because there is a thirst for novelty: why do people overlook Padre Pio, who experienced many strange phenomena? Today, he is canonised and attracts less interest.

"Who is interested in Sister Mariam of Jesus Crucified, a Carmelite who died at the age of 32 in Bethlehem, in 1878?

"For many of our contemporaries, more than a mystical search, it seems to me to be an escape from reality, a way to reassure themselves with exaggerated devotions. As if we needed the extraordinary, denigrating a simple faith.

"Yet, the mystical search is not noisy; it plays out in the most intimate places. We do not need to accumulate signs to believe; the Gospel should suffice."

Faith

La Croix: Faith is incarnate; it is charity, concern for the poor, work for peace. Faith is at work; it does not need extraordinary signs.

If the apparitions themselves may not be essential, what significance can pilgrimages still have?

Joachim Bouflet: In Lourdes or Pellevoisin, for example, and in many other places of Marian prayer, there is a true pastoral ministry around Mary, whether there was an apparition or not.

Popular piety comes to pray to the Virgin and expects no other help. I trust in popular faith.

On the other hand, some use the supernatural to provoke emotion, sensationalism, escalation, which has nothing to do with faith.

Faith is incarnate; it is charity, concern for the poor, work for peace.

Faith is at work; it does not need extraordinary signs.

• First published in La Croix
• Christophe Henning is a journalist at La Croix International

It was a sign of God's action and beauty in the world.

Global wonder

The past week has been dominated by reports from around the globe.

They're packed with striking images and videos of the aurora borealis and aurora australis enveloping the night skies with swathes of green, violet, cerise and blue.

For a brief moment, people paused the trolling, hate, and division that usually monopolises social media to share in a common moment of magnificent spectacle.

This was the first global solar storm of the Instagram age.

People forgot to which tribe they belonged, transcended the everyday, and enjoyed with millions of others a shared moment of awe in a world charged with God's grandeur.

Such heavenly phenomena have inspired humankind and human cultures for thousands of years.

These celestial events have fuelled the myths, tales and superstitions of the ancients and still do today in almost every contemporary culture.

More than science

Like most happenings today, the stunning show was greeted with scientific explanations, in this case solar particles reacting to the magnetic poles and our atmosphere.

However, on this rare occasion when the world's sky was ‘lit up', even the scientists turned to other-worldly forces, even religion, for an explanation.

On Monday morning, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, when interviewed on ABC Breakfast, described the auroras as "God's television set."

And why not?

Why wouldn't God want to turn our attention elsewhere and show each person he walks with us?

With conflicts raging around the globe, a cost-of-living crisis, mental health epidemic and people struggling in every sense of the word, what can be more timely than a rare solar storm sparking a light show that all people can share in?

In a time of trial and tribulation for many, we can give thanks for a sliver of heavenly hope.

It is a type of event that does not demand so much explanation but evokes a sense of faith, gratitude and reverence—the reception of a gift.

Interplay - not conflict

One of the greatest misconceptions in the secular world is there is an incessant conflict between our faith and science.

In contrast, our Catholic tradition and our history bears forth a rich interplay of faith and science throughout many centuries.

After all, it was a Belgian priest George Lemaître who created the Big Bang Theory.

Also engaged in the meeting of these mysteries was Nicolaus Copernicus, geneticist Gregor Medel and Louis Pasteur just to name a few.

Catholics have celebrated the insights of faith and science and harmonised these through a shared wonder of God's creation, including our own.

The truth is that for believers, science can be a form of worship.

The pursuit of discovery is an act of devotion in which we seek to celebrate life, seek truth, and draw closer to a God who draws near.

Faith leads

The Vatican sent a written message last week to the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (of which the Xavier Centre of Theology at the Australian Catholic University is a member).

In it, Pope Francis instructed theologians to collaborate with experts from other religions and scientific disciplines.

The Holy Father said "it is part of our Catholic faith to explain the reason for our hope to all those who ask."

This is another way of saying that the largest solar storm in more than two decades, occurring in the midst of global turmoil and covering the majority of the world in a celestial glow, gives us good reason to pause, look upward and look outward.

Sure, we can always seek a scientific explanation.

But there are times when it is better perhaps to simply adore and give gratitude for what God gives us.

Explanation and even science can only ever take us so far. It is faith that takes you the rest of the way.

• First published in The Catholic Weekly
• Marcus Middleton is the Director of Communications & News Media for the Diocese of Sydney

The Anglican Diocese of Wellington says the blog will focus on news headlines and current events affecting people everywhere.

"Pray the News is for everyone" says Rev. Michael Hartfield, National Director of Anglican Missions.

"No matter your age or background, you can participate individually or bring these prayer points to your faith communities."

Simple process

"Pray the News" will come "directly" into people's email inboxes Hartfield says.

"We believe the headlines are a powerful place to pray into.

"Our work exposes us to the human cost of geopolitical, social and cultural issues. Sometimes, these issues dominate headlines and sometimes they get forgotten entirely."

About Anglican Missions

Anglican Missions is an international aid, development and mission agency.

Its guidance comes from the Anglican Church's "5 Marks of Mission".

Mark of Mission 4 calls on Christians to "transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation."

Hartfield acknowledges that hopelessness in the news can feel overwhelming.

"But prayer allows us to put our faith into action" he stresses.

The initiative highlights the power of prayer in a world desperately in need.

"A praying church is a powerful church" Hartfield says. "We invite you to join us and Pray the News."

• To sign up for "Pray the News," visit here

Source

• Anglican Movement

The theologal virtues

There are three theologal virtues: faith, hope and charity.

Why are they theologal?

Because they can be lived - this virtue, the three theologal virtues - only thanks to the gift of God.

The three theologal virtues are the great gifts that God gives to our moral capacity.

Without them, we could be prudent, just, strong and temperate, but we would not have eyes that see even in the dark, we would not have a heart that loves even when it is not loved, we would not have a hope that dares against all hope.

What is faith?

This question: what is faith? The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, it explains that faith is the act by which the human being freely commits himself to God (1814).

In this faith, Abraham was the great father.

When he agreed to leave the land of his ancestors to head for the land that God would show him, he would probably have been judged insane: why leave the known for the unknown, the certain for the uncertain?

But why do this? It is insane, isn't it?

But Abraham sets off, as if he could see the invisible: this is what the Bible says about Abraham. "He went, not knowing where he was to go".

This is beautiful.

And it will again be the invisible that makes him go up the mountain with his son Isaac, the only son of the promise, who only at the last moment will be spared from sacrifice.

In this faith, Abraham becomes the father of a long line of descendants. Faith made him fruitful.

Moses was be a man of faith when, welcoming God's voice even more than one doubt could have shaken him, he continued to stand firm and trust in the Lord, and even defend the people who were so often lacking in faith.

The Virgin Mary was a woman of faith when, receiving the annunciation of the Angel, which many would have dismissed as too demanding and risky, answered, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38).

And, with her heart full of faith, with her heart full of trust in God, Mary set out on a path of which she knew neither the route nor the dangers.

Faith is the virtue that makes the Christian.

Because to be Christians is not first and foremost about accepting a culture, with the values that accompany it, but being Christian is welcoming and cherishing a bond, a bond with God: God and I, myself and the amiable face of Jesus.

This bond is what makes us Christians.

With regard to faith, an episode of the Gospel comes to mind.

Jesus' disciples were crossing the lake, and are surprised by the storm.

They think they can get by with the strength of their arms, with the resources of their experience, but the boat starts to fill up with water and they are seized by panic (cf. Mk 4: 35-41).

They do not realise that they have the solution before their very eyes: Jesus is there with them on the boat, in the midst of the storm, and Jesus "was asleep", says the Gospel.

When they finally awaken Him, fearful and even angry that He would let them die, Jesus rebukes them: "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" (Mk 4:40).

Fear

Here, then, is the great enemy of faith: it is not intelligence, nor is it reason, as, alas, some continue obsessively to repeat; but the great enemy of fear.

For this reason, faith is the first gift to welcome in Christian life: a gift that must be welcomed and asked for daily, so that it may be renewed in us.

It is seemingly a small gift, yet it is the essential one.

When we were brought to the baptismal font, our parents, after announcing the name they had chosen for us, were asked by the priest - this happened in our baptism: "What do you ask of the Church of God?" And the parents answered: "Faith, baptism!"

For Christian parents, aware of the grace that has been given them, that is the gift to ask for their child too: faith.

With it, parents know that, even in the midst of the trials of life, their child will not drown in fear.

See, the enemy is fear.

They also know that, when the child ceases to have a parent on this earth, he will continue to have a God the Father in heaven, who will never abandon him. Our love is so fragile, and only God's love conquers death.

Certainly, as the Apostle says, faith is not for all (cf. 2 Thess 3:2), and we too, who are believers, often realise that we have only a short supply.

Often Jesus can rebuke us, as He did with His disciples, for being "men of little faith".

But it is the happiest gift, the only virtue we are permitted to envy.

Because those who have faith are inhabited by a force that is not only human; indeed, faith "triggers" grace in us and opens the mind to the mystery of God.

As Jesus once said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea', and it would obey you" (Lk 17:6).

Pray for faith

Therefore, let us too, like the disciples, repeat to Him: Lord, increase our faith! (Lk 17:5).

• First published for Pope Francis by the Vatican Dicastery for Communications

Thomas Schlag is Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Zurich, where he heads the Centre for Church Development, where he conducts research into participation and church development.

In this interview, he talks about the future of global Christianity and how it will change.

Decline of Christianity

Question: Mr Schlag, Christianity around the world is very colourful: in Latin America, for example, indigenous traditions are coming into focus, while small new free churches are sprouting up in South Korea. Can general trends be identified despite this diversity?

Schlag: A general trend is the decline of a certain form of institutional Christianity, with traditional structures in terms of hierarchy and authority.

This also means that this usually somewhat more liberal form of Christianity seems to be becoming a minority position worldwide.

As part of our research, a major study has just been published on the so-called International Christian Fellowship (ICF) an evangelical movement.

It attracts relatively large numbers of younger people, particularly in Switzerland and southern Germany.

It shows a tendency that we discover again and again: it is all about clarity. A demand for clarity and a reduction in complexity.

These movements are currently successful - worldwide.

In the USA, but also in South Africa and South Korea - I have a better understanding of these contexts - we find such movements. And in societies that are explicitly modern and characterised by world experience, modernity, globality and digitality.

In any case, the old thesis that the more modern a society becomes, the more secular it becomes, cannot really be upheld. In fact, I think it is simply wrong.

Faith

Question: So a simple faith is in demand right now, even in modern societies. Is the world becoming too complicated for people and are they looking for simple answers? There is also this thesis with regard to political populism.

Schlag: You can actually get that impression. A world that is constantly accelerating - and then cuts like corona.

Many people want a place where one question is not followed by ten more. Instead, they want clear paths.

This is also evident in our ICF study. I had previously thought that people go to this free church primarily because of the special community.

That was also important, but the sermons were obviously the biggest attraction. Because these are not the classic liberal sermons with a doctrinal character. Rather, they are everyday lectures. The language and metaphors clearly focus on everyday life.

The point is: if you take this or that path, then you are cutting a swathe through the forest of complexity with Jesus Christ.

Community

Question: There are two groups of free churches: Hillsong Church, which originated in Australia, mainly attracts people who have not had much to do with religion before - the sermons are correspondingly simple and superficial.

However, in African countries, for example, many people are turning to the free churches, who certainly have a solid knowledge of religion. How is it that this programme appeals to these two such different groups?

Schlag: For those who have not previously belonged to a church community, the programme is low-threshold. It is an elementary approach, concepts become clear, even for someone who has never heard of it before.

For example, parables or a word of Jesus are presented in such an attractive way, which also has something to do with the rhetorical style.

The aforementioned ICF study also provided exciting insights into those who are already able to speak in church: According to this, a high proportion of highly qualified people are involved there.

In other words, these are people who know how complicated the world is. But they appreciate the fact that the sermons are easy and quick to grasp because the content is clear. So this idea applies to both groups.

There are always one or two small thoughts that you can take with you into everyday life. So this also has great practical relevance. Then of course there is the social network, where personal contacts and recognition await.

In contrast, many popular church institutions have not yet realised that you can't just declare community as an offer, you have to shape it in a targeted way. This mixture of simple messages and the way out of the singularity of the anonymous big city is what makes it so appealing.

Clarity and relevance

Question: Does that mean that even highly educated people want to have something to switch off spiritually once a week without having to think about it?

Schlag: Yes, with all the ambivalences that this also triggers theologically. Because the visitors there also realise that if the world really were that simple, some questions would not arise.

It's more about this experience of clarity and practical relevance.

Evangelicals have repeatedly criticised the established churches for linking faith and intellectuality in an exciting way, but not fulfilling their emotional needs.

Adaptation

Question: Does this also have to do with the sometimes almost civil servant-like nature of the established church hierarchy?

Schlag: I think it's more of a self-imposed attitude: the more complicated life is, the more complicated theology becomes.

It is a problem that the established churches no longer manage to break down this complicated reality and put into simple words what it is actually about. It has to be well thought out and reflected upon - I wouldn't go below that level.

But it has to be generally understandable. Traditional communities have not yet adapted to the changes in society. There is still the image of the service church that is available and waiting for people to need it.

But many people today choose what form of community and education they want - regardless of what their parents' and grandparents' generation does. There is a global trend towards smaller, more manageable community structures where people feel welcome.

This doesn't just apply to the church.

Modern urban planning has also noticed that neighbourhoods in urban areas are becoming more important and people are looking for a way out of urban anonymity.

The established churches urgently need to consider what culture they have to offer. Read more

• Christoph Paul Hartmann is an editor for the Katholicsh.de newsletter

It found that while about 25 percent identified as being atheist or agnostic, believers and non-believers were very likely to both agree about the severity of environmental problems and the danger of political corruption in the world.

Religious belief did play a role in attitudes on several other social issues, the survey said.

For example, atheists tended to support the legalisation of prostitution and surrogacy, while Catholics were more likely to reject the death penalty and the justification of war compared to people of other religions and atheists.

Results of the survey, titled, "Young People: Expectations, Ideals, Beliefs," were released Feb. 29 by the Footprints Research Group of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome together with seven other universities around the world.

The group said it wanted to look at young people from an international point of view since the vast majority of research on young people usually takes place on a national level.

And it wanted a "broad perspective" from a Christian anthropological view about their values, the reasons for their decisions, their religious practices and perceptions of the Church.

The survey with 37 questions was conducted in Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain and the United Kingdom from Nov. 16 to Dec. 11, 2023.

It sampled at least 600 young people from each of the eight countries for a total of 4,889 individuals between the ages of 18 and 29. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

Belief in God

About 73 percent of those surveyed said they believe in God while 8 percent were "searching to believe in God," it said.

However, the majority of those surveyed agreed on a sliding scale that "it isn't necessary to believe in God to have good values," with the highest number of people disagreeing with that statement being young people in Kenya and the Philippines.

At least three-quarters of those surveyed believe sin exists and that parents should pass religion on to their children. Those in sharpest disagreement to both statements were in Spain and the U.K.

Of those who said they stopped believing in God, the majority said it happened during middle school and high school.

The survey found there were two most frequent reasons for no longer believing in God.

These were feeling God was a "psychological refuge" or "substitute" for what cannot be explained or understood, and knowing a lot of "bad" believers, leading them "to understand that religion doesn't help people to be better."

Regular attendance at religious services and frequent daily prayer were highest among young people in Kenya and the Philippines.

Importance of going to Mass

"With regard to Mass attendance, many young Catholics defend their position that denies the correlation between going to Mass and being a good Christian," according to a press release by the pontifical university.

Those who reported not attending Mass regularly and 69% of those who said they do "share the belief that being a good Christian is not necessarily contingent upon Mass attendance." Read more

• Carol Glatz writes for Catholic News Service.

He matched the theatre's ornate decoration with one of his characteristically flamboyant suits — a colour-blocked navy, white and orange number with yellow lining.

As he paced, his speech sometimes resembled an altar call, other times borrowed the intellectual heft of a Catholic college lecture, and at one point offered a secular, pop psychological argument for the existence of God:

"Nonbelievers, he told the crowd in Providence, "wrestle with God as believers do: when they're morally outraged at suffering in the world.

"That's an emotional argument," he said. "And it's the kind of emotional argument that you would mount against someone that you are in relationship with."

We who wrestle

Peterson was in town to kick off his 51-city "We Who Wrestle With God" tour, in advance of his new book of the same name.

The "we" in the tour's title is the closest the former University of Toronto psychology professor and YouTube star has come to admitting his own belief in the God of the Bible.

The question of his faith is an important one to many of his fans.

In 2018 the Canadian magazine Maclean's called them "self-help junkies searching for meaning and order in a rapidly evolving age," but many are traditionally religious, while others have been inspired by his vacillating but consistent affinity for Christianity

The Jordan Peterson effect

Several commentators have even identified the Jordan Peterson Effect: a path of religiously unaffiliated people listening to Peterson lectures, then seeking a church to attend and converting.

"I read online comments from many atheists who said that before listening to his YouTube lectures on the Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories: Genesis, they thought the Bible was a ridiculous old book that had nothing to teach the modern mind," Christopher Kaczor Catholic co-author of "Jordan Peterson, God and Christianity," told Religion News Service.

"But after they listened to his lectures, they concluded that the Book of Genesis, indeed the Bible as a whole, is an immensely rich and profound storehouse of wisdom for living today."

A Catholic priest who attended the Providence show confirmed that "a fair number" of recent converts he's encountered at Mass said they came to the faith after listening to Peterson.

These fans have increasing hope that Peterson will announce his own conversion from agnosticism.

Religion central to life

Religion has always been a central concern for Peterson.

After becoming a viral sensation discussing Genesis on YouTube in 2017, he published "12 Rules for Life," a series of essays.

These essays had such prosaic titles as "Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back," and "Tell the Truth — Or at Least Don't Lie,".

They also declared, "The Bible is, for better or worse, the foundational document of Western civilization, of Western values, Western morality, and Western conceptions of good and evil."

Since resuming his public life after a bout of addiction to an anxiety drug in 2021, Peterson has hewed closer to the church, advising young people to attend church and criticising atheism's influence on society.

His stances on gender identity, his insistence that humans are tasked with creating order in a chaotic universe and his concern for young men's character have also endeared him to conservative Christians.

Sign of hope

Catholic Bishop Robert Barron, himself an internet heavyweight thanks to his Word on Fire ministry, has called Peterson "a sign of hope" for the church and "one of the most influential figures on the cultural scene today."

Kenneth E. Frantz, a University of Oklahoma doctoral student, and Samuel L. Perry, assistant professor of sociology and religious studies at the university, have called Peterson "the new Driscoll,".

They were referring to the evangelical Christian pastor Mark Driscoll, who drew young white evangelical men in particular in the mid-2000s to his brand of muscular Christianity.

(Driscoll was eventually cast out of his Mars Hill Church in Seattle after being accused of creating an abusive environment there.)

"There's a market for secular men promoting traditional masculinity — think Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan," Frantz told RNS.

He admitted, though, that "Peterson probably comes across as softer and more of an intellectual than either of those men."

Media appearances

Peterson recently concluded a 17-part series on the Book of Exodus for The Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro's right-wing media company.

He has also appeared in recent months on social media touring ancient churches in Rome, Jerusalem and Mount Athos with prominent Catholic and Orthodox Christians. These companions include the Canadian Orthodox iconographer and podcaster Jonathan Pageau.

In March 2023, Peterson was spotted filming an episode for The Daily Wire with Barron in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

Wrestling with God

"We Who Wrestle With God," the new book and lecture series, builds on "12 Rules," as well as its 2021 follow-up, "Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life," though religion has clearly become more personal than philosophical.

Peterson's wife, Tammy, who recently announced she will finish a conversion to Roman Catholicism at Easter this year, opened for her husband, talking candidly about her cancer and about suffering, praying and grieving her father's death.

"She said, I need to reestablish my relationship with what's highest," Peterson said of Tammy. "I need to realign my aim away from bitterness and resentment towards only that which is optimally good. That's the definition of God."

Peterson himself was noncommittal in answering questions about faith submitted online and voted on by the audience.

One of the most popular asked how we can know if we are wrestling with God or with ourselves. Peterson answered with maxims like, "if you're thinking about yourself, you're wrestling with yourself in misery."

But his secular approach to questions of the divine is part of his appeal, said Benjamin Howard, a disaffected Peterson fan in Vancouver who is launching a website called JordanPetersonIsWrong.com.

Agnostics and atheists like considering Christian values without the certainty of a fire and brimstone preacher.

"In his view, if you acted like God existed, then you will live a better life," Howard said. "In his mind, that's enough to just ignore whether he is real or not."

Vandy D. Chhoeun Jr. came to the show with his girlfriend, who attested that he has become "a better person" after discovering Peterson's YouTube videos in 2022.

"I really had to, like, sit myself down and be, like, you're a horrible person, you need to acknowledge that," he said, saying that Peterson helped him shift from feeling that all of life is meaningless to finding motivation to work toward goals.

Wrestling with God when he's not sure God exists, Chhoeun said, means aiming for the best in all situations. "To be an optimist, basically."

Others in the crowd had similar stories of changed lives, without involving God.

Matt Johnston, who attends the Church of Christ, said he was drawn to Peterson for "his authenticity and saying things that I think a lot of people feel like they can't say in this society."

Johnston weighed 400 pounds when he first came across Peterson's lectures. Now he is down to 200. "I lived one way for so long. I thought that's all, that was it. That's all I could do," he said. "Every little decision, you know, adds up to a better life."

The biggest surprise in Providence for Peterson observers may have been that nearly half of the audience was women. Frantz attributed this to Peterson's daughter, Mikhaila, who has become a fixture in alternative diet circles and traditional femininity circles.

Another audience question asked Peterson, who often talks about the ideal masculine, how he would define the ideal feminine. He recalled a recent trip to the Vatican, where he saw Michelangelo's Pieta of the Virgin Mary holding the broken body of Jesus.

"That's the female crucifixion," he said.

"What's the highest possible offering to God? Child and self. … The woman who does nothing but protects her child destroys her child. The woman who offers her child to God receives her child back and that story is the core of the divinity of femininity and every mother worth her salt knows that."

Alba Sanz, a teacher from Spain who is working out her beliefs about Catholicism, said she is not sure about that definition of the archetypal feminine.

"I thought it was really interesting but also made me think about women who can't be a mom or don't want to be a mom," said Sanz, who came with her boyfriend.

"I have friends who don't feel the need. So, what about them?"

• First published in Religion News Service. Republished with permission.
• Meagan Saliashvili is an author at Religion News Service.

Halík, also an acclaimed author, lecturer, psychotherapist, psychologist of religion and pastoral theologian at Charles University in Prague, joined in conversation at Victoria University Wellington's Law faculty.

Halík focussed on a number of issues facing the Church that he said were metaphorically the "afternoon of Christianity".

In an evocative address that spanned the personal and the theological, Halík, who is also a Czech theologian and clandestine priest ordained under communist suppression, delivered a powerful address highlighting the urgent need for reform within the Christian Church.

The crux of Halík's address was his call for a "deep reform" of the Church, extending beyond structural reorganisation to a profound transformation of its mentality and approach to spirituality.

Halík focussed on a number of issues facing the Church. He emphasised the concept of synodality, he advocated for a Church that fosters dialogue and openness, not just within its own hierarchy but also in its engagement and communication with the world at large. This includes other religions, non-believers and the broader ecological environment.

Halík argued that the challenges facing the Church are an opportunity.

In stark contrast to the institutionally rigid Church of the past, he drew on his experiences of ecumenical unity among persecuted Christians in communist prisons, stressing the importance of an open, serving and poor Church.

One of the most controversial aspects of Halik's speech was his critique of the reasons used to oppose the ordination of women.

Halík openly challenged traditional justifications for excluding women from priesthood by questioning the relevance of Christ's selection of male Jewish apostles for shaping contemporary Church practices.

His comment underscores a broader critique of the Church's resistance to modern societal values including gender equality.

Reflecting on what he metaphorically called the "afternoon of Christianity" he suggested a hopeful vision for the future of the Church, one that embraces change and seeks to find God in all aspects of life.

He called for a new chapter in Christian history, marked by a contemplative approach to faith that recognises the diverse spiritual journeys of all individuals, regardless of their formal religious affiliations.

Halík suggested that, in rapidly changing times, the Church faces both internal challenges and external pressures,

Halík says that going backwards, or even the status quo, has no future outside creating a small, almost ideological Church. He said that reform and inclusivity offer a pathway toward a more open, vibrant and engaged Christian faith in the 21st century.

Halík, a prolific author, is also a close advisor to the last President of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel, and a prestigious Templeton prize winner.

Victoria University of Wellington, Te Kupenga and the Archdiocese of Wellington sponsored the Conversation.

Source

• Supplied