Analysis and Comment

  • Catholics and other Christians thanking God together: has the time come to change our practice?

    When Pope Francis visited Rome’s Lutheran church in 2015, he reframed the Eucharist not as a doctrinal reward but as sustenance for a pilgrim people. That shift in language was small but significant, opening theological space that had been closed for decades under two conservative popes.

    Catholics and other Christians thanking God together: has the time come to change our practice?
  • In the Easter story, women are the first to proclaim the resurrection – but…

    Women made up only 14% of U.S. congregation leaders as of 2018-19, despite constituting nearly a quarter of professional clergy. That gap sits uneasily alongside Easter Gospel narratives in which women are the first — and sometimes only — witnesses to the resurrection.

    In the Easter story, women are the first to proclaim the resurrection – but…
  • ‘We,’ not ‘I’: An Ohio archbishop called Catholics to talk their way to consensus

    Cincinnati’s Archbishop Robert G. Casey has announced a 2027 archdiocesan synod, making his diocese one of the very few in the United States to formally respond to the Vatican’s call for local synodal assemblies. His vision of leading with “we” rather than “I” is drawing attention well beyond Ohio.

    ‘We,’ not ‘I’: An Ohio archbishop called Catholics to talk their way to consensus
  • Ending the Trump-Netanyahu war in the Middle East

    The question of whether the world is already in the opening phase of World War III is raised with unusual directness. The Israel-US war on Iran, the threat to global energy supplies, and the absence of any credible peace process combine into a scenario analysts describe as a genuine civilizational risk.

    Ending the Trump-Netanyahu war in the Middle East
  • ‘Throw away the key’ mindset

    The story of Nancy, an Oregon mother who rebuilt her life after incarceration, illustrates how faith-based support inside prison walls produces better outcomes for individuals, families and entire communities.

    ‘Throw away the key’ mindset
  • Artificial intelligence as seen by two popes

    As artificial intelligence reshapes work, culture and decision-making, two pontificates converge on a deeper concern – not technological progress itself, but the risk of reducing human life to efficiency, calculation and control.

    Artificial intelligence as seen by two popes
  • Synodality, local churches, and the end of Eurocentric theology

    Asian theologians shifted the language of mission from ad gentes (“to the nations”) to inter gentes (“among the nations”). That single preposition change carries enormous weight: it replaces a one-directional, subject-to-object model with a dialogical encounter between communities, cultures, and equals.

    Synodality, local churches, and the end of Eurocentric theology
  • When the bombs fall on other people’s children

    There is a bitter irony that demands to be spoken plainly. At home, America cannot stop bullets from entering schools. Abroad, it helps deliver death from the sky and asks the world to call it order. When outrage is calibrated by passport, when foreign children dissolve into geopolitical footnotes while our own are memorialised by…

    When the bombs fall on other people’s children
  • The future of Church is hybrid: local digital strategy needed

    The “Silver Surfer” is becoming a primary demographic for church digital communication. With 90 percent of seniors online, parishes must shift their strategies away from traditional print to well-curated digital platforms to reach their most active members.

    The future of Church is hybrid: local digital strategy needed

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