Francis X. Maier
Senior Fellow
Francis X. Maier is a senior fellow in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mr. Maier’s work focuses on the intersection of Christian faith, culture, and public life, with special attention to lay formation and action.
Francis X. Maier is a senior fellow in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mr. Maier’s work focuses on the intersection of Christian faith, culture, and public life, with special attention to lay formation and action.
Mr. Maier served as senior adviser and special assistant to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., for 23 years in Denver and Philadelphia. He previously served as editor in chief of the National Catholic Register, and as a story analyst and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and New York University’s School of the Arts, he is a former fellow of the American Film Institute’s Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies. He is a cofounding board member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, and a board member of the Napa Institute.
His bylined work has appeared in First Things, National Review, The American Spectator, Crisis, This World, America, Commonweal, the New York Times Sunday magazine, Christian Science Monitor, and other national and foreign outlets.
Dinner with a Long Spoon
Francis X. Maier
As Christians, we have a duty to engage the world, including our nation’s public life.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / May 11, 2022
Why We Hunger for Beauty
Francis X. Maier
Beauty is an affirmation of our shared human dignity. It reminds us of life’s goodness in an age of transgressive narcissism and repudiation of the past.
Articles
First Things / May 2, 2022
True Confessions
Francis X. Maier
True Confessions is an exercise, unintended, in true instruction.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / April 28, 2022
The Lens of Holy Thursday
Francis X. Maier
In an open letter to the German episcopate, 80 bishops voiced their strong concern over the direction of Germany’s “Synodal Path.”
Articles
First Things / April 14, 2022
The Simplicity of Father Stu
Francis X. Maier
It’s a gift to sit through a religiously-themed film today that leaves no taste of artificial sweetener in the mouth. And that’s why Father Stu should not be missed.
Articles
First Things / April 12, 2022
70 Bishops Warn of Germany’s “Synodal Path”
Francis X. Maier
What happens in Germany will not stay in Germany.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / April 12, 2022
Our “Land of the Free” Today
Francis X. Maier
The war in Ukraine has all the elements of an exceptionally vivid videogame. . .except that real people are really fighting and dying.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / March 17, 2022
Selling Murder
Francis X. Maier
The short film Forgive Us Our Trespasses is a memorable reminder of the sins of the past and a stark warning to us in the present.
Articles
The Catholic Things / March 5, 2022
Pro Deo et Patria
Francis X. Maier
For many families, the storm clouds currently gathering over Ukraine stir up some poignant memories.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / February 14, 2022
Ukraine and the Western Conscience
Francis X. Maier
The idea that Ukrainians might forget or ignore the memory of Russian criminality in their country, for the sake of a dubious peace, is ludicrous.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / January 27, 2022
Memory, History, and Hope
Francis X. Maier
Today’s distressing turmoil in the world and discord in the Church are hardly new. They’re part of humanity’s fallen nature and – unavoidably – our normal pastoral terrain.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / January 18, 2022
Catholic Journalists Called to Report the Truth with ‘A Consuming Passion for Excellence’
Francis X. Maier
Never doubt the importance of your work. The vocation of a Catholic journalist is to tell the truth; to bring hope; and to sustain faith. The Church and her people — and through them, the world — urgently need all three.
Articles
Catholic News Agency / January 12, 2022