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, and the inaugural Senior Research Fellow (2020–22) at Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government. 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 and the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).
His bylined work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, First Things, National Review, The American Spectator, The Catholic Thing, Crisis, This World, America, Commonweal, the New York Times Sunday magazine, Christian Science Monitor, and other national and foreign outlets. His book True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church, was released by Ignatius Press in early 2024.
2022: There’s Good News and Bad News
Francis X. Maier
As 2022 begins, it’s worthwhile looking at the particular challenges to all of us these days.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / January 1, 2022
The Music of the Season
Francis X. Maier
Once upon a time, in a saner, more humane age, the faraway Age of Faith, the joy and beauty of the season didn’t need to be manufactured, or hawked, or bought, or turned into kitsch.
Articles
First Things / December 14, 2021
The Promise and Peril of Synods
Francis X. Maier
The Petrine ministry carries with it a duty to foster unity and clarity of belief. Pope Francis surely understands this. Whether the theme and architecture of the 2023 synod serve that ministry is still to be seen.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / December 9, 2021
Augusto Del Noce and The Problem of Atheism
Francis X. Maier
Augusto Del Noce is the most important thinker we don’t know. Del Noce viewed The Problem of Atheism, his essay collection that will be made available in English early next year, as the cornerstone of his scholarship.
Articles
Public Discourse / December 5, 2021
Gratitude, Expectation, and Advent
Francis X. Maier
The Advent writings of the German martyr Alfred Delp can help us enter into the real heart of Christmas.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / November 26, 2021
Living Between the Poles: How to Be Faithful in a Time of Conflict
Francis X. Maier
Real people, both within and outside the Church, are messy creatures. We all have divided hearts. As a result, the real world is filled with conflict. Here’s what we can do.
Articles
The Catholic World Report / November 21, 2021
A Candle for Roger
Francis X. Maier
Roger Scruton died in January 2020. But he remains our era’s leading philosopher of common sense and the wisdom of lived experience.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / November 11, 2021
Praying for the Pope
Francis X. Maier
Every pontificate gets mixed reviews. So, too, the current one.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / October 26, 2021
Two Cheers for Pessimism
Francis X. Maier
The Word of God is water in a desert. And a lot of thirsty hearts are out there. So this isn’t a bad time to be a Christian. It’s exactly the opposite. It’s the best time, because what we do now matters.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / October 14, 2021
Voodoo and Its Enchantments
Francis X. Maier
When preached by today’s apostles of urgent change, and then chanted endlessly in everything from fashion blogs to mainstream news reporting to athletic shoe commercials, magic words like “equity” and “inclusion” infect our language with a kind of hypnotic voodoo.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / September 30, 2021
All You Need To Know About Sex
Francis X. Maier
Today’s sharp decline in sexual activity among the young has everything to do with the isolating cocoon of pornography and the collapse of any higher meaning in sexual relationships. Sex without love—real love, the kind that comes with obligations and unexpected burdens, but also unexpected joys—kills the taste for both.
Articles
First Things / September 27, 2021