
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, will be released by Ignatius Press in early 2024.
The Appeal of Regime Change
Francis X. Maier

History never repeats itself. But patterns of human thought and behavior repeat themselves all the time. That’s why the past has so many lessons for the present. One of them is this: Every society has an elite leadership class, no matter how well disguised. That includes democracies. It thus includes our own.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / May 22, 2023
On Crossing the Rubicon
Francis X. Maier

So how do we fix things? How do we restore what we once had? Well, the truth is, maybe we can’t. Maybe that shouldn’t be our main focus. There’s no quick fix for problems we behaved ourselves into. But as Christians, we can at least change our thinking and our actions.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / April 27, 2023
Thoughts on Today’s Upheaval and Its Implications
Francis X. Maier

A sort of revival is coming: a “second religiousness,” renaissance, or recommitment to inherited civilizational principles. History would strongly suggest something like this is now on the horizon.
What We Need Now / April 25, 2023
Men Without Memories
Francis X. Maier

“But he channeled a widespread fear that America, as traditionally remembered and understood, is being stolen by a gang of thieves.”
Articles
First Things / April 17, 2023
Apocalypse Now: Living in Hope at the End of an Age
Francis X. Maier

We’ve forgotten who we are; what our baptism means; what a genuinely Catholic life invites and requires. So, what we can do now? What do we need to do now?
Articles
The Catholic World Report / April 6, 2023
More and More Jesuits
Francis X. Maier

Airports harbor interesting stories. Here’s an example. On my way home from a speaking engagement recently, I spent time with…
Articles
First Things / April 3, 2023
What We Need Now
Francis X. Maier

Having criticized the Washington Post for its March 9 hit-job on the unpleasant but revealing work of Catholic Laity and…
Articles
The Catholic Thing / March 30, 2023
The New Intolerance
Francis X. Maier

There is a new kind of intolerance “strangling open discussion across the West,” and this new brand of intolerance is linked closely with the sexual revolution.
Articles
First Things / March 21, 2023
Enough is Enough
Francis X. Maier

The priesthood, just like the laity, is peopled by humans; and humans are creatures with flaws.
Articles
The Catholic Thing / March 16, 2023
Black is Beautiful
Francis X. Maier

All those we love, and we ourselves, will one day go through that great black door of death. We need to acknowledge that fact and not try to evade or soften it. Without God, life really is a tragedy, and our mourning is a meaningless biochemical reaction. But our story doesn’t end there. The door has another side: a side of light, with a waiting, loving God.
Articles
Public Discourse / March 8, 2023