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.

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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.

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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

Father Love Is a Hard Love

Francis X. Maier

The father who says he likes being tough on his kids is a liar. Fathers want to be loved, and too often they’re lonely.

Articles

First Things / March 1, 2023

The Life and Times of ‘La Duchesse’

Francis X. Maier

Bronwen McShea’s new book, La Duchesse captures with vivid grace and detail the life of one of the most important, if unheralded, women in French history.

Articles

The Catholic Thing / February 28, 2023