Francis X. Maier

The Church, like any human institution, is comprised of people. And each of those people, including ourselves, is a sinner, from plumber to pope, with the sin of greed high on the popularity list.

“Our democracy” is on the brink of a theocratic coup. “Our democracy” is being hijacked by racists, fascists, homophobes, and misogynists.

The anonymity of the text, however reasonable its motives, inevitably weakens its effect and opens it to criticism.

We confess our sins, but we also confess our faith in Jesus Christ and his Church. In Baptism, Christians are made “confessors” by nature. It’s our vocation.

The Church has always had a pattern of lapsing into atrophy and catastrophe, and then being restored by her saints.

Georges Bernanos ignored the theologically puffed up; loved the everyday believer; and wrote for the simple, faithful Catholic.

“I did a lot of interviews,” says Francis X. Maier, author of True Confessions, “103 of them over a 17-month period, all over the country; bishops, priests, permanent deacons, and religious, with a special focus on laypeople. Each had a different perspective but a single unifying theme…”

So many new titles crowd the eye each year. But these three books really do warrant attention.

For the unbeliever, death is an obscenity. It’s an outrage to be evaded as long as possible and eventually somehow wiped away by human ingenuity.

Being male is a matter of biology. Becoming a man is learned and earned. We live in a culture that’s forgotten the difference.

As we start a new year and enter the Church season of “ordinary time,” how can we manage the frustrations that naturally come with Church conflict?

Now, as Christian practice steadily declines in the United States, mom and dad are getting a divorce. The result could get ugly, and the reason is simple.