doctrine

, , , , , , , ,

Graffiti tales at Canterbury, and a new leader for divided Anglican Communion

, , , , , , , ,
Graffiti tales at Canterbury, and a new leader for divided Anglican Communion

In ordinary times, the arrival of a new Archbishop of Canterbury would be a headline that stood alone, especially if England's monarch had just approved the first woman to serve as the symbolic leader of the Anglican Communion.

But the recent decision to add decorative graffiti inside Canterbury Cathedral, founded in 597, added tension to debates surrounding the October 2 appointment of the Right Reverend and Right Honorable Dame Sarah Mullally as the 106th successor to St. Augustine.

The "Hear Us" exhibition added flashy decals to the columns, walls and floors of the iconic sanctuary, imitating the spray-paint art common in alleys, road underpasses and urban neighborhoods. The images offered bold challenges, such as: "God, what happens when we die?", "Are you there?", "Why did you create hate?" and "Do you ever regret your decisions?"

Cathedral Dean David Monteith explained: "There is a rawness which is magnified by the graffiti style which is disruptive." The exhibit, which ends in January, "allows us to receive the gifts of younger people who have much to say."

Among Anglicans, Monteith's leadership role has fueled debates because of his public decision to enter a same-sex civil partnership -- a stance rejected by traditional clergy in England and around the world. He also made headlines in 2024 with "Rave in the Nave" disco nights, with a temporary alcoholic bar located near where St. Thomas Becket was martyred in 1170.

In her first sermon after being named Archbishop of Canterbury, Mullally alluded to the messy divisions inside the worldwide Anglican Communion, with its 85-110 million believers.

"In an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter but stronger: shared history, held in tension, shaped by prayer, and lit from within by the glory of Christ," she said.

"Across our nation today, we are wrestling with complex moral and political questions. The legal right of terminally ill people to end their own lives. Our response to people fleeing war and persecution. … The deep-rooted question of who we are as a nation, in a world that is so often on the brink."

, , , , , , , ,

When pope's hold quick gaggles with reporters, strange things can happen

, , , , , , , ,
When pope's hold quick gaggles with reporters, strange things can happen

As Pope Leo XIV left his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, a circle of reporters pressed forward.

Early in his pontificate, Leo has been cautious with the press. But after some comments in Italian, he agreed to "one question" from the EWTN network. It focused on Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich's decision to honor U.S. Senator Dick Durbin with a lifetime achievement award.

The problem: Durbin consistently backs abortion rights and remains barred from receiving Holy Communion in Springfield, Illinois, his home diocese. The senator has since declined the honor.

In English, Leo stressed looking at a politician's "overall work." The Chicago-born pope added: "Someone who says, 'I am against abortion,' but says, 'I am in favor of the death penalty' is not really pro-life. Someone who says that 'I am against abortion, but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life. So, they're very complex issues."

What happened next was totally predictable.

"The Catholic right has been divided between those inclined to try to explain away the pope's language, and those insisting he was just flat wrong," wrote Crux editor John L. Allen, Jr. "The American Catholic left, meanwhile, has been gripped by a paroxysm of delight."

It's one thing that didn't happen -- with "all the polarization in social media, instant news and even fake news" -- was a clear statement by Pope Leo XIV about these complex doctrinal issues, said Amy Welborn, a popular Catholic blogger since 2001.

"Popes should not do press conferences or drive-by press gaggles – never, ever," she said, reached by telephone. In fact, popes should avoid all hasty statements on politics and public events. It would be safer for Leo to discuss his tennis game, she added.

, , , , ,

Parsing Pope Leo XIV: Journalists, Catholic insiders trying to read between the lines

, , , , ,
Parsing Pope Leo XIV: Journalists, Catholic insiders trying to read between the lines

Early in the Mass, the priest -- chanting in Latin -- leads the congregation into a prayer of repentance.

The faithful respond: "Confíteor Deo omnipotenti et vobis, fratres, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, opere et omission," which in English is, "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do."

Then everyone adds: "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" -- "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault."

This Mass is in Latin, but it's the basic Latin text for the Vatican II Novus Ordo (.pdf here), noted Pope Leo XIV, in lengthy interviews with Elise Ann Allen of Crux.

A big issue in current conflicts, he said, is that "people always say 'the Latin Mass.' Well, you can say Mass in Latin right now. If it's the Vatican II rite there's no problem. Obviously, between the Tridentine Mass and the Vatican II Mass … I'm not sure where that's going to go."

It doesn't help, the pope added, when Catholics witness "abuse" of the Novus Ordo. This offends those "looking for a deeper experience of prayer, of contact with the mystery of faith that they seemed to find in the celebration of the Tridentine Mass. Again, we've become polarized, so that instead of being able to say, well, if we celebrate the Vatican II liturgy in a proper way, do you really find that much difference between this experience and that experience?"

Pope Leo's call for celebrating the "Vatican II liturgy in a proper way" -- including Latin -- will "strike at least some American Catholics as either pointedly ironic or frustratingly hypothetical, given the number of bishops who have restricted 'traditional' celebrations of the ordinary form, even those 'proper' according to the rubrics," noted Ed Condon, editor of The Pillar, in a recent online essay.

If the goal is to heal "polarization around the liturgy," the pope needs to describe "proper" ways to celebrate the Novus Ordo, Condon added. But it "remains to be seen if those bishops who have clamped down on ordinary liturgical practices, or taken a relaxed view of liturgical abuses, will feel moved to revisit their positions in the light of the pope's words -- or if the pope will do anything to actively encourage them to do so."

, , , , , , , ,

When Charlie Kirk sat down with Bill Maher and discussed the importance of Easter

, , , , , , , ,
When Charlie Kirk sat down with Bill Maher and discussed the importance of Easter

Offered a choice, Charlie Kirk would have preferred not to enter a marijuana cloud to discuss theology, politics, science and the dangers of free speech.

But the Turning Point USA activist -- assassinated on September 10 at Utah Valley University -- had welcomed the opportunity to join comic Bill Maher on the "Club Random" podcast that aired this past Easter.

"Bill treated me great. … He was very pleasant, albeit at times rather crude," said Kirk, in an online commentary about the show. However, he quipped, if football players have to "play in the snow," then a "political commentator fighting for Jesus" needs to "play in the weed."

Maher was shaken by Kirk's bloody death. On his "Real Time" show days later, the religious agnostic and political liberal said: "I like everybody. … But he was shot under a banner that said, 'Prove me wrong,' because he was a debater, and too many people think that the way to do that -- to prove you wrong -- is to just eliminate you from talking altogether. So, the people who mocked his death or justified it, I think you're gross. I have no use for you."

Both men worked with security teams, due to death threats. Kirk described his calling with variations on this: "When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts. … What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement where violence is not an option."

In addition to discussing the potency of modernized marijuana, Kirk and Maher veered from science debates about gender dysphoria to the origins of ultimate truth, from Hollywood trust-fund "nepo babies" to myriad battles surrounding Kirk's friend, President Donald Trump.

The "real fun" began, said Kirk, with complex issues defined by Maher's "Religulous," a scathing critique of religious faith. Kirk knew the book inside out.

, , , , , ,

The fellowship of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, shaped by reality in World War I

, , , , , ,
The fellowship of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, shaped by reality in World War I

A British soldier began writing "The Fall of Gondolin" while in a hospital bed, stricken by "trench disease" from the lethal front lines of World War I.

A German soldier later bemoaned the "lice, rats, barbed wire, fleas, shells, bombs, underground caves, corpses, blood, liquor, mice, cats, artillery, filth, bullets, mortars, fire, steel." Add poison gas to that ordeal.

Young J.R.R. Tolkien wrote: "The fume of the burning, and the steam of the fair fountains of Gondolin withering on the flame of the dragons of the north, fell upon the vale of Tumladen in mournful mists." The battlefields were "cold and terrible."

This was a vision of war from a man who had been there, said Joseph Loconte, author of "A Hobbit, a Wardrobe and a Great War." The book explores the many ways that World War I shaped Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

"Tolkien wasn't writing escapist fantasy," said Loconte, reached by telephone. "If this is about escape, it's the writings of a prisoner who has escaped the world of cells, bars and keys. This kind of escapism … helps us realize that our prisons have windows and we can use them to see better things."

Tolkien later wrote that he began creating his Middle Earth mythology -- the foundation for the future "The Lord of the Rings" -- while "in grimy canteens, at lectures in cold fogs, in huts full of blasphemy and smut, or by candlelight in bell-tents, even some down in dugouts under shell fire."

Yes, the man who survived days huddled in shell craters and trenches in France would later write, in a blank page in an Oxford student's exam book, these famous words: "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."

Tolkien and Lewis remain stunningly popular -- in print and on digital screens.

, , , , , , ,

When did Stephen Colbert's satire, with it's Catholic grace, veer into ridicule and rage?

, , , , , , ,
When did Stephen Colbert's satire, with it's Catholic grace, veer into ridicule and rage?

Soon after Stephen Colbert landed "The Late Show" he welcomed tycoon Donald Trump as a guest and did something shocking — he apologized.

"I said a few things about you over the years that, that are, you know, in polite company, perhaps, are unforgivable," Colbert said, in 2015.

"Accepted," said Trump, smiling.

That encounter was light years from what happened after Trump celebrated the recent CBS decision to cancel "The Late Show."

On social media, the president said Colbert's "talent was even less than his ratings."

Colbert fired back in his monologue: "Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f*** yourself."

While Colbert retains a faithful congregation, some fans who loved his sly blend of satire and progressive Catholicism mourn his decision to preach to only half of America, said media scholar Terry Lindvall, author of "God Mocks: A History of Religious Satire from the Hebrew Prophets to Stephen Colbert," published in 2015.

"He made you laugh and think," said Lindvall, reached by telephone. "When he turned on the rage, he turned mean. He turned bitter. He acted like he was a prophet, not a jester." Sadly, Lindvall added, the Trump era turned Colbert into "a liberal fundamentalist. … He drank the Kool-Aid."

The goal, in "God Mocks," was to offer a "bumpy tour through Rome, Jerusalem and Lilliput," arriving at Comedy Central. Lindvall praised Colbert's early work on "The Colbert Report," in which he pretended to be a blow-hard conservative pundit, creating an upside-down persona who could mock secular progressives and atheists, as well as thinkers on the right. Conservative guests, especially Catholics, were often treated with respect.

That was satire, wrote Lindvall, recognizing "a moral discrepancy between what is proclaimed and what is practiced. … The biblical satirist shares in the blame and shame of his defendants.

, , , , , , ,

Catholic social media enters the age of digital flocks and "hot priests"

, , , , , , ,
Catholic social media enters the age of digital flocks and "hot priests"

With a nod to digital life, Merriam-Webster has expanded its "influencer" definition to include a "person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media."

Pope Leo XIV didn't use that term in his latest remarks on faith in the Internet age, even while addressing the recent Vatican Jubilee for Digital Missionaries and Influencers.

"Today, we are in a culture where the technological dimension is present in almost everything, especially as the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence will mark a new era in the lives of individuals and society as a whole," the pope told more than 1,000 "content creators," from 70 nations.

"We have a duty to work together to develop a way of thinking, to develop a language, of our time, that gives voice to Love" -- with a divine uppercase "L" in his text. "It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter of hearts. This will entail seeking out those who suffer, those who need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds, get back on their feet and find meaning in their lives."

The pope, who studied mathematics as an undergraduate, warned Catholic "influencers" about temptations they should avoid, such as the "logic of division and polarization," "individualism and egocentrism," "fake news" and "frivolity."

The church, he noted, has "never remained passive" when facing cultural change, but strives to separate "good from evil and what was good from what needed to be changed, transformed and purified."

Meanwhile, journalists spotted modern trends while surfing the online work of many participants. The Daily Mail headline proclaimed: "Christianity is sexy now! How 'hot priest' influencers are drawing young people to the church in their droves." The Telegraph went further: "Vatican turns to 'hot priests' to spread faith -- Social media seen as means to ensure survival of a church suffering from declining numbers." 

Hooks for the coverage included an Italian "bodybuilder priest" on Instagram, whose bulging biceps are covered with tattoos. Other "influencer" priests offered digital followers content about their poetry, workouts, guitar skills, cycling trips and adventures with pets, as well as sermons and Bible studies. 

, , , , , , ,

Lingering Supreme Court mystery: Justice Anthony Kennedy and religious liberty

, , , , , , ,
Lingering Supreme Court mystery: Justice Anthony Kennedy and religious liberty

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018, but religious-liberty activists still want to know where he hoped to draw a bright line between religious freedom and the Sexual Revolution.

Kennedy knew that the First Amendment's declaration that government "shall make no law ... prohibiting the free exercise of religion" was creating warfare in modern American law and politics. But he didn't know how to end the strife.

In his majority opinion in the court's 5-4 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage, Kennedy stressed that many Americans opposed this change because of "decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises," and he denied that "their beliefs are disparaged" in the ruling.

"It must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned," he wrote, in 2015. "The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths."

Since then, the Supreme Court has issued important rulings clarifying the rights of churches, denominations and ministries with clearly stated doctrines on sex, gender and marriage, noted Stanley Carlson-Thies, who recently retired as head of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, which he founded in 2008 as part of the nonpartisan Center for Public Justice. He also assisted the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations with issues linking faith and public life.

"The court knows that the freedom of religious expression is more than worship, alone," said Carlson-Thies, reached by telephone. "But where will the court draw the line, especially with religious individuals who own businesses that deal with the general public? …

"That's the mystery. Everyone knows the court needs to do something. These issues are not going away. … But it isn't clear the everyone thinks the Supreme Court should have the last word on everything. You hear that argued on the left and the right -- depending on who controls the White House."

, , , , , , ,

Summer beats, dashes of theology and the growing glowing power of hip-hop

, , , , , , ,
Summer beats, dashes of theology and the growing glowing power of hip-hop

In the first centuries of Christian life, bishops wrestled with the Greek in this puzzle -- whether God the Father and Jesus were "homoiousios (of similar substance)" or "homoousios (of one substance), with "one substance" winning the day.

This "hypostatic union" is a complex, mysterious subject, but hip-hop artist Shai Linne has demonstrated that modern believers can dance to it.

"Two natures united in one glorious person / Jesus, the God-Man, official Soul Reaper / The hypostatic union, it gets no deeper," rapped Linne, on his "Lyrical Theology" disc. "I know it's deep but when you peep, you'll find it's dense / Jesus both God and man, two hundred percents / Fully divine, fully human / Introducing: the hypostatic union."

Nayanna Holley and Steve Zank even found a way, with rap commentary, to use the whole Apostles Creed. Both of these tracks made it into "Good Theology, Good Beats" -- a 100-song summer online playlist created by the Gospel Coalition.

“The purpose of a playlist is simply to bring mixtapes into the 21st century. … You can put lists on social media platforms and hundreds and thousands of people can share them," said Brett McCraken, director of communications for the group and creator of the playlist. "We used to make mix tapes for our friends. Now, there's no limit. … You can literally make an online playlist with just about any song that has ever existed."

Playlists are, for some, an art form -- with creators choosing specific songs and placing them in sequences to address specific issues, said McCracken, reached by telephone.

Playlists also build online networks. With this list, the Gospel Coalition team wanted to reach younger listeners, stressing that musicians around the world are using rap, hip-hop, Afrobeats, Gospel and other forms of music to build more ties between believers in Black, white and Latino cultures. In the no-borders world of Spotify, Instagram and TikTok, this reality is affecting music in many churches, as well as the mainstream media.