Sightings Articles

Short white girl in white dress walking down church aisle toward camera

Exorcism | Catholicism | interfaith | Religion and media

A Demon for Everyone: Religion in the Latest "Exorcist"

The ecumenical, even interfaith, nature of the film reflects the America of 2023....

October 26, 2023
The Pope in a white hat and white robe waves with his right hand with his back turned toward the camera.

Catholicism | Pope Benedict XVI | Pope Francis

Papal Fallibility

Commentary prompted by the recent death of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI unsurprisingly indexes the usual binaries of sensationalized speculation. ...

January 4, 2023
church and state

liberalism | Thomas Jefferson | Catholicism | Church and State | Benedict Option

Liberalism’s Faith

On Maggie Nelson, the free exchange of ideas that fundamentalists fear, and the faith that must ground any tenable liberalism...

November 11, 2021
Francis at Western Wall

Anti-Semitism | Pope Francis | Catholicism

Pope Francis And The Jewish Law (Torah)

Pope Francis accepts Vatican II's Nostra Aetate, but has yet to fully extricate himself from two millennia's teachings of contempt ...

October 14, 2021
kung

Catholicism | Death | dissenters | Euthanasia

The Legacy of Hans Küng

Remembering a theologian who was unafraid of rocking the boat...

April 19, 2021
Pope Francis

Pope Francis | Catholicism | social justice | conservatism

Catholicism and its Disconnects

The most recent Papal encyclical highlights longstanding fault lines in contemporary Catholicism...

November 16, 2020
ACB

Catholicism | U.S. Supreme Court | Christian Right | political religion

The Problem with Calling Amy Coney Barrett Too Catholic

The tendentious historical origins of American Catholic Conservatism...

October 29, 2020
Quote

Flannery O'Connor | Race and religion | Jesuits | higher education | Catholicism

A Summer Correspondence

The decision to rename a dormitory reveals the fragility of historical nuance...

September 21, 2020
fleabag

Religion and Literature | Film | Catholicism | pop culture

When a Vow Turns Out to be... a Vow: ‘Fleabag’

Exploring religion's leading role in the hit television series “Fleabag”...

April 20, 2020
Grace

Catholic Church | sexual abuse | Catholicism

By the Grace of ... God?

How a recent film raises important questions about Catholic sacramental theology in light of the Church's sex abuse scandal...

February 6, 2020