“They were ‘doing birth’ to me rather than helping me ‘give birth,’” writes Susan Windley-Daoust of her first experience of childbirth, which she had hoped to do naturally but that instead resulted in “failure to progress” and a C-section. “That birth experience ended up being spiritually abusive by the ongoing treatment of me as an object (and not just an object; close to an object of ridicule). ...
There may be nothing quite as divisive and seemingly stuck in a political quagmire than abortion in twenty-first century America. This is exactly why Charlie Camosy’s book Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation is so timely and so needed in the conversation, one he proposes Millennials are ready to abandon in favor of a new political and social binary. Instead of simply entre...
How might Catholic parishes better form worshippers in, through, and for liturgy?
New media technology has connected us to astounding stores of information. The same technology has also been blamed for isolating those who develop unhealthy digital dependencies. New technology always giveth and taketh away. It begs the question, to what end are our technological developments aimed? If they are neither all good nor all bad, then cultivating a culture of communication that promote...
Much of what has been written in recent years about the intersection of theology and information and communications technology has focused on how best to use the Internet and social media to spread the Gospel. And in the context of the New Evangelization, we talk about evangelizing the culture, a far more difficult and ambitious task. If we are to succeed at either of these endeavors, then we have...
With a title like Bible Basics for Catholics: A New Picture of Salvation History, this is not the kind of book that broadcasts learned self-esteem at the coffee house. Better order that flat white to go. No, reading this book amounts to an admission of humility that, as Bergsma writes on the opening page, “You ought to know the Bible better than you do, and you probably feel vaguely guilty that yo...
Deacon James Keating’s The Heart of the Diaconate: Communion with the Servant Mysteries of Christ is a gift to the Church. His book is fruitful reading not only for deacons, bishops, and priests, but also for anyone in or involved with diaconal formation. The author, a theologian whose daily work is the formation of priests and deacons, is uniquely qualified to write a book on what is at heart of ...
