FaithFaith in Focus

I’m a Catholic Trump voter. I hope Americans can find a better way to talk about politics.

James F. KeatingJanuary 15, 2025

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Nov. 13, 2024. (OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

American Catholics, like the rest of the country, are wondering what the re-election of Donald Trump will mean. Thoughts will differ, of course, depending on one’s contentment with the outcome. For many of those who voted for Kamala Harris, uncertainty will be shaped by apprehension. They view the incoming president as a grifter, a threat to democracy, and fear that his planned mass deportation will inflict harm upon vulnerable immigrant communities. They are disappointed in their fellow citizens, especially fellow Catholics who voted for Mr. Trump by a substantial majority. They simply cannot fathom how anyone who believes in church teaching concerning the common good could support such a person.

 Short Take

What Notre Dame football means to this theology professor

Timothy P. O'MalleyJanuary 16, 2025

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) aims a pass during first half of the Orange Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff semifinal game against Penn State, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The risk associated with composing a pre-national championship panegyric on the University of Notre Dame’s football team in a Jesuit publication is above average. I know that some Boston College (where I received my doctorate) alums would take umbrage at such praise. They would surely interject, “Hey fighting Frenchmen, we’re the real Irish Catholic university.” They’re not completely wrong. (Although, let’s remember, imaginary interlocutor, that Boston College isn’t entirely in Boston, is it?)

 

Education – theology in crisis

Catholic Education

Massimo Faggioli

16 January 2025, The Tablet

Theology studies at the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome

The crisis in academic theology is a problem for the Church, not just for Catholic colleges and universities. A leading ecclesiologist calls for the revival of a rigorous theology that is embedded in Scripture, tradition and the life of the Church

A Church without theology – “faith seeking understanding” in the classic definition – is unimaginable. So is theology without a foot in the world of robust academic scrutiny, debate and research. And there can be no Catholic theology without some kind of vital connection with the Church.

The study of theology in Catholic colleges and universities holds a vital social, moral and ethical responsibility. As well as places of scholarship and research, these teaching departments and faculties are central to the cultivation of peaceful coexistence, honest conversation and mutual learning between faith communities in our multi-religious and multi-cultural societies. Yet theology faces an uncertain future in academic institutions in North America and Europe, and, increasingly, around the Catholic world.

Why I remain a Catholic priest, despite the devastation of scandals

 

Guest Voices

Opinion

Why I remain a Catholic priest, despite the devastation of scandals

Dave Mercer  ncr

 

Politics & SocietyShort Take

Facebook, fact-checking and the case for giving legacy media another chance

Kevin ClarkeJanuary 13, 2025

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, speaks at the SIGGRAPH 2024 conference in Denver on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Promoting the move as a decision to “get back to our roots,” Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg announced on Jan. 7 that his company was effectively surrendering a proactive role in protecting content veracity. Facebook, Instagram and Threads, Meta’s social media triumvirate, will eliminate fact-checking services, planning instead to rely on the Facebook community to police itself.

“We’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X,” Mr. Zuckerberg said, referring to the social media site once called Twitter and portraying his embrace of laissez-faire content as a victory for free expression.

 

More than $5 billion spent on Catholic sexual abuse allegations, new report finds

Aleja Hertzler-McCain - Religion News ServiceJanuary 15, 2025

Victims and their family members of clergy sexual abuse react as Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks at a news conference at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg on Aug. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

(RNS) — Over two decades, Catholic dioceses, eparchies and men’s religious communities spent more than $5 billion on allegations of sexual abuse of minors, according to a new report released Wednesday (Jan. 15) by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

Between 2004 and 2023, three-fourths of the $5.025 billion reported was paid to abuse victims. Seventeen percent went to pay attorneys’ fees, 6% was in support for alleged abusers and 2% went toward other costs. On average, only 16% of the costs related to the allegations was borne by insurance companies.

Theologian: Synod clarified that 'we are the church,' not just clergy

 

January 16, 2025

Theologian: Synod clarified that 'we are the church,' not just clergy

Rhina Guidos  ncr

 

Jimmy Carter was not a failed politician

Opinion

NCR Voices

Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale are seen at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden, July 15, 1976 in New York City. Jimmy Carter died Dec. 29, 2024, his presidential library announced. At 100, Carter was the longest-living U.S. president. (OSV News/Library of Congress handout via Reuters/Warren K. Leffler)

by Christine Schenk

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January 16, 2025

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As I watched former President Jimmy Carter's funeral on Jan. 9, the testimonials of his courage, wisdom and integrity — delivered within the context of worship and Christian witness that anchored Carter's life — moved me deeply, particularly in contrast to the 47th president who will soon be sworn into office. 

Like many others, I remembered Jimmy Carter more for what he did after he left office than for any policies he enacted. I had long admired Carter's unstinting passion for serving the marginalized, which he and his wife Rosalynn pursued through the Carter Center for more than 40 years after leaving office. But I didn't remember many details about his presidency, except that he left office under a cloud because of inflation and the Iran hostage crisis.