Living Out the Good News

 

 

 

The Way of the Early Church

Living Out the Good News

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

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Religious scholar Huston Smith describes how the first Christians spread the gospel message through their happiness, beyond any particular words they shared:

The compassion the disciples had encountered in Jesus was powerful—victorious over everything. This conviction had transformed a dozen or so disconsolate followers of a slain and discredited leader into one of the most dynamic forces in human history, and the tongues of fire that descended upon them at Pentecost set the Mediterranean world aflame. People who were not speakers waxed eloquent. They exploded across the Greco-Roman world, preaching what has come to be called “the gospel”; in the original Greek the phrase is “the Good News.” They spread their message with such fervor that in Jesus’s very generation it took root in every major city of the region….

 

News

JD Vance writes about his journey to Catholicism in his new book, ‘Communion’

by Mike Catalini, Associated Press June 15, 2026

Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 19, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism whose faith has been central to his adult life, writes about his religious journey in a new book that could ultimately serve as a sort of origin story for a future presidential campaign.

“Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” comes out Tuesday from Harper, and The Associated Press obtained a copy ahead of its release. The HarperCollins imprint also put out “Hillbilly Elegy,” the best-selling memoir from 2016 that helped make Vance a national figure.

Vance has been working on and off on his new book since then, a tumultuous decade that included a Hollywood movie about his youth, a short stint as a U.S. senator from Ohio and now vice president to Donald Trump.

Posted inShort Take

The Constitution has passed its sell-by date

by Vincent D. Rougeau June 15, 2026

Credit: iStock/TimothyOLeary

A democratic government should serve its people through a commitment to justice, respect for the rule of law and the promotion of the common good. When developing the U.S. Constitution, the framers committed themselves to versions of these goals in the document’s preamble. Yet one might be forgiven for thinking that we are now in danger of returning to a society in which “we the people” are simply subjects meant to pay and obey, while those who govern us act only in their own interests to accumulate power and profit. Despite its lofty intentions, our Constitution is not helping matters.

A Clerical Abuse Survivor’s Thank-You to Faithful Priests

 

A Clerical Abuse Survivor’s Thank-You to Faithful Priests

BOSTON (MA)
National Catholic Register - EWTN [Irondale AL]

June 14, 2026

By Faith Hakesley

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Commentary: A bad priest deeply wounded me, but through the faithfulness and holiness of other priests, I was gradually led back toward hope, healing, truth and renewal.

As Father’s Day approaches, I find myself thinking about my own wonderful dad, as well as my husband, the father of our six children.

The love of good fathers leaves lasting marks on the lives entrusted to them, and their sacrifices matter more than we realize. Thank you, fathers and father figures!

I also find myself thinking about our priests. That may sound strange coming from a survivor of clerical abuse. I was sexually abused by a priest (now laicized) when I was 15. That sort of memory doesn’t just leave you overnight but, by the grace of God, there is life after abuse. His grace shines into even the darkest of places.

Catholic priests have become the subject of countless jokes, memes…

Dear bishops: Devotion to Sacred Heart requires solidarity with LGBTQ community

 

Guest Voices

Opinion

Dear bishops: Devotion to Sacred Heart requires solidarity with LGBTQ community

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'On Eagle's Wings' turns 50: The journey behind the song that has consoled the world

 

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'On Eagle's Wings' turns 50: The journey behind the song that has consoled the world

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Podcasts

Why Pope Leo’s A.I. encyclical is resonating with tech leaders, theologians and young Catholics

by Inside the Vatican June 12, 2026

In the weeks since the release of “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on the protection of our humanity in the age of artificial intelligence, the document has sparked widespread debate in the worlds of technology and theology, as well as among ordinary people who are increasingly subject to A.I. tools and content in their work and personal lives.

The encyclical was presented at the Vatican on May 25 by the pope, alongside a panel of experts from various fields, including Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah. Anna Rowlands, the St. Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice at Durham University, represented the sphere of academic theology.

Religious leaders and communities cannot become complacent on immigration.

 

Changing the Calculus of Power

Religious leaders and communities cannot become complacent on immigration.

Heidi Schlumpf

June 12, 2026

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stand guard at the Delaney Hall detention center while demonstrators gathered outside in Newark, New Jersey, May 29, 2026 (OSV News photo/Eduardo Munoz, Reuters).

During morning rush hour in Chicago last week, ICE agents crashed into a bystander’s car while trying to detain a Venezuelan migrant. After tackling the screaming, shirtless man to the ground and handcuffing him, agents tased him, according to a local reporter and other witnesses on the scene. Then they used the taser and pepper spray to threaten bystanders who had gathered and started blowing whistles. In the chaos, an agent dropped a loaded magazine in the street. 

The scene was reminiscent of last fall’s Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s massive immigration-enforcement campaign that resulted in the arrest and detention of thousands of migrants in the Chicago area—and which famously prompted a backlash from community residents who used whistles to alert neighbors to ICE activity. During that time, the suburban Broadview processing center also became the focus of protests, including by Catholics demanding pastoral and sacramental access to detainees.