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One of the central themes of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’, “On Care for our Common Home,” is Francis’ strong and repeated critique of anthropocentrism, or the tendency for us humans to not only prioritize our species over and against the rest of creation but also to promote a hubristic sense of our exceptionalism on this planet. The results of this misguided way of thinking, to borrow a phrase from the pope, have been devastating for the environment. We have put our own comfort, desire for wealth and distorted sense of dominion...
A leading theme of the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council has been “reading the signs of the times.” The signs of the times are clear: human dignity is under grave threat. The Vatican has issued an important new declaration on human dignity. “Dignitas Infinita” is the title of this 23-page document. In its preface, Pope Francis explicitly asked that the document “highlight topics closely connected to the theme of dignity, such as poverty, the situation of migrants, violence against women, human trafficking, war and other the...
Once again, I find myself in the infuriating position of responding to the news of yet another horrific mass shooting in the United States. Despite the common defensive refrain offered by gun advocates that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” the simple truth remains that people with guns kill people. And people with guns are killing more people every day and for seemingly trivial reasons. This spring alone we have witnessed several of these horrific shootings. Tragically, this list could go on and on. While much of the Ameri...
In the second paragraph of his 2015 encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Francis reflects on the ways in which the human species has mistreated and abused the Earth, which he calls our “Sister, Mother Earth” in the tradition of his namesake St. Francis of Assisi. The pope then states: “We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.” This single sentence says a lot. It ack...
The final document on young people, composed by young adults themselves at the invitation of Pope Francis for the 2018 Synod of Bishops, says: “Lots of young people, having lost trust in institutions, have become disaffiliated with organized religion and would not see themselves as ‘religious.’ However, young people are open to the spiritual.” Perhaps even longer before this document was published, I have been thinking about the expression “spiritual but not religious.” Part of this has to do with my identity as a pastoral minister and Catholi...
The expression “new normal” has increasingly felt like a meaningless phrase. With each new shift in the experience of the novel coronavirus pandemic, what we thought we knew had to be relearned and what served as guidance or best practices often had to be re-scripted. Normalcy suggests consistency and predictability, neither of which has been experienced since March 2020. The result has been widespread fatigue and impatience, which might explain the rise in public outbursts and misbehavior as people attempt to reintegrate into public life. And...
Planet Earth is in trouble. Devastating flooding and forest fires, to mention only two and warmer seas are eating away at the edges of the two polar ice caps at an unprecedented rate. These events can all be attributed to atmospheric warming, confirming ongoing reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The dominant species, humanity, is largely responsible. Put bluntly: We human beings have thought of ourselves as apart from and above the rest of creation. Indeed, in so far as Christianity underpinned a theological belief...
In the face of challenges like the pandemic, climate change and racism, large numbers of Americans are reporting symptoms of anxiety, depression and exhaustion. Things certainly feel bad, but focusing on doom-and-gloom stories often crowds out the more positive ones. For instance, poverty has been drastically reduced thanks to the generous provisions of the American Rescue Plan. The passage of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act has paved the way for the country to begin repairing its crumbling roadways, bridges and transit systems. And the...
There are certain moments that stick with me. One of those moments happened a few weeks ago at one of the Masses in Spanish at the Catholic Church in Mount Vernon. As the Eucharistic Prayer began, I noticed a three-year-old wander out into the middle of the aisle. She started spinning in a circle, a slow spinning, around and around and around. Her mother became aware of it and she reached out for her. But, without interrupting her swirl, she stepped back from her mother and kept spinning, around and around and around. Again, her mother reached...
In his new book “Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future,: Pope Francis advocates a Copernican revolution in our politics. Instead of viewing politics from the places of political and economic power, he summons us to see it from the vantage point of the peripheries. For Francis, the “often forgotten people” are the true center of the political firmament. Francis addresses our culture on its own terms to point out its spiritual vacuum. Western conceptions of liberty and equality have become untethered from the idea of solidarity and a vision o...
What is it that modern civilization most lacks? What are the fundamental deficiencies that ultimately could undermine it? This is mainly the question that Pope Francis wants to answer. In his latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti – the phrase is from the writings of his namesake St. Francis of Assisi – the pope argues his case that social division, fragmentation and the friction they cause are the primary threats that humankind has to fear. And the cause is the absence of a sense that human beings all belong to the same family, and...
Much of the coverage of Pope Francis’ expansive encyclical Fratelli Tutti, released Oct. 4, focused on its feel-good themes of unity, dialogue and peace. Who can argue against the notion that we are “brothers and sisters all?” But this document, the pope’s third encyclical and clearly a summary of his papacy so far, is no rote call for prayers and best wishes in the face of the pandemic. It is, foundationally, a pointed critique of nationalistic populism, of economic systems that exploit the poor and indeed, of democracy itself, as least a...
