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Essays in Theology
A hopefully temporary hiatus for 'Essays in Theology'
by Dennis Coday on Feb. 27, 2012Theologian Fr. Richard McBrien began writing a weekly newspaper column July 8, 1966, and he has been at it ever since. As near as I can tell, McBrien's first byline in NCR was in 1973. We began publishing his columns weekly online in 2008, and we saw an immediate jump in our website page views.
His column began seven months after the adjournment of the Second Vatican Council, and the purpose of it, McBrien said, was "to assist Catholics to appreciate the significance of the council and to apply its teachings to the life of the church in their parishes, dioceses and nations, and indeed to the universal church itself."
Preparing for a Year of Faith
by Richard McBrien on Jan. 16, 2012Pope Benedict XVI recently announced that he would launch a Year of Faith to help Catholics appreciate the gift of faith, to deepen their relationship with God and to strengthen their commitment to sharing faith with others.
The Year of Faith will begin Oct. 11, 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and will end Nov. 24, 2013, the feast of Christ the King.
The disconnect between bishops and other Catholics
by Richard McBrien on Jan. 09, 2012The U.S. Catholic bishops have produced a new introduction to their 2007 document, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship." The full text of the new introduction is available in Origins, Oct. 13, 2011, vol. 41, no. 19. The original document is also available in Origins, Nov. 29, 2007, vol. 37, no. 25.
Bishop ponders reasons Americans leave Catholic church
by Richard McBrien on Jan. 02, 2012Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., is the only U.S. bishop I know of who has explicitly taken into account the report of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life that appeared more than two years ago and found that one in 10 Americans has left the Catholic church.
Dealing with the new translation of the Mass
by Richard McBrien on Dec. 26, 2011There used to be an anti-liturgical joke circulating that said that the only difference between a terrorist and a liturgist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist.
By the same token, there is a seriously mistaken impression abroad that the new translation of the missal was inspired and promoted by liturgists. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Real sacrifice should be remembered this Christmas
by Richard McBrien on Dec. 19, 2011Last Christmas, I was too ill to write my annual Christmas meditation. In fact, for the first time in the then-44-year history of the column, I had to suspend it for some three months.
During my absence, The National Catholic Reporter kindly published online a selection of my previous columns. I resumed writing the column in mid-January of this year and the first column appeared once again in early February.
Survey of Catholics illuminates life in the pews
by Richard McBrien on Dec. 12, 2011The research team, commissioned by The National Catholic Reporter (NCR), which included William D'Antonio of The Catholic University of America (CUA), Mary Gautier of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University and Michele Dillon of the University of New Hampshire, recently completed the fifth survey of U.S. Catholics.
Penn State and the Catholic church
by Richard McBrien on Dec. 05, 2011The sexual abuse scandal at Penn State that toppled the president of the university and iconic football coach Joe Paterno has stimulated many references in the media to a similar problem in the Catholic church.
Although the church's crisis is more widespread and goes back more years than we can count, it is drawn from the same sources: human perversity and its principal enabler, human weakness.
Putting aside translation to discuss Advent
by Richard McBrien on Nov. 28, 2011I don't know how the new, literal translation of the Mass, which went into effect on the First Sunday of Advent, was received by Catholics this weekend.
However, even if everything went smoothly in most parishes, Catholics, and especially pastors, had a right to complain about the high cost of purchasing new missals and other liturgical books.
Women religious' embrace of Vatican II change commendable
by Richard McBrien on Nov. 21, 2011As Catholic institutions, especially schools, multiplied rapidly in the 1950s, Pope Pius XII urged religious superiors to begin the modernization of their congregations. He mentioned specifically the abolition of outmoded customs, the modification of habits and increased attention to the professional education of sisters.
