Papal Preaching and the Pandemic

This post continues a series of essays on preaching from the perspective of lay people. Previous entries may be found here. By Neil Dhingra Perhaps the most haunting photographs from this “Time of the Vir... Read More...

“A Terrible Light”

Being reborn is not easy. It is Lazarus being called to life by a “terrible light.”

Springsteen, Belonging, and Religion in Blinded by the Light

To be sure, Springsteenism is an ambiguous religiosity. Springsteen, as Roops pronounces, “knows everything you’ve ever felt … and he can describe it better for you.” His music allows one to see the depth and profundity in ordinary life — to see even father-son conflict as “something as old as time,” as Manzoor says, and to respond with empathy. Springsteen himself is a role model of uncommon decency.

Trauma and the Eucharist

All the sacraments are traumatic for us. Our body is no longer completely our own, our present is interrupted by a foretaste of the eschatological banquet, and the sacraments ultimately are beyond any adequate verbal description.