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Pope Leo XIV
An American pope. And immediately, ideologues are tearing into Pope Leo’s upbringing, teachings, actions, and how close he was or wasn’t to Pope Francis. We want him pigeonholed as quickly as possible so we can give our hot takes and then move on with how we will treat him going forward.
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The fundamentalist mind
Fundamentalism isn’t consigned to the conservative/evangelical wing of American Christianity. But, there are issues without doubt. David French writes:
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Kindness
“Kindness frees us from the cruelty that at times infects human relationships, from the anxiety that prevents us from thinking of others, from the flurry of activity that forgets that others also have a right to be happy.” — Pope Francis, On Fraternity and Social Friendship (p. 103)
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The spiritual failure to love
“The spiritual stature of a person’s life is measured by love, which in the end remains ‘the criterion for the definitive decision about a human life’s worth or lack thereof.’” — Pope Francis, On Fraternity and Social Friendship
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We lack serious discipleship
I am working my way through “On Fraternity and Social Friendship” by Pope Francis. An early section is an exposition of the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is heart wrenching to read this section in light of what happened a week ago at the Capitol and what is going on today in the House chamber. We have lost sight…
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The tragedy of our digital isolation
Over the past 20 plus years, the richness of my life can be traced to the learning I have done with people who are not like me. If they look like me, they don’t think like me. Sometimes they may think like me, but they don’t look like me. I’ve become “comfortable” in uncomfortable spaces. This we are losing in…
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Build on and learn from history… don’t ignore it or destroy it
Pope Francis released a new encyclical this weekend and it’s going to be pulled apart so the “divisive” stuff gets highlighted. Early news articles focus on his statements regarding the death penalty. But, there is a lot of other reading to take in and not miss.
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Is it time to quit the Church?
The past few weeks have been heavy news for the Church. For evangelicals… it’s been Willow Creek and the leadership failure of that megachurch. (Then there are those trying to cling to evangelical as “tribe” but the politics of it right now are a bad mess.) For the Catholics, it was the grand jury findings in Pennsylvania, then another bombshell…
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The call of prayer is to listen
Nonetheless, it is possible that, even in prayer itself, we could refuse to let ourselves be confronted by the freedom of the Spirit, who acts as he wills. We must remember that prayerful discernment must be born of a readiness to listen: to the Lord and to others, and to reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways. Only…
Tag: Pope Francis
