How do we ensure our Catholic faith is successfully embraced by the next generation? That is one of the most crucial and vexing questions facing American Catholics in a time of declining church membership and attendance. A poll from last year found that more than a third of young Catholics planned to attend Mass less … Read more
“If you think that your priests and bishops are not saints, then be one for them.” — Robert Cardinal Sarah I know that many of our readers were irate over USCCB president Archbishop José Gomez’s statement on the 2020 election. Many of you were angry that he referred to Joe Biden as the second Catholic … Read more
On November 12, the Most Reverend José Horacio Gómez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. His Excellency graciously granted Crisis his first substantial interview since his election. Your Excellency, some Catholic intellectuals today are questioning whether we Catholics can be loyal citizens of the American republic. They say … Read more
SB 360, also known as Senate Bill 360, a proposal requiring priests in California to break the sacramental seal of confession, was placed on hold by its sponsor, State Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), on 9 June, right before a hearing on the bill. For months before the vote, activists in California, across the nation, … Read more
“I’m afraid my obedience in that diocese would be absolutely zero. And I hope everybody else’s in that diocese is zero.” ∼ Mother Angelica on EWTN (Nov. 12, 1997) Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Just over two decades ago, EWTN’s foundress, Mother Angelica, was put back on her heels by the full force of Cardinal … Read more
What message is being sent to victims of priest sex abuse that Cardinal Roger Mahony will be a featured speaker at the upcoming Los Angeles Archdiocesan Education Conference, the largest Catholic gathering in the country? Exactly five years ago, Archbishop Jose Gomez stripped Mahony of all administrative and public church duties. Why? Gomez was nice … Read more
“To be ‘Catholic’ means to love your country, and to let nobody surpass us in that love.” — St. Josemaría Escrivá Josemaría Escrivá was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 6, 2002. I marked the occasion by re-watching There Be Dragons, the epic film about his life during the Spanish Civil War. It’s … Read more
As archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony was famous for his petulance, dispatching angry letters to priests and others whom he considered insufficiently deferential. But now that he finds himself in a subordinate position as a retired and rebuked bishop he displays none of the deference he once demanded. No sooner had his successor stripped … Read more