Among the many ways 2020 has been punishing for pastors, one of the most disheartening is the way COVID-19 has further accelerated the already troubling tendency of Christians being shaped more by online life and its partisan ideological ecosystem than by church life and its formational practices. It…

Rev. Matthew Hood thumbs through a missal at the altar of St. Lawrence Parish in Utica, Mich., on Aug. 21, 2020. Finding out he wasn’t a priest was a painful realization, but it came with the grace of knowing God’s providence, he said. (CNS photo/Michael Stechschulte, Detroit Catholic)For…

This subject may create angst but it’s been on my mind as of late. I’m hoping it strikes a chord with others and will bring about thought and discussion, as opposed to merely offending anyone.I believe that pastors should stay out of politics.I realize they are human beings…

A California judge has declined again to grant Los Angeles County a temporary restraining order against John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church for defying a county public health order related to the coronavirus pandemic. However, despite the court also reaffirming the county’s right to issue and enforce…

Dioceses in Colorado, Kansas and Wisconsin gird for prayer. Catholics in several U.S. dioceses are picking up their spiritual weapons this August, ready for spiritual combat. Bishops will lead major Rosary rallies for a day and crusades for a month to call down heaven’s graces and help through…

You’re a recent seminary grad, and you’ve just been elected to your first pastorate. What might a young pastor expect in the years ahead? Or perhaps you’re starting year 10 and everything’s going well, but you feel tired, even stagnant. How can you continue to navigate the twists…

Professor M. Cathleen Kaveny has said, “Every guy with a copy of the catechism, an internet connection and an attitude thinks he’s a theologian.” Her insight goes a long way to explaining the bizarre case of Fr. Jeremy Leatherby of Sacramento, California. The excommunication latae sententiae — that…

You only thought the Secularists were insultingJohn MacArthur and many other faithful Christian pastors gathered with their congregations for worship. They gathered under threat of fines and arrest. Of course, that upset some hateful Baptist seminary professors. One professor claimed MacArthur’s gathering is a “manufactured” persecution.Luke Stamps, a…

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone leads the rosary at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption before Mass to conclude the Novena for Life Aug. 11, 2019. Archbishop Cordileone is asking priests to do what is possible to make Mass available to their flock while following…