The Catholic Difference is a weekly column syndicated by the Archdiocese of Denver.
Roe v. Wade Derangement Syndrome
The defense of the indefensible often leads to a kind of derangement in otherwise rational people. That was the case with the defenders of slavery and legalized racial segregation; it
Patriarch Kirill and Mr. Putin
The annals of sycophancy are, alas, replete with examples of churchmen toadying to political power. Here in the United States, we’ve seen too much of that among certain evangelical leaders
Air Turbulence and the Resurrection
If there’s anything Catholics in the United States should have learned over the past two decades, it’s that order—in the world, the republic, and the Church—is a fragile thing. And
Memory, Identity, and Patriotism
The second volume of my biography of St. John Paul II, The End and the Beginning, benefited immensely from the resources of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN, from its Polish initials),
Getting Ready for Synod-2018
The headline on a March 3 story at the Crux website was certainly arresting: “Cardinal on charges of rigged synods: ‘There was no maneuvering!’” The cardinal in question was Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the Synod
Learning from the White Rose
Seventy-five years ago last month, Sophie and Hans Scholl and their friend Christian Probst were executed by guillotine at Munich’s Stadelheim Prison for high treason. Their crime? They were the
Parsing the “T”
About five years ago, a friend took her son with her when she went to a beauty shop to get her hair cut. The hairdresser was snipping away and the
Rethinking “Mission Territory”
In his June 1908 apostolic constitution, Sapienti Consilio, Pope Pius X decreed that, as of November 3 that year, the Catholic Church in the United States would no longer be supervised
Conscience and Grace: A Lenten Meditation
The scriptures of Lent in the Church’s daily liturgy invite two related reflections. The weeks immediately preceding Easter call us to walk to Jerusalem in imitation of Christ, so that,
Pork Roll, Lent, and Catholic Identity
A few weeks before Ash Wednesday, an Associated Press squib with Lenten implications appeared in the Washington Post sports section: YANKEES: New York’s Class AA affiliate in Trenton, N.J., will change its
Men Without Conviction, Churches Without People
Europe’s wholesale abandonment of its Christian faith is often explained as the inevitable by-product of modern social, economic, and political life. But there is far more to the story of
The Catholic Church Doesn’t Do “Paradigm Shifts”
Ever since Thomas Kuhn popularized it with his 1962 book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the notion of a “paradigm shift” has led to fascinating arguments about whether this or that
