Commonweal

The November issue is here! Feat.: - Arvin Alaigh on Fr. Richard John Neuhaus - @mollieoreilly.bsky.social on rebuilding after Trump - Eugene McCarraher on capitalism's origins - The Editors on the bishops & MAGA nativism And much more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2026-...

"The question is how some of the basic tenets that helped align religion and democratic freedom in the Vatican II era can be restored." The latest from @massimofaggioli.bsky.social: www.commonwealmagazine.org/havel-trump-...

Have you signed up for my free newsletter yet? I'm talking about the bishops who blessed Trump today. mailchi.mp/commonwealma...

"Not many who stand next to Trump walk away with their dignity intact. Smart people avoid it altogether." - Me, in @commonweal back in April (www.commonwealmagazine.org/leo-trump-wa...) I tried to warn your excellencies!

"Thomson is relentless in his critique of Hollywood’s moral and pedagogical misdeeds. It is a curious about-face for a lifelong film-studies liaison." Martin Woessner on film critic David Thompson's indictment of the movies: www.commonwealmagazine.org/woessner-cri...

"With rising populisms exploiting cultural identity to propagate ethnonationalist narratives, the relationship between anti-authoritarian liberalism and religion requires rethinking." @massimofaggioli.bsky.social on Havel, Trump, and the Church: www.commonwealmagazine.org/havel-trump-...

Jacob Weisberg's new book profiles eight archetypes of Trump-era cowardice. But Jim Sleeper argues that to escape our civic-cultural crisis, we'll need to do more than denounce hypocrisy. www.commonwealmagazine.org/falling-occa...

In the latest episode of 'Of This World,' Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor speak with Meghan O’Gieblyn about her new memoir, sobriety, a failed attempt to convert, and Simone Weil’s counsel to cure our faults ‘by attention and not by will.’ www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/worl...

The inaugural Catholic Military Conference comes as Church leaders criticize Trump’s policies. @heidischlumpf.bsky.social previews the conference: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bro...

"Never assume things can’t get worse." Jim Sleeper on the cowardice of elites during Trump's second term: www.commonwealmagazine.org/falling-occa...

A first-ever Catholic Military Conference comes as Church leaders are criticizing Trump’s policies. Don't expect a pep rally for the administration. My latest for @commonwealmagazine.org , including an interview with Joe Capizzi of ND's McGrath Institute: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bro...

The first-ever Catholic Military Conference is unlikely to be a pep rally for the Trump administration and its policies. The latest analysis from @heidischlumpf.bsky.social: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bro...

These institutions long ago ceased to be true fraternal or mutual-aid societies, and they no longer provide a real service to the rest of the university or to the community. Griffin Oleynick: Greek life at Cornell cannot be fixed. www.commonwealmagazine.org/oleynick-gri...

"The conference’s plenary speaker is critical of the war in Iran, and Archbishop Timothy Broglio has publicly condemned recent actions by Trump and Hegseth." @heidischlumpf.bsky.social previews the inaugural Catholic Military Conference: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bro...

Joseph Kelly argues that the roots of fascism can be found not in Europe but in the U.S. But he struggles to explain what, precisely, fascism is. Tom Deignan reviews this provocative new history: www.commonwealmagazine.org/kelly-fascis...

"Illich proved prescient—and relevant—in his accusation that the medical profession was 'medicalizing life.'" Ronald Dworkin on the priest Ivan Illich's radical critique of medicine: www.commonwealmagazine.org/errant-pilgrim

I wrote about the fraternity hazing I experienced as a freshman at Cornell nearly twenty years ago. The lesson is simple: fraternities are abusive, and can't be reformed. It's time to abolish them for good.

"Americans will have to choose decisively between sharing in Trump's delusions and stage-managed emergencies and opposing them by generating profiles in courage against daunting odds." Jim Sleeper on the cowardice of Trump-era elites: www.commonwealmagazine.org/falling-occa...

If Cornell really does want to lead the country in ending the culture of rape that Greek life facilitates, banning fraternities and sororities is the only viable path. @griffino.bsky.social: 'Shut Them Down' www.commonwealmagazine.org/oleynick-gri...

‘NAZA’ relates the slaughter in Gaza from the perspective of the soldiers who carried it out. @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social on this remarkable document of an atrocity: www.commonwealmagazine.org/preziosi-naz...

In the greatest works of art, praise and suffering become inseparable. Kathleen Kilcup essays on beauty, pain, and what poetry is for: www.commonwealmagazine.org/kilcup-beaut...

What if Martin Luther King, Jr. were just a bit player in the struggle for racial equality? Marcia Chatelain tells us how history could look very different. LISTEN NOW to the latest episode of the Commonweal podcast: www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/wome...

"If poetry is to express, and even become, awe, art must at some point come to the cross." Kathleen Kilcup on poetry's moral obligations to those who suffer: www.commonwealmagazine.org/kilcup-beaut...

Great read that clarifies - and corrects some common misconstruals of - the key themes of Foucault’s thought.

"Foucault is all too concerned with the fact that truth exists. Truth exists—that’s what fascinates Foucault." Michael Behrent (BECOMING FOUCAULT) discusses Foucault through the lens of religion with @commonwealmagazine.org for the 100th anniversary of Foucault's birth https://bit.ly/4yk4Pr1

"The popes have understood empowering the laity and affirming the proper role of the clergy as complementary tasks." Timothy Kirchoff on Francis and Leo's vision for clerics without clericalism: www.commonwealmagazine.org/kirchoff-leo...

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’s tragic political conversion took him from the side of the poor to the feet of the powerful. Arvin Alaigh on Neuhaus's Christian radicalism: www.commonwealmagazine.org/christian-ra...

The Earth Liberation Front thought it could inspire an eco-revolution without the hard work of organizing. What can its failures teach us today? www.commonwealmagazine.org/tabor-nick-e...

Angie Nixon’s success speaks to neglected progressive forces in MAGA’s backyard. Justin H. Vassallo analyzes Nixon's effort to put Florida back in play: www.commonwealmagazine.org/vassallo-ang...

"Men like Duret—a frail priest who stood up to the Nazis—and the monks of Abbey St. Martin may well have shaped Foucault's interest in asceticism." In an interview with Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, Michael Behrent situates Foucault in French Catholicism: www.commonwealmagazine.org/steinmetz-je...

"This book is a strenuous but engaging read for anyone who wants to think hard about the origin and purposes of sacrifice." Michael Hollerich essays on James Sheehan's history of sacrifice, from the spiritual to the secular: www.commonwealmagazine.org/there-power-...

"Foucault is literally a dead white man. Maybe this means we can finally start understanding him." To mark the hundredth anniversary of Foucault's birth, Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins speaks with historian Michael C. Behrent about the philosopher's legacy: www.commonwealmagazine.org/steinmetz-je...

Standouts at this year’s New York Film Festival included Werner Herzog’s depiction of an uncanny pair of Irish sisters and Arie and Chuko Esiri’s adaptation of ‘Mrs. Dalloway.’ Read @robrubsam.bsky.social's dispatch from the festival: www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-new-y...

The most surprising insurgent this election cycle is in Donald Trump’s adopted home state. Can Angie Nixon show Democrats a new way to compete in Florida? Election analysis from Justin H. Vassallo: www.commonwealmagazine.org/vassallo-ang...

In the United States, our highest-profile leaders relish killing condemned prisoners. Only a truly unhealthy society could permit such brutality. The latest from @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social: www.commonwealmagazine.org/preziosi-dea...

My second NYFF dispatch has gone up at @commonwealmagazine.org. Included some...unconventional opinions in this one re: a certain awards favorite. www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-new-y...

What explains the appetite for (public) execution? My latest at @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/preziosi-dea...

Two recent histories of capitalism show its rapacious, violent appetite. How might Catholics contribute to a politics of repair? Eugene McCarraher: 'Pulling the Brake' www.commonwealmagazine.org/pulling-brake

"Our nation is violent and vengeful, a posture readily and regrettably embraced—not to say celebrated—by the current administration." @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social on the right's disturbing appetite for death: www.commonwealmagazine.org/preziosi-dea...

"The annals of capitalism are rife with homicide, dispossession, intimidation, and exploitation, all enveloped in the sanctimony of 'freedom' and 'progress.'" Eugene McCarraher on how capitalism began—and how it may end: www.commonwealmagazine.org/pulling-brake

Pham, Stowe, Beckman, McElroy, Cupich and Boxie are among the US bishops speaking out about mass deportations in the past week or so. Immigration is likely to be a topic of conversation at their upcoming Nov. meeting. My @commonwealmagazine.org piece: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bis...

This piece charting Neuhaus's trajectory and his cozy relationship with Buckley was just excellent.

Hopped on Paul Axton’s “Forging Ploughshares” podcast to discuss my @commonwealmagazine.org article about Chad Pecknold. We touch on Christian post-liberalism, integralism, and nonviolence as well podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

"Thanks to the politics Neuhaus adopted—the kind he once condemned in his exchange with Buckley—the United States has become a crueler country." Arvin Alaigh on Fr. Richard John Neuhaus's Christian radicalism: www.commonwealmagazine.org/christian-ra...

"In reading his philosophy, I have a very peculiar and powerful impression analogous to poetry." From the archives: G. K. Chesterton defends the literary merits of St. Thomas Aquinas. www.commonwealmagazine.org/poetry-saint...

Some bishops are speaking out about mass detention and deportation. But will they act again as a group at their November meeting? Read the latest from @heidischlumpf.bsky.social: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bis...

"As courageous and inspirational as these individual bishops’ words and actions are, they represent a minority." @heidischlumpf.bsky.social on mass deportations and the bishops' November meeting: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bis...