poor
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I seem to have taught the Facebook algorithm that I like t-shirts with faith-based slogans (which is fine by me). One popular one says “Be salty; Stay lit”, cheekily translating Matthew 5:13-14, in which Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, as part of…
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“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” One of the things I like to do early in the week is read through the Scripture passages that will be used that week at Mass. Catholics have a set (2-year) cycle of passages for each weekday mass, and a separate (3-year) cycle for Sundays. A lot…
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The Bible readings for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (October 26, 2025) seems tailor-made for Pope Leo XIV’s newly released apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te. The first reading from Sirach dwells on God hearing the cry of the oppressed, the wail of the orphan and widow, the prayer of the lowly.* The Psalm response is…
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If you are a Catholic nerd deeply engaged Catholic, this is probably not your post. But if you saw some quotes from Pope Leo about poverty (that weren’t fake), and you were just curious enough to learn some rudimentary things about this document that the quotes came from, I am here for you. Let’s do…
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Bet with the poor. I once heard a speaker on the different cultures of economic classes who said that the poor rely on their relationships for their security, the middle class rely on their possessions for their security, and the rich rely on their connections for their security. I’ve been thinking about that a lot…
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I’ve been reflecting on the current stage of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church as seen through the lens of moral foundations theory, because it seems to me that one of the dimensions of dissonance in the responses of Catholic factions to what’s been unfolding since the summer of ‘18 relates to the…
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Patrick Meet my friend Patrick. Before I tell you the crazy story of how The Book of Mormon, the Catholic Church, Bob Goff and Facebook converged to allow us to meet, and before I tell you how he presented some fundamental challenges to who I claim to be, you ought to meet him. Patrick lives…
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You probably wouldn’t think that the answer to the challenge of Pope Francis’ encyclical would be found in Bhutan. (In part because, you, like me, couldn’t find Bhutan without Google.) One of the reflections I’ve had on reading Laudato Si’ is that maybe our problem as a society is that we focus on the wrong stuff.…
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I haven’t seen a thoughtful conservative response to Laudato Si’. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been any; in fact, I’d welcome the chance to read any you’ve seen. Here’s one worth trying on, though. Pope Francis focuses heavily, and rightly, on the plight of the poor; this isn’t new — it’s in keeping with the history…
Reading Francis 