Terry Mattingly
(ANALYSIS) In the year of our Lord 1967, the Anglican Church of Canada had 1,218,666 members and 272,400 worshippers on a typical Sunday. In a recent report, the church found 294,382 members on parish rolls and 58,871 people attending Sunday worship services. It has been decades since Anglicanism was a dominant form of Christianity in Canada.
Super-intelligent computers that go bad isn’t a new concept, as fans of the “Terminator” franchise know all to well. However, when I think about digital evil, I remember the haunting voice of the HAL 9000 supercomputer in 1968 sci-fi classic “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Think about this: That was a voice that Sir Anthony Hopkins heard in his head as he prepared to play the brilliant serial killer Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
With the fisherman's ring and the lambswool pallium over his shoulders, these links to John Paul II helped Leo XIV stress the need for unity and core Catholic traditions. Nonetheless, he faces painful challenges even while calling for unity.
(ANALYSIS) The Bible has lots of things to say about lying. You can look it up. It’s clear that lying is a sin. This brings us to an increasingly relevant question: Can a computer lie? That leads directly to another hot-button question: Can a computer sin?
That’s exactly how I feel these days when reading most mainstream news coverage of Catholic life in the age of Donald Trump. I know that it’s going to be cold, it’s going to be black and white and it’s going to stay that way until a blue, “progressive” politician seizes the White House. And I say that as a former blue-dog, pro-life Democrat who is now a #NeverTrump third-party voter.
(ANALYSIS) The days after a pope's death are hectic, and it's a hard time for Vatican officials to examine complex, controversial documents. Nevertheless, the bishops of Germany announced — two days after Pope Francis died on April 21 — guidelines for handling blessings for same-sex couples and other "irregular" relationships. Welcome to the Chair of St. Peter, Pope Leo XIV.
(ANALYSIS) The global media storm surrounding the election of Pope Leo XIV will soon fade to some degree (until he wears a Chicago White Sox jersey or something like that). This post centers on the fact that the priest and bishop who is now pope has, in the past, offered some strong, insightful appeals for church leaders to face the realities of the digital age.
(ANALYSIS) There’s a good chance that you may have heard that the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics have a new shepherd. You may have heard this news because, to skilled religion writers (and wise editors who hire them) a papal election is the Godbeat Olympics. At the same time, the rest of the world views these transitions as political elections in which candidates wear spectacular vestments and talk too much about God.
The big issue here is what that cross necklace means when it is worn by blonde women who are members of the Donald Trump team. Is this a matter of religious faith or political identity?
(ANALYSIS) As Catholics prepare for a new pope, Pew has released new insights into lines of tension and division among American Catholics. Five years after the "transubstantiation" study, a new survey includes more evidence that "U.S. Catholics" disagree with many core Catholic doctrines and, thus, want a "more inclusive" church.
(ANALYSIS) Be honest: How many of you have watched or rewatched the movie “Conclave” during the past month or two — roughly starting with the health crisis that eventually ended the Pope Francis papacy?
Here are three questions for news consumers who are paying attention to pre-conclave news. These questions play a crucial role in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, which focuses on some elite mainstream press coverage of the unfolding drama in Rome.
Pizzaballa’s name has been included in almost every list — in secular and Catholic media — of “papabile,” or “pope able” candidates to fill the Chair of Saint Peter. Thus, journalists and church insiders have dissected sermons and addresses by Pizzaballa and other popular “papabile,” searching for clues about their stands on doctrine, worship and pastoral issues in the wake of the tumultuous Francis papacy.
Above all, Francis preached dialogue and “synodality,” but promoted (and protected) his allies while and punishing his most powerful critics. Under his orders, the Vatican often hinted at major changes — with a vague footnote, a blunt quotation to reporters or documents that served as ecclesiastical executive orders. In the end, he appointed 108 of the 135 cardinal electors who will select the next pope.
(ANALYSIS) Truth is, many parishes in Europe are growing. But others are dying. As one theologian noted in a 1969 German radio interview, Catholicism was entering a time of painful decline in the modern world. But that was not the end of the story. Easter follows Good Friday.
(ANALYSIS) I was not planning on writing about Francis this morning or tomorrow. Instead, I was planning on writing about the signs pointing to what I believe is the biggest religion story in Christianity around the world.
For millions of Chronicles of Narnia fans, the term “Stone Table” represents a series of events that explicitly defined the Christology that C.S. Lewis placed at the heart of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” If news consumers want to understand the importance of reports about superstar Meryl Streep providing the voice of Aslan, then these dramatic Narnia moments are a good place to start. Some of these recent headlines provided a hook for this week’s “Crossroads” podcast.
(ANALYSIS) For more than 50 years ABC — with very few exceptions — has offered “The Ten Commandments” as the network's featured film for Holy Week. In fact, nothing says “Easter” like a showdown between Moses, the 13th century BCE Hebrew prophet, and the pharaoh Ramses the Great and the gods of Egypt.
As always, the annual U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report focused on trends in nations known for bitter religious conflicts and the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians. The list of offenders of “particular concern” included China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and others. The commission pushed to add Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Vietnam to that list.
(ANALYSIS) The bottom line: Religion events and trends draw intense news coverage when they are directly or indirectly linked to politics. This is especially true during tense elections.
Is it controversial for American cultural conservatives to build themselves a small community in the hills outside of Nashville? Yes it is, among critics to the left (sort of) of them. Is it controversial for Muslims to build themselves a large community near Dallas? Yes it is, among critics to the right (sort of) of them.
(ANALYSIS) The bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter is the penitential season of Lent. However, Lent is “not on the radar” for most Americans, according to a new Lifeway Research study focusing on Catholics, Protestants and the unchurched. Most who observe Lent find their own ways to mark the season, with some form of the “give up one thing for Lent” pattern as the norm.
(ANALYSIS) The math is bright red: The “Snow White” reboot was a box-office bomb in week one and things went straight downhill in week two. It’s possible that, if Disney gets honest about the production and promotion costs, this movie could be the biggest and most painful elite Hollywood bust of all time.
While we were recording the podcast this week, I told Lutheran Public Radio listeners that I was well aware that much of the information I was sharing was rather complex, if not downright confusing. That was kind of the point. When it comes to statistical trends in religion, we live in a very, very confusing age.
(ANALYSIS) Clergy need to grasp that smartphones are raising moral and spiritual questions they cannot avoid. Postponing complex and even controversial discussions of these digital dilemmas will not make the problems disappear.
(ANALYSIS) As a rule, I am not a fan of sequels — other than movies that complete a cycle of stories that exist in some existing form of literature (think “The Lord of the Rings”). I am also not a fan of live-action remakes of classic animated films.
When it comes to basic statistics, the 1960s and ‘70s were the high-water mark for liberal mainline Protestants. Pews were often full and strategic mergers — such as the process that eventually created the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1983 — led to membership totals that inspired ecclesiastical bureaucrats to dream about bold “reforms” in the future (click for a timeline of LGBTQ+ activism in the Episcopal Church).
(ANALYSIS) The goal was to create local educational events about smartphones and digital technology that would let parents interact with representatives from Troomi and other major companies in the “minimalist” phone marketplace — such as Gabb, Bark, Pinwheel and The Light Phone. What happened next?
(ANALYSIS) After two years of thinking and writing, Cameron DeLaFleu and Joe Wilson have posted their full, final version of “The Official List of 100 Movies Every Catholic Should See.” They never took a week off in this process. The goal was to put a spotlight on “films which truly reach for the Good, True, and Beautiful in their themes as well as in their technical artistic prowess.”
The bottom line: At some point, parents in traditional forms of faith are going to have to teach their children — the younger the better — that their their home is different from those in which many of their friends are being raised. That can be tough sledding, but these hard topics Will. Not. Go. Away.