A new morality has emerged today on social media sites devoted to religious topics. To see it, just look for key words such as justice, peace and the conservation of creation. It is true that these buzzwords do call for essential moral values which we need, but it inevitably degenerates into the realm of contemporary political jaw-jabbing aimed at those following on social media, and becomes too little a personal duty of one’s daily life. No one asks in sincerity, nor appears willing to be open to a discussion of questions such as, what does justice mean? Who defines it? What is truly necessary for peace? In the last few decades, this political brand of moralism has appealed to people full of idealism. But it is a moralism with a false direction, as it is shorn of rationality in pursuit of the dream of a political utopia, often at the expense of the dignity of the individual person. Political moralism as it is practiced today does not open the way to conversion ( met...

In late March a week-long meeting held at the Vatican that involved young people from all over the world reached its end. The meeting was held as a precursor to the upcoming synod on “Young People, the Faith, and the Discernment of Vocation.” The intent was to inspire young people to give their honest criticisms and suggestions for moving the Church forward and becoming a better community. In the document, released March 24, here are the youths’ views “Today’s young people are longing for an authentic Church. We want to say, especially to the hierarchy of the Church, that they should be a transparent, welcoming, honest, inviting, communicative, accessible, joyful and interactive community” says the  document . “Young people look for a sense of self by seeking communities that are supportive, uplifting, authentic and accessible,” the document starts off. It continues saying: “The Church oftentimes appears as too severe and is often associated with excessive moralism ...

Opinion | What’s Lust Got to Do With It? - The New York Times : If Catholics ever needed a popular argument for why Caholic Morality properly understood is truth, read Maureen Dowd 's column linked above. See also here . 'via Blog this'

The ‘long way’ of Cardinal Sarah | CatholicHerald.co.uk : 'via Blog this'

M The brave new age of gender-neutral kids - The Globe and Mail : 'via Blog this'

A Church in Doubt by Richard Rex | Articles | First Things : 'via Blog this'

The statue of St. Peter is seen as Pope Francis leaves his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 14. (CNS/Paul Haring Michael Dougherty’s review in the  National Review  of  Ross Douthtat’s  To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism  begins with Douthat’s recounting of  the proceedings of the two-year Synod on the Family in 2014-15, characterized by Douthat  as exhibiting “ugly maneuvering and wheedling of the Synod’s progressives, and the alternating attempts at flattery and bold confrontation by the Synod’s conservatives, all over theological concepts….”  Michael Sean Winters of the heterodox National Catholic Reporter screed unsurprisingly offers  another reiew of the book ,   claiming Douthat's " facts are nonsense, his arguments tendentious, and his thesis so absurd it is shocking, absolutely shocking, that no one over at Simon & Schuster thought to ask if ...