modern catholic concerns – Page 3 – Joseph Stoutzenberger

Is the Church Worth Saving?

The author reflects on friends who abandon religion, particularly former Catholics critical of the church. Despite flaws, many inspired by their faith have made significant contributions, like Abbe de l’Epee, who advanced education for the deaf, and the charity work of Frederic Ozanam and Catholic nuns, highlighting the positive impact of faith-driven actions.

Know Thyself

by Joseph Stoutzenberger A professor of mine at Temple University, David Harrington Watt, insisted that it is important in scholarship to let readers know who we are and what has influenced the positions that we are expressing. In my writing, I have always stayed away from talking about myself. If I wrote about, for instance,Continue reading “Know Thyself”

Sanctuary or Supermarket: Where Is the Church?

What’s missing? How about the everyday, commonplace expressions of love happening in families, in friendships, in schools, in businesses, in supermarkets, in the simple exchanges Catholics make throughout their lives?

What Does It Mean to be Anti-Racist?

by Joseph Stoutzenberger When Ibram X. Kendi, a fellow Temple University Ph. D., published How to Be an Anti-Racist a few years ago, I immediately got the point. Someone can say, “I am not racist,” or “I harbor no animosity toward members of other races.” Given conditions in the world today, that is not enough.Continue reading “What Does It Mean to be Anti-Racist?”

Woke Catholicism

I realized that I could not write about “Catholicism” without recognizing the reality of sexual abuse that has taken place in the church in the recent past and today. I looked at other books that described themselves as offering an introduction to or an overview of Catholicism. None that I found addressed this dark side of Catholicism.

Is It Time for Smashing Idols?

The older priests pointed out to him that his job was not to judge but to represent the merciful, loving Christ who told his followers to forgive others “seventy times seven times.” That exchange led me to question if, indeed, there are conflicting notions of “God” within Christianity itself. Are some Christians worshiping idols, even though the name of that idol is “Jesus?”

Hope in a Warming World

By Joseph Stoutzenberger Some friends and I were talking about the crises we are facing today. Someone said, “Every generation has its crises to deal with.” I thought about that. As horrible as they were, no one thought that World Wars I and II would bring about the end of life on earth. Earlier pandemicsContinue reading “Hope in a Warming World”

A House of Many Mansions

He said that “each person encounters God by their own way.” When Pope Francis made those remarks, he was not sitting in his study pouring over law books. He was looking out over the sea of young faces, each one of which he saw as beautiful.