Associate Editor at Commonweal Magazine
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On this St Augustine day, patron of the Augustinian Order, say an extra prayer for Pope Leo XIV, that God give him light, strength and that abundant charity which flows from the heart of the Savior, and which St Augustine ceaselessly preached in the Church.
The September issue is here! Inside: - @susanbreynolds.bsky.social on Trump and Pinochet - Phil Christman on economics and Christianity - @heidischlumpf.bsky.social on Catholic 'mom bloggers' - Lynn Casteel Harper on the virtues of solitude And more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2025-...
"Will Burch function merely as an extension of CatholicVote’s Trump offensive in Rome? Given that personal fealty is a condition of working for this president, it’s a fair question." @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social on Trump's man at the Vatican: www.commonwealmagazine.org/trumps-man-v...
Demonstrating why he’s regarded as one of the best essayists in America, Phil Christman deftly synthesizes #politics, #theology, #popculture, and #ethics in this erudite and lively treatise. ✍️ Why Christians Should Be Leftists is available for #preorder! https://loom.ly/zaMTedU
BREAKING: The ICE officers at 26 Federal Plaza hate it when I show up for court observation. Here’s my good-faith offer: if they’ll stop abducting people, I’ll never come again. www.amny.com/immigration/...
Instead of equivocating, Cardinal Dolan needs to explicitly acknowledge and repent for his own complicity in Trump's re-election. He must also explicitly condemn the immorality of ICE raids. "Immigration" isn't causing division or suffering. Trump is. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/a...
Welcome back! How were the trains and / or subways??
Ugh. Insane.
I took a ChatGPT survey
Extremely pumped about the new Clayton Young series! www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4cn...
Probably not surprising but Dante Although given conditions in late medieval Italy monarchy probably seemed like a good idea at the time
This is very well done. Makes me wonder about how Catholic intellectual life in America, broadly conceived, can engage more intentionally in 'core theology.' Journalism has a role, as do the arts, criticism, etc.
You’ve heard me say it before: the only thing New Yorkers hate more than a politician they disagree with is one they can’t trust. And you can’t trust a word Andrew Cuomo says.
Andrew Cuomo couldn’t allow his first, tepid recognition of reality — that the Israeli government, with the full support of the Trump administration, is starving the people of Gaza — last more than a few hours without walking it back. This is someone who believes in nothing.
Somehow, I hadn’t realized you’d also written Safety Not Guaranteed until about midway through the show. Saw that in Brooklyn last fall, equally amazing. Thanks for sharing your gifts last night! It was the concert I didn’t know I needed.
Favorite band and favorite bridge in a single shot @themountaingoats.bsky.social Also, @guster.bsky.social were incredible
Submitting an op-ed pitch to the NYT demanding to know why Mamdani allowed this to happen
Amen to all this. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/o...
Worth reading. But I strongly disagree with Peter Steinfels' characterization of "left Catholicism" as too narrowly focused on priestly celibacy, women's ordination, and homosexuality. www.commonwealmagazine.org/liberal-cath...
Thanks for considering! And of course it needn't be the "final word" on the subject—we hope such a piece could inspire other Catholic theologians / thinkers / religious to write up their responses to authoritarianism, too. Feel free to DM or email!
Might you be interested in writing this up for @commonweal.bsky.social ? We editors—and we suspect many of our readers—would find it very nourishing
my hair and its highlights make their summer debut and, frankly, slay
Inordinately excited for this, first time seeing both @guster.bsky.social and @themountaingoats.bsky.social live! Hopefully I can manage to 'keep it together' ; )
The mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God. Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well. forward.com/opinion/7575...
I got a lot of consolation from this episode www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/coun...
Trump ❤️ Cuomo
One silver lining: If you’re wondering how “good Christians” square Jesus, the sermon on the mount, Matthew 25 etc with mass deportation, and foreign gulags, this is it. Their prayer might reasonably be construed as “Thank you, Lord, for my white skin.”
I wish the host had pressed her on this. But then again, the host is Ross Douthat.
Also, the argument that “empathy is neutral” makes no sense. Or at least it’s disingenuous to assert that “liberal empathy” is precisely that kind of amoral fellow-feeling. Stuckey’s version amounts to “torturers should avoid asking themselves too many questions about their victims.”
Conservative idolatry and grotesque cruelty / self-assertion is not the same as ‘Christianity’ Nor is it ‘interesting’ www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...
“The fight to save our city isn’t over.” Says Cuomo as he announces his bid to run as a third party spoiler - Yeah to save our city from him.
JD kinda looks like AJ from the Sopranos
"What is happening in Los Angeles is not normal. Every American in every state needs to understand this. It may not stop here." @claudiaavilac.bsky.social writes from LA: www.commonwealmagazine.org/politics-imm...
Okay now that I think about it, go to AMNH. And then imagine those trade routes between Maya settlements like Caracol and Teotihuacan existing EVEN EARLIER than previously known 🤯
Also there is an “okay” Maya corner in the new Rockefeller wing in Met, and some good stuff in AMNH
Go to the Penn Museum in Philly! Largest Maya stele outside Mexico / Guatemala!
I went off the deep end with Maya stuff and *highly* recommend it
Really into the trash talk among Mayanists: “People who have money in this game at Tikal will try to argue that it’s not earlier than 378,” Dr. Joyce said, calling the argument “kind of a fool’s quest, because you can’t get down to that close of a date.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/w...
This is disturbing but important reading from @claudiaavilac.bsky.social We need to face this egregious evil squarely and—especially for those of us living in big cities—begin preparing now for the abuses to come www.commonwealmagazine.org/politics-imm...
Excellent piece. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...
Freedom from kings. Freedom from fascism. Power to the people forever. ♥️ Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸
They’ve been had, and a decade of their support, whether tacit or explicit, has brought us / them to this
Also, there’s this latent peevishness in their statement…as if they’re surprised that Trump reneged on abortion / school choice and is now terrorizing the church’s core membership
More like it
All ya gotta say is: "Peccavimus"
I don't mean to be cynical, it's just...too little, too late.
Seriously, that's it? Looking forward to what "redoubling our efforts" looks like in practice.
Non ragioniam' di loro, ma guarda e passa www.usccb.org/news/2025/us...
This is an excellent point, and should be discussed more widely.
This is very well taken
Many Christians quote the New Testament to support an already held political belief, as if the way the Incarnate WORD acted, how he treated people, and what he suffered while walking among us were irrelevant to understanding what he taught.
And then I think Rahner somewhere has something about Christ improvising from the cross... as if He's not quite sure before His death how things are going to turn out
Hard agree, as they say. Improvisation and scrappiness are all over the gospels. Again I think Scorcese is really good at depicting this... Dafoe's Christ is a person who keeps tripping over language as he rushes to convey this great truth about humanity's belovedness
I think self-emptying or "loving till the end" is more the point, or "an offering of self to begin something new," than "I am going to take your place on the cross and die the death you deserve you filthy sinners"
Ah no, not meaning to imply any substitutionary atonement at all (not part of mine either). I'm more trying to draw attention to historical-religious context (of temple sacrifice) to get a better idea of how Christ could have understood those words.
I hadn't know about that but it fits. Relatedly (perhaps) I've always liked how in Scorcese's Last Temptation, Willem Dafoe as Christ seems to just be winging it, improvising as he grabs bread while saying it's his body. It's not less meaningful because casual...God-talk is always incomplete
I can't find the exact passage, but I remember him saying something about "personhood" in the ancient world, and Christ's desire that His personhood expands to include us who are nourished through / with / in Him
Okay sorry last thing...there's a lot not to like about Benedict XVI, but as a scholar Ratzinger was an expert on medieval sacramental theology, and as pope he has really insightful things about the last supper in Jesus of Nazareth vol. 2
I dunno if that responds well to the question you're asking, but thank you for posting it, as it got me reflecting on the mystery of bread and wine, which, transubstantiation aside, are pretty weird objects in and of themselves...amateur bakers know that bread of has a mind of its own : )
And I guess that's where the drama of the last supper aligns—it's a theatrical, communicative gesture, a "sacrament" that says something about God even / just as it effects what it communicates
But this all gets rather abstract, so I can see the appeal of a figure like Hopkins, finding the indwelling vestiges of God (via a medieval Franciscan theology) in the spectacular flashing forth of created things
To me, a more helpful sacramental theology of the eucharist begins with trying to understand "what Christ is saying about himself, and about His relationship with us" in the words of the last supper—namely that he is priest *and* victim, offering Himself for our redemption
I can't speak to the early church, but the medieval church debated this to the point of obsession—to the extent that there are frescoes in Italian churches in which priests are holding up not hosts but little Christs as they consecrate the eucharist
Maybe this is a cop out, but I think the point is not so much about what the species of bread and wine "are" ontologically (transubstantiation is nice, but how many of us are actively walking around thinking about Aristotelian hylomorphism?) as what kind of saving relations the eucharist establishes
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
@jd-vance-1.bsky.social Have you ever read Dante? If so, what do you think of him? I would be honored to discuss Dante’s Divine Comedy with you, should you be willing and your schedule permit.
Some magazines so we 'Don't Give Up' during these demanding days. If you know of other titles that are a good read and inspiring, please share here. @newrepublic.com @inthesetimes.com @prospect.org @commonweal.bsky.social @christiancentury.bsky.social @dissentmag.bsky.social @sojo.net
I wrote about John McGahern for @commonweal.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/john-mcgaher...
How do I get bluesky to stop showing me posts about cats?
Humble Q: How do I get @philipchristman.bsky.social's forthcoming book in the hands of every Dem operative in the country? Even if you're not personally down with JC, being able to cast a POSITIVE vision for leftist politics that resonates with Christian values seems mmm smart. Strategic even.
Hope and solidarity won tonight, and will win again in November. Congratulations, @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
one more election thing this morning: because New York is large, people might lose sight of the Mamdani victory being local politics. but it is, and it points up the potential of local politics to reshape direction, to inspire broadly, to change the story
NO KINGS NO CUOMO
Very excited to contribute to the Point!
"Members of the community are making themselves vulnerable for those who have no voice. They do it for themselves, too, fighting to find peace in the face of violence." @claudiaavilac.bsky.social writes from the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles: www.commonwealmagazine.org/los-angeles-...
Oh man, we're "not on the same page" here : )
What's your brand? I can maybe hook you up with something tastier / less expensive.
If the Times is unhappy with the long-term direction NYC is going, maybe it should examine the impact of the paper's long-term withdrawal from covering city government. "NYers deserve better than the status quo." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...
Having some fun with King Cuomo’s hired goons camped out in Tammany Hall
This is serious, rigorous analysis and it should change the way the media has been covering these protests. These were, in the aggregate, *massive.*
Excellent piece. Come for the very true and accurate lede (I am from Philly), stay for the insightful young religious people who know we can be better.
Yesssss
If that’s what they do to a United States Senator with a question, imagine what they can do to any American that dares to speak up. We will hold this administration accountable.
We’re sounding the alarm because this is just wrong. This is not what a democracy looks like. If they can do this to a sitting US Senator on camera, imagine what they can do to you. Share. Speak out. And push your elected officials to do the same, especially the Republicans.
I called my senators and congressman about the assault on Sen. Padilla. I asked them to call for Noem's resignation and protest the militarization of immigration enforcement. Call yours too. Let them know you're alarmed.
I'm on my way to the Senate floor to talk about the assault on my colleague, Senator Alex Padilla. This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!
Excited to read this—divinity schools are interesting places : )
Same, except I’ve been listening to David Blight’s course on the American Civil War. At once reassuring but also profoundly disturbing.
Really interesting. A re-reading of Machiavelli is in order.
“What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
I contributed an essay to a @commonweal.bsky.social symposium on Christian Smith's latest release, Why Religion Went Obsolete. www.commonwealmagazine.org/overlooked-t...
Also, if evangelization is Bishop Barron's goal here, then this, as kids say "ain't it"
A good reminder to cool off and think things through before...rage-posting apoplectic non-rebuttal rebuttals x.com/BishopBarron...
The June issue is here! Feat. - 'Remembering Pope Francis': reflections on the late pontiff - The Editors on Leo XIV - Bishop Mark Seitz on immigration & the Church - A symposium on American religious 'obsolescence' and more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2025-...
Good point.
There's also a piece to be written about Leo as a new Bonaventure : )
I am "here" for that! For all their professed love of the Middle Ages, they miss the point of the Catholic intellectual tradition around the time of the mendicant orders: medieval thinkers (like Bonaventure) *reveled* in plurality and symbolic ambiguity... it deepened their faith!
...by which I mean the soccer team. Even that quick meet 'n' greet was profound: he made a good point how athletics and competition contributes to moral formation, and warned how commercialism corrupts it... Like, who *is* this excellent man?
I guess this is why Leo fills me with so much hope, and so much joy—it's just obvious that he knows himself well, that he's comfortable in his own skin, that he lives the faith in ways that permit him to be comfortable, say, chanting Regina caeli in Latin from the loggia, or meeting il Napoli