Daniel P. Horan

Faith Seeking Understanding: In the wake of the horrific mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, it occurs to me that, when it comes to guns, the United States collectively behaves in a way that mimics an addict in denial.

Faith Seeking Understanding: It's hard enough to open oneself up to the suffering of others when the cause of the suffering is situated in civil contexts or social institutions. But what about when the cause is also division, injustice or scandal in the church?

Faith Seeking Understanding: As a church, we have generally rewarded specialization in the formation of our ordained ministers and discouraged breadth and range that might allow for a more open and creative pastoral responses. It's no wonder that church leaders struggle in responding boldly to many of today's most pressing social issues.

Faith Seeking Understanding: The dialogue being called for in the recent Vatican document on "gender theory" is a false dialogue, one that makes no provision for the risk of genuine conversation.

Faith Seeking Understanding: In the 2016 U.S. presidential election and what is now shared in common across the Atlantic in a trend toward nationalism is the use and abuse of fear.

Faith Seeking Understanding: I am writing this column beside the Sea of Galilee at a break during a Holy Land retreat that I am co-leading with Dominican Sr. Laurie Brink, who is a New Testament scholar. During my time here, I have been thinking a lot about pilgrimage and place and of their particularly theological significance.

Faith Seeking Understanding: The ever-widening gap between Trump's self-presentation and reality has returned my attention to Merton's writings on the "true self" and the "false self."

Faith Seeking Understanding: For M. Shawn Copeland, soon to retire from Boston College, being a professor of theology is not merely a career, but a profound vocation.

Faith Seeking Understanding: This is the first Good Friday after Pope Francis had the catechism revised to reassert the lasting human dignity of everyone and to state the church's determination for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide.

Faith Seeking Understanding: Professional theologians and ethicists have spent years studying and teaching in their fields. They are needed to help people — both lay and ordained — understand what it is we say we believe.

Faith Seeking Understanding: The ongoing presence and action of the Holy Spirit should be the founding principle of how we think of the church. But the actions of many church leaders suggest instead an attitude of "it's all up to me." 

Faith Seeking Understanding: The Franciscan story has a clear exhortation from Christ to "repair" or "rebuild" the church. What if we are meant to take that literally?

Faith Seeking Understanding: While "Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — A Pastoral Letter Against Racism" states that some have called racism in the United States our country's original sin, the bishops neglect to name the sinner. 

Faith Seeking Understanding: The bishops have signaled to their fellow Filipinos that now they are willing to move from the safety of silence into the spotlight of Duterte's fury.

Faith Seeking Understanding: So far, we have no apostolic exhortation to follow the Synod of Bishops on youth, just the final synod document. And that compromise document is not enough.

As we begin this new year, a year in which real reform and change is needed in the structures of our community of faith, we must be mindful to avoid the easy answers and simple solutions.

Perspective: Thomas Merton provides us with at least three compelling reasons for continuing to learn about him and read his work as much today as when he was living over half a century ago.