It’s easy to blame vaccine skepticism on ignorance or scientific misinformation. But what if we took time to listen to some Americans’ sincere fears about vaccines? A NEW EPISODE of the Commonweal podcast: www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/anti...
Griffin Oleynick
@griffino.bsky.social
Associate Editor at Commonweal Magazine
"The tattoo should have been the end of it," writes @moiradonegan.bsky.social. "But if the pro-Platner pundit class appeared to find his misogyny refreshing, there’s not much evidence that actual voters did."
Why was the pundit class so quick to defend Graham Platner? | Moira Donegan
To some of Platner’s most influential backers his swaggering, reckless and casually brutish masculinity was understood not as a liability, but as a virtue
theguardian.com
In ‘Agnus Dei,’ Massimiliano Camaiti follows the nuns tasked with raising lambs for a Vatican blessing. The documentary is subtly Christlike: humble, meek, and pure. A review by @griffino.bsky.social:
Feed My Lambs
In 'Agnus Dei,' Massimiliano Camaiti follows the nuns tasked with raising lambs for a Vatican blessing. The documentary is subtly Christlike: humble, meek, and pure.
commonwealmagazine.org
Go see it before it closes—last weekend!
Commonweal@commonwealmagazine.org · last mo.Raphael is often an afterthought to artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti, writes @griffino.bsky.social. But, as a landmark show at the Met reveals, his work deserves a second—as well as a third, fourth, and fifth—viewing.
Excited to post the latest episode of the @commonwealmagazine.org podcast! Chicana artist Sandy Rodriguez speaks with @avilacosnahan.bsky.social and me about her shows in NYC and LA, and mapmaking as a form of resistance. www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/subv...
Subversive Cartography
Some look at land and see property. Sandry Rodriguez imagines land rising up as a partner in resistance.
commonwealmagazine.org
Pope Leo and the ‘Babel Syndrome. ‘Magnifica humanitas’ challenges Silicon Valley’s Promethean pretensions. My take in @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/spadaro-leo-...
Pope Leo and the ‘Babel Syndrome’
What Leo XIII did for wages and the right of association, Leo XIV does for the human person in the era of the algorithm.
commonwealmagazine.org
Basically what’s up with the distinction between Catholicism and humanism in the late Middle Ages / early middle and high Renaissance? It’s like, has anyone read Ficino or Pico?
Anthony Domestico@tonydomestico.bsky.social · 2mo ago"Humanism did indeed concentrate on this world, but usually in tandem with the unseen other. The task of painters was to visualize both." @griffino.bsky.social on "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" at the Met for @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/oleynick-rap...
Also keep in mind that the Trump administration has killed nearly 200 people in boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. My latest at @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-boat-s...
‘Simply Murder’
Donald Trump's killing spree at sea is indefensible on legal, ethical, and moral grounds.
commonwealmagazine.org
On a lighter note, go see Raphael at @metmuseum.org And then see if you agree with me that he's way better than Leonardo and Michelangelo (and also Donatello but no duh) www.commonwealmagazine.org/oleynick-rap...
Down to Earth
Raphael's art places us at the precise point where humanity and divinity converge.
commonwealmagazine.org
Good reminder of the war crimes still being committed by Trump, Hegseth, et al outside the middle east by @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-boat-s...
‘Simply Murder’
Donald Trump's killing spree at sea is indefensible on legal, ethical, and moral grounds.
commonwealmagazine.org
"Such flagrant self-dealing is an obvious and outrageous abuse of presidential power." The Editors on a presidential smash and grab:
A Presidential Smash and Grab
Trump is not only the most corrupt president in American history—he is more corrupt than all other corrupt presidents by orders of magnitude.
commonwealmagazine.org
Attention is precious. The Internet Will Die, and So Will You (by John West) #HereBelowBooks #CoverReveal
Vance hasn't really "remade" anything in US Catholicism. He's just a lost guy in search of a father. Also his flawed theology is critiqued in @ncronline.bsky.social not the Register which is a...different beast : ) nymag.com/intelligence...
How J.D. Vance Remade the Catholic Right
A ‘postliberal’ ideology has taken hold in the Church — and broken with Pope Leo.
nymag.com
I was so happy to be invited to speak on the Commonweal Magazine podcast with Griffin Oleynick about my new book, "Work in Progress," about "humble work" and about humor. It was such a fun conversation, thanks to his great questions. www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/humb...
Humble Work
Many of us have jobs we don’t enjoy. Fr. James Martin explains how we can make our work meaningful anyway.
commonwealmagazine.org
The funniest thing happened this morning. I was listening to this episode on the drive to work and was so absorbed, I suddenly realized I didn’t know where I was. I had to use my GPS to find my way to work. “Reclaiming attention,” indeed.
Commonweal@commonwealmagazine.org · 4mo agoOn a NEW EPISODE of the Commonweal podcast, Princeton historian D. Graham Burnett shares how we can take back our minds from the depredations of Big Tech. Listen now!
The Catholic bishops have just made crystal clear the reason that the pope is right and JD Vance is wrong: A just war can't be a war of choice, which this one clearly is. This is a crucial theological, political, and moral argument, and the clarity here is needed and powerful
excited for giant brain convert JD Vance to defend cutting off 11 mil from Catholic Charities, an organization whose name every practicing Catholic hears once a week
I wonder how it feels to be so wrong on doctrine that multiple authorities within the Church clarify exactly how and where you’re wrong Not wonder in an “I’d like to experience that feeling” way though
Public officials may opine about theology, as is their right. The Successor of Peter teaches. This is his office. If what he teaches doesn’t sound like what we want to hear, we should admit the likelihood that the problem is in what we want to hear, and not in what he teaches.
Sometimes I think all JD Vance really needs is a hug. People at ease with themselves don’t speak or behave this way. It doesn’t excuse him, at all, but Vance seems to absorbed a great deal of Trump’s scorn and abuse and humiliation. Vance carries a lot of shame, and it shows.
Daniel Rober@profdanrober.bsky.social · 4mo agoThis should be embarrassing for the Very Serious Conservative Catholics who carry water for this administration.
Exactly right. I keep thinking of the time Vance upbraided Zelensky for his apparent lack of gratitude. For Vance, reality and truth are inadmissible. Thus figures like Zelensky or Pope Leo must be humiliated, emasculated, marginalized. Sic semper tyrannis—except Vance isn't even that.
Timothy Snyder@timothysnyder.bsky.social · 4mo ago5/5. For Vance, the task of a pope should be to stick to "morality," in the special propagandistic sense of trotting out religious-sounding clichés to justify the status quo on behalf of the powerful and wealthy.
I called the IRS today to ask how to pay a tiny tax penalty from 2024. The agent said she didn't know, and told me to look up the rules online. I asked, could I could pay over the phone? No. Could I pay by check? No, well yes, but it's another 10% penalty. Where's a publican when ya need one?
Ed Martin picked a great week to publish a theological appreciation of Trump's "solemnity and seriousness" in the application of clemency. "Through the breadth and depth of his pardons, President Donald J. Trump shows mercy unlike any other." Hope he sees this, bro!
Understanding Mercy in the Trump Era - Chronicles
Just as God’s mercy draws us deeper into His divine nature, pardon has the power to make its givers and receivers more fully human.
chroniclesmagazine.org
BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV declares the Iran War is “unjust” and “is not resolving anything.” After suggesting Trump is committing war crimes by targeting civilian infrastructure, he called on Americans to contact Congress to help end the war.
"The community must also reckon with our own demons." Claudia Avila Cosnahan on charting a path forward after the Casar Chavez revelations:
‘Our Latino People’
The farmworkers’ movement was never meant to be about one man, but the people—all the people. After the Cesar Chavez revelations, that must remain our ideal.
commonwealmagazine.org
NEW: Recently ordained Jesuit priest Fr. Doug Jones joins the Commonweal podcast from Beirut to speak about the growing humanitarian crisis amid Israel's siege on Lebanon. 'My First War'
‘My First War’
Recently ordained Jesuit priest Fr. Doug Jones joins us from Beirut to speak about the growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.
commonwealmagazine.org
An open letter from a former priest chronicling his search for justice: "Dear Pope Leo: After a senior priest harassed me, I learned that justice is elusive" www.ncronline.org/news/dear-po...
Dear Pope Leo: After a senior priest harassed me, I learned that justice is elusive
In an open letter to the pope, Jonathan Ficara recounts how, on the night before his ordination, he encountered a glimpse of how the church can fail to act justly, an experience that would ultimately ...
ncronline.org