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'

Praying the Sorrowful Mysteries this Lent has meant letting Mary guide me to the gates of an ICE detention facility. A reflection by Marie Marquardt:

"May it never be too late for us to notice the divine spark in some unlikely witnesses who respond to God’s call." Rita Ferrone writes on Christ's seven last words:

"I’m in too much of a mental muddle to know where I am—an idealist or not. I’m a mere man of letters." The Commonweal interview with Jorge Luis Borges (from the archives):

"The U.S. bishops remain divided about many issues, but immigration is not, for the most part, one of them." @heidischlumpf.bsky.social on the bishops and birthright citizenship:

"If we have to suffer—and we do—I think the challenge for us is to see suffering anew." @danbarry58.bsky.social pens a reflection for Holy Week:

@commonwealmagazine.org published my review of Mona Fastvold's astounding film "The Testament of Ann Lee." I was anxious when I heard of the project, but Fastvold's film is stranger, more affecting and more powerful than I could have imagined.

"I might have to change my life, but I’ll still have my ice cream, too." Rutger Bregman thinks most of us are wasting our lives. But, @regmunch.bsky.social asks, is there a limit to how much we ought to sacrifice to do good?

Congratulations! Yesterday, Commonweal published a powerful Palm Sunday essay by Corbett, reflecting on faith, solidarity, and mass deportation. Read it here! www.commonwealmagazine.org/corbett-dyla...

"This coming closer to the world of the poor is what we understand both by the incarnation and by conversion." From the archives — St. Óscar Romero on the political dimensions of Christian love:

My time in the borderlands taught me that there is dignity in the deviant and the criminal. Even Judases need an advocate. An essay by Pablo Christian Soenen:

The bishops filed an amicus brief in support of birthright citizenship. Conservative critics aren’t happy. New reporting on the bishops' fight for the Fourteenth Amendment from @heidischlumpf.bsky.social:

In 2016, I became a Trappist novice at St. Benedict's Monastery. Now, this place of peace is being purchased by a zealot for war: Palantir CEO Alex Karp. An essay by Evan Bednarz:

"This idea of that amicus briefs should stick to legal arguments is preposterous. Amicus briefs regularly present the ethical and practical consequences of how a ruling will affect groups of people not specifically named in the lawsuit." My piece: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-bir...

"Exchanges with LLMs are the conversational equivalent of masturbation." Alexander Stern on language, AI, and Ludwig Wittgenstein:

"When Bishop Seitz finished, most of the assembled church stood and applauded. I noticed that a retired ICE agent seated near the front did not clap." Dylan Corbett offers a reflection on public faith and mass deportation:

"As we read these lines out loud, I could sense the mood among the sisters changing. They clearly felt Bonaventure had crossed a line." William Crozier on learning about St. Bonaventure's blind spot from Poor Clare sisters:

The bishops filed an amicus brief in support of birthright citizenship. Conservative critics aren’t happy. @heidischlumpf.bsky.social reports on the fight for the Fourteenth Amendment:

Commonweal is now accepting applications for its Centennial Fellowship! This one-year fellowship is for an outstanding early-career writer looking to expand upon a compelling aspect of their work. To learn more and apply, visit cwlmag.org/fellows!

OPEN NOW: Commonweal is seeking an editorial intern for the summer of 2026! Learn more and join the life of the magazine! www.cwlmag.org/interns

"Karp’s Promethean sense of self-importance will be right at home in Aspen." Evan Bednarz writes on the Trappist monastery purchased by Palantir CEO Alex Karp:

"A preliminary step would be to detach the Church from Trumpism." @massimofaggioli.bsky.social: There’s danger in U.S. bishops’ reluctance to criticize Trumpism.

The April issue is here! Feat.: - @susanbreynolds.bsky.social on Easter and cynicism - @alexwstern.bsky.social on AI - A conversation between Patti Smith and @antoniospadaro.bsky.social - @heidischlumpf.bsky.social on women's ordination And more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2026-...

I wrote about Wittgenstein and whether AI can mean @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/wittgenstein...

Dame Mullally’s participation in Becket Camino represents a sign of ecumenism as she prepares to become the first woman to lead the Church of England. Analysis from Vanessa R. Corcoran: www.commonwealmagazine.org/canterbury-a...

"To really understand language, LLMs would have to be capable of being born." @alexwstern.bsky.social on AI, Wittgenstein, and our crisis of meaning: www.commonwealmagazine.org/wittgenstein...

"Ann Lee's truest testament was the Shaker community’s practice of care across the boundaries of kinship, gender, and race." Vincent Miller reflects on 'The Testament of Ann Lee':

"The basis of Schopenhauer’s ethics was a kind of solidarity of the suffering." @mortenhoijensen.bsky.social reviews a new consideration of the oft-misunderstood German philosopher: www.commonwealmagazine.org/Schopenhauer...

"There is no question that Rome and the pope are supporting—quietly but clearly—the individual voices prophetically calling out Trumpism. The question is whether these individual voices will be joined by others, or remain a (shrinking) minority faction."

“The violent collapse of our two-decade mission in Afghanistan has made it clear to me that the Church needs to recover a theology of sin & a penitential practice capable of accounting for the trauma of war.”Philip Porter in @commonwealmagazine.org from 2023 www.commonwealmagazine.org/war-penance

"Jesus called, and still calls, women to discipleship. Women first proclaimed the Resurrection." Commonweal readers respond to Paul Baumann's essay on women's ordination:

When I met a fourteen-year-old Harrison Ford, I was sure he wouldn’t amount to much. Peter Steinfels: 'Wrong About Harry'

If we wish to meet God in silence, we must seek to help liberate those whom our society has unjustly silenced. William Crozier on learning about silence from Poor Clare sisters:

"There will no longer be monks singing the Salve Regina as night closes in on the valley around St. Benedict’s. Prayers for peace will be replaced by schemes for war." Evan Bednarz on the sale of a Trappist monastery to a billionaire war profiteer:

"The airing of grief is, paraphrasing Walter Brueggemann, an act of bold faith that refuses to accept the world as it is." Joe Rubio reflects on the raising of Lazarus for the fifth Sunday of Lent:

"Homan offers a uniformed-services, God-and-country conservatism that many American Catholics can identify with." @paulbmoses.bsky.social on the Catholic faith of Trump's 'border czar':

In 2016, I became a Trappist novice at St. Benedict’s Monastery. Now, this place of peace is being purchased by a zealot for war: Palantir CEO Alex Karp. An essay by Evan Bednarz:

Listen: @jonathansheehan.bsky.social speaks with Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor for @commonwealmagazine.org's Of this World podcast about his new book On the Altar, Christian sacrifice, and what the language of sacrifice still offers us today:

"The carelessness, cruelty, and incompetence that characterize everything this administration does are tragically on display in what Trump calls his 'little excursion' in Iran." NEW from the Editors:

"The bishops’ support for immigrants began long before Homan took up his Catechism as a schoolboy." @paulbmoses.bsky.social: 'The Gospel According to Tom Homan'

Highly recommend this outstanding piece about a personal faith journey through relationship.

In recent weeks, Paul Baumann’s essay on women’s ordination and the ritual logic of the priesthood has generated passionate reactions from Commonweal readers. Here, we’re sharing some of your sharpest letters—and a response from Baumann.

Almost exactly ten years after I had first considered becoming Catholic for intellectual reasons, I became one for interpersonal reasons. @jonathanrheaps.bsky.social reflects on liberal and postliberal conversion:

No objective, no planning, and with little thought for consequences: Trump's unjust war of whim alienates allies and further degrades the moral standing of the U.S. New from the editors @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-war-ir...

Excellent editorial on the unforced error that is the global tragedy unleashed by the unstable, dangerous, and incompetent USA political administration. Important and necessary read, provides clarity.

Trump has made the world less stable, alienated our allies, and further degraded the moral standing of the United States. The Editors on a war of whim in Iran: www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-war-ir...

"The Church, as Lumen gentium reminds us, is not a culture, but a people." Excellent and heartening reflection by @jonathanrheaps.bsky.social in @commonwealmagazine.org:

When I met a fourteen-year-old Harrison Ford, I was sure he wouldn’t amount to much. Peter Steinfels on his memories of a future movie star:

"What 'Nobody Wants This' does most artfully is tell the story of a 'convert for marriage' from the convert’s perspective." Nava Grant on the dilemmas of Jewish conversion: