Daniel P. Horan

Fr. Daniel Horan: Just as racism is a white problem, sexual abuse in the church is a clergy problem. White people need to name and confront "white fragility," and we clergy need to name and confront "clerical fragility."

Adjusting to this return of regular in-person activities and more-frequent travel has given me reason to step back and reflect on what is needed in order to cope better with the world as it changes. 

Gen Z's search for truth in the midst of a world saturated by "alternative facts" leads them to forge their own paths toward what they see as a more just, equitable and sustainable future. That gives me hope. 

Fr. Daniel Horan: Far from a celebration of human athletic excellence and peaceful international sportsmanship, the Olympics have snowballed into a phenomenon that often distracts from the sporting events themselves.

Fr. Daniel Horan: Over time we have come to recognize some of the church's behaviors as indefensible. In time, history will judge the church's discrimination against and treatment of LGBTQ persons as similarly reprehensible.

Fr. Daniel Horan: Many well-intentioned white people struggle with or outright reject the concept of "white privilege." But here's a different metaphor that may illustrate the undeniable truth behind white privilege.

How often do we step back to think about the twisted social and economic systems at work that allow some to obtain unthinkable wealth while others are condemned to struggle to survive?

As people of faith preparing to celebrate Christmas, remember that not all members of the Body of Christ are coping with personal and collective challenges equally. The moral obligation is to call to mind that suffering exists in many forms and recognize that we can all do something to support one another and ourselves.

Franciscan Fr. Daniel P. Horan: Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer highlight how anti-racism work is fraught with tensions and challenges, but as people of faith we are called to evaluate our motivations and commitments, even in the face of discomfort and fear.

Daniel P. Horan: One thread linking a number of the scandalous and insensitive statements and actions of U.S. bishops is an apparent anti-intellectualism that is, sadly, not uncommon in other sectors of society.

Daniel P. Horan: Why is it only when things seem to occur on an extraordinary scale or during the most-dire situations that we pause to acknowledge the possibility of divine presence at work in our world?

Daniel P. Horan: Calling individuals by the names and pronouns they prefer is not only the decent and respectful thing to do, but it also aligns well with the important role names have throughout Christian Scripture and tradition.

Daniel P. Horan: The treatment of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers at our nation's border is something for which debate is not needed, because the moral imperative is plain as day.

Faith Seeking Understanding: With this past Sunday's Gospel, I found myself reflecting on the question Jesus poses to his disciples about his own identity. I imagined what God might ask us about our own identity and that of the rest of creation.

Faith Seeking Understanding: What is starkly missing from these bishops' statements and similar transphobic remarks by church leaders in recent years is any encounter with transgender persons themselves.

Faith Seeking Understanding: Whatever the cause of some peoples' refusal to accept the truth, persisting down the path of inaction, the new climate report offers those with "eyes to see and ears to hear" a grim reality check.

Faith Seeking Understanding: In their book Seeing Differently, three Anglican Franciscans return to the roots of the spiritual tradition of St. Francis to recover a vision of creation that is grounded in the Gospel.

Faith Seeking Understanding: The indifference millions of men and women display toward climate change and its disastrous consequences for our fellow human beings is at the core of what I'm calling a spiritual crisis.

Faith Seeking Understanding: As U.S. bishops imprudently forged ahead with a document on Communion ostensibly targeting Biden, I returned to some of Merton's writings on ecclesial and social crises of the mid-1960s.

Faith Seeking Understanding: Church leaders and self-identified Christians are largely responsible for anti-LGBTQ violence in Ghana, given the population's largely Christian makeup. But this is also a disturbingly Catholic problem that the global church must face.