“Immaculate” and “The First Omen” are two horror movies with pregnant nun protagonists in theaters at the same time. It’s admittedly an unusual event. They’re also a veiled response to the overturning of abortion nearly two years ago and the Catholic church’s stance on the issue.
Read MoreIowa basketball star Caitlin Clark is a lot of things to many people. To fans, she’s known for breaking NCAA records. To her teammates, she’s the one they are looking at to spearhead a national title run after getting Iowa to the Final Four. And to those in the sports marketing business, she’s a budding star who will be playing in the WNBA next season. She’s also Catholic.
Read More(TRAVEL) Sitting snugly at the start of the escarpment taking visitors up from the floor of the Great Rift Valley, not far from Kenya’s capitol Nairobi, is Mai Mahiu Catholic Church, otherwise known as the “Travelers’ Chapel.” Older generations call the place as “Msikiti,” which means mosque. One of Africa’s smallest churches, in fact, dates back to World War II when it was built by Italian prisoners of war.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A group of independent United Nations human rights experts called on the authorities in Hong Kong to drop all charges against Jimmy Lai and release him. Lai, a pro-democracy and human rights defender, has been detained and subjected to multiple Kafkaesque trials for fighting for freedom of speech.
Read MoreTo better understand what author Jon Fosse means to literature and faith, we interviewed Norwegian journalist Øystein Lid. Fosse, who converted to Catholicism a decade ago, recently won the Nobel Prize for Literature and his books are available around the world.
Read MoreThe annual celebration of Halloween is marked by fun and frightening traditions, those that involve monsters being the most fun and frightening of them all. These representations of evil are inextricably linked with religion, used to condemn evil, find comfort in suffering and much more.
Read More(REVIEW) It’s deeply fitting and gratifying that the Catholic director’s career-long struggle with God would lead to possibly his best and most Christian film to date. Hopefully his work will inspire others to wrestle with God and imagine the world as well as he does.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in previews the Catholic Church’s upcoming synod on synodality in Rome. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(REVIEW) “The Miracle Club,” about four women from small-town Ireland who make the pilgrimage to Lourdes, is almost a miracle itself. It’s been in the works for nearly two decades and was filmed in only 21 days. Its screenplay is smart and engaging, exploring Christianity, family, confronting the past and womanhood.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Besides being close in age, Gioia (born 1950) and La Rocca (born 1951) are both half Italian on their fathers’ side, and both are from working class families. Gioia’s ethnic heritage on his mother’s side is Mexican. La Rocca’s ethnic heritage on his mother’s side is Ukrainian. Both poet and composer are roughly of the same generation as Archbishop Cordileone, who was born in 1956.
Read More(OPINION) Haven’t bishops — in Illinois and across the U.S. — learned that despite the best efforts of their high-priced lawyers and public relations professionals, victims are becoming increasingly empowered, civil attorneys are becoming more aggressive and creative, law enforcement is becoming more determined, and those who commit and conceal assaults on children are becoming “outed” more and more?
Read MoreEveryone now knows what Caitlin Clark can do after her wonderful performances this season — but many schools had seen that potential a few years ago. She was heavily recruited by a number of schools after ESPN rated her one of the nation’s top prospect in 2020 when she was a budding point guard at a Catholic high school in Iowa.
Read MoreReuters reported that more than 30 African countries, including Uganda, already ban same-sex relations. But the new law emerging in Uganda would be the first to outlaw people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, according to Human Rights Watch.
Read More(OPINION) During his 16 years in Congress, Rep. Daniel Lipinski voted with his party 90% of the time, and his convictions never changed, especially on economic and labor issues. Nevertheless, by 2018, New York magazine had floated this headline: "House Democratic Leaders Rally to Defend Their Illinois Heretic."
Read More(OPINION) Santos’ intersectionality worked perfectly in a congressional district that is itself exceedingly diverse and arguably somewhat tribal. I write from experience as I lived in that district for several years and understand the dynamics firsthand.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the opening of the $50 million Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(REVIEW) Ever get the sinking feeling that your friends don’t like you? That every time you talk, they’re just wishing you’d shut up — that they’re even timing how long you talk? Or worse: have you always thought you had a friend until, one day, they just told you they didn’t like you anymore? That horrifying premise is the driving force behind Martin McDonagh’s heartbreakingly bloody friendship breakup “The Banshees of Inisherin.”
Read More(OPINION) A blockbuster in the November U.S. Religion Census report said that, taken together, nondenominational Protestants number 21 million and are unquestionably the largest U.S. Protestant group, exceeding by millions the largest denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, and second only to Catholics.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights ReligionUnplugged.com’s best stories and projects of 2022, as selected by the senior editors. Plus, check out the Top 10 most-shared editions of Plug-in from this past. year.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Polls show that voters care more about inflation, but Democrats are hoping that talking up abortion will get out their base. Abortion, however, isn’t just a political issue. As President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, promises to make abortion a federal right should Democrats keep a majority, tension among him and prominent U.S. bishops has heated up again.
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