Easter in Ordinary

For Pope Francis, "mission" is a critical word. Evangelii Gaudium was all about mission. Laudato Si' may well be understood as an incarnation of a Christian's mission in this life. We are to care for our common home. In their 1992 pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response , the U.S. Bishops explained: An oikonomos or steward is one to whom the owner of a household turns over responsibility for caring for the property, managing affairs, making resources yield as much as possible, and sharing the resources with others. The position involves trust and accountability.(19) This understanding of a steward is keenly aware of its groundedness in the care of creation, calling Christian disciples to be "collaborators in creation" (26). In other words, Laudato Si' is a reflection on our discipleship as stewards. Stewardship is a spirituality that aims for a growth in holiness. We cannot be good Christian stewards without taking care...

Over the last few days, I have made my way through E.J. Dionne, Jr.'s Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent . To begin with, the book posits that the United States is not an either/or, individualism or community, but a both/and. I have long enjoyed Dionne as a writer for Commonweal and the Washington Post and as commentator on MSNBC as well as someone I follow on twitter ( @EJDionne ). A Catholic, Dionne speaks gracefully about Catholic social teaching, a quality that particularly appeals to me. The book's premise, that we in the United States, have a divided political heart is attractive and rings true. Written in 2012, just ahead of the election, I panicked as I entered Chapter II which began by recounting revisionist history from Michele Bachman and Sarah Palin (53). I was not eager to revisit the ugly politics preceding the general election of 2012. I yearned for something deeper. Dionne delivers. E.J. Dionne, Jr., P...