June 2026
VOL. 91, NO. 6
Scroll through the Table of Contents to view what’s in this month’s print issue. Some articles are available only in the print issue: Subscribe today to get full access to all the material you see listed below. And remember to sign up for our weekly email so you never miss an online article!
Features
I’ll be damned
BY DON CLEMMER
For centuries, religious leaders have emphasized the threat of hell to motivate people to seek heaven. But rather than incentivizing a life of ethical flourishing, fear of eternal damnation might be doing spiritual harm. Many theologians agree that’s not exactly what Jesus had in mind when he talked about Gehenna.
Shapes of resistance
BY JOHN NOBLE
Catholics can learn from nonviolent movements how to avoid the pitfalls associated with activism.
EXPERT WITNESS
Beyond allyship
An interview with David F. Evans
White allies of racial justice advocates have sometimes veered from solidarity into erasure. This historian details what authentic interracial advocacy could look like.
SOUNDING BOARD
Ill-gotten gains
BY ERIN LOTHES
Is it OK for the church to profit from oil leases and mineral rights? U.S. Catholic readers weigh in on whether the church should divest from the fossil fuel industry.
ESSAY
Work of women’s hands
BY CEIRE KEALTY
Medieval depictions of Mary practicing fiber arts highlight the power of women’s work as a way to create a better future.
ESSAY
Our fathers
Memories of our fathers and father figures can both comfort and challenge us throughout our lives.
Ethics
HOME FAITH
To speak well
BY TERESA CODA
Our household habits of communication shape the communities we create everywhere else.
SALT & LIGHT
Whom do we mourn?
BY LEONARDO MENDOZA
Truthful remembrance is a moral act of solidarity.
MARGIN NOTES
National treasure
BY KEVIN CLARKE
Tensions over new spending leave some Americans asking: What is government for?
Culture
CULTURE IN CONTEXT
Just another love story
BY PAMELA HILL NETTLETON
An oversimplified retelling of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights leaves complex identities and female agency unexplored.
REVIEWS
Bernadette, The Musical
Directed and written by Serge Denoncourt, music by Gregoire
Reviewed by Abby Rampone
Convent Wisdom
By Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita (Simon & Schuster, 2025)
Reviewed by Ceire Kealty
Nothing’s About to Happen to Me
Mitski (Dead Ocean, 2026)
Reviewed by Ann Christenson
Our Faith
IN PERSON
Led by the spirit
BY CELIA WEXLER
Katie Holler, founder of the Dorothea Project, takes bishops to task and advocates for immigrants.
ORDINARY TIMES
La danza
BY HENRY CERVANTES
The Aztec Dance of the Concheros is a dance of faith, identity, and resistance.
TESTAMENTS
Broken and shared
BY EMILY SANNA
How does the particularity of Jesus’ human experience change our understanding of the sacrament?
GLAD YOU ASKED
Can a Catholic marry a non-Catholic?
POETRY
St. Hubert’s Stag
BY LAURA REECE HOGAN
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Motion inclined
BY JERRY BLEEM
