From colonial times until recently, Hispanic Catholics in lands now in the United States have been on the margins of their church. During the Spanish and...
Church history
Discover U.S. Catholic articles on church history that highlight social justice, reform, and the diverse voices that have shaped Catholic tradition.
The ancient Greek word hairesis meant “choice” and identified one’s intellectual “choice” among the many philosophies of late antiquity. The word originally...
Have you ever had a fist fight about the natures of Christ? If you have, you would fit right in among ancient Christians, says this church historian...
If any scholar could claim a ring-side seat to the liturgical reform of the 20th century, it would have to be Father Robert Taft, S.J. Taft recalls being...
People today tend to think that history is pretty much about facts. Though history is always interpreted, the aim of history is to uncover facts to paint a...
Christianity has always emphasized faith as a person’s life-defining response to Jesus Christ. Early Christians put their deepest convictions about God...
To our modern ears the idea of heresy seems quaint and medieval—involving technical arguments about abstract matters. But I contend that heresy and its cousin...
Catholics need to lighten up and see the bright side of sometimes being the butt of jokes. It wouldn’t hurt to laugh at ourselves once in a...
The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), whose members are commonly known as “Lefebvrites” after their founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, is a group of about...
1760s-70s:Inventions of the “spinning jenny,” “water frame,” and “spinningmule” replace handwoven textiles—and workers—in...
