Thomas Reese
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS. Previously he was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter (2015-17) and an associate editor (1978-85) and editor in chief (1998-2005) at America magazine. He was also a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University (1985-98 & 2006-15) where he wrote Archbishop, A Flock of Shepherds, and Inside the Vatican. Earlier he worked as a lobbyist for tax reform. He has a doctorate in political science from the University of California Berkeley. He entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1974 after receiving a M.Div from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.
All Stories by Thomas Reese
The lesson of Silicon Bank: Regulations protect good businesses as well as consumers
By Thomas Reese — March 20, 2023
(RNS) — Libertarian capitalists are hypocrites. They hate government regulations, but when they are in trouble, they expect the government to bail them out.
A reading list for seminarians and other Catholic conservatives
By Thomas Reese — March 14, 2023
(RNS) — Books changed my life. They can change yours too.
The legacy of a decade of Pope Francis
By Thomas Reese — March 6, 2023
(RNS) — Francis has opened windows that are difficult to close.
Is the FBI coming after traditional Catholics?
By Thomas Reese — March 2, 2023
(RNS) — The FBI is worried violent extremists will exploit and recruit radical-traditionalist Catholics.
What does it mean to be holy?
By Thomas Reese — February 20, 2023
(RNS) — It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. Anyone who thinks it is, is simply not listening to him.
Trashing Pope Francis won’t make Congo’s complex problems simpler
By Thomas Reese — February 13, 2023
(RNS) — The pontiff also blamed the country's leaders for its problems.
Eucharistic prayer is the heart of the Eucharist
By Thomas Reese — February 7, 2023
(RNS) — The Eucharistic prayer is the most important and least understood prayer in the Mass.
The Jewish roots of the Eucharist
By Thomas Reese — January 31, 2023
(RNS) — Today’s Christian Eucharist is a combination of the Jewish synagogue service and Passover meal as adapted by the early Jewish Christians.
The Eucharist is about more than the real presence
By Thomas Reese — January 24, 2023
(RNS) — The Eucharist is not to make Jesus present so we can worship him.
Pell’s ‘catastrophe’ memorandum stains his legacy
By Thomas Reese — January 17, 2023
(RNS) — Pell was cowardly and disloyal in authoring an anonymous memorandum attacking Pope Francis.
With Benedict’s death, a way opens for more formal rules for retired popes
By Thomas Reese — January 9, 2023
(RNS) — Symbols are important in the Catholic Church, and having two men dressed in white and called pope is confusing.
Let’s celebrate the Epiphany with an eye on the future
By Thomas Reese — January 4, 2023
(RNS) — In the West, the Epiphany is about the Magi. In the East, it is about the baptism of the Lord. But it is also about the second coming of Christ.
Pope Benedict XVI, elected a philosopher king, was at heart a German professor
By Thomas Reese — December 31, 2022
(RNS) — In 2005, the cardinals thought they were electing the smartest man in the room. They should instead have sought the man who would listen to all the other smart people in the church.
My encounters with Joseph Ratzinger — and Pope Benedict XVI
By Thomas Reese — December 31, 2022
Open discussion was suppressed by Ratzinger under the papacy of John Paul. If you did not agree with the Vatican, you were silenced.
Vatican II after 60 years
By Thomas Reese — December 20, 2022
(RNS) — Conservatives, reading Vatican II's documents like biblical fundamentalists, miss what it meant to participants.
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