Signs of the Times

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.

Opposition to Respect for Marriage Act reflects bishops’ paranoia on religious freedom

By Thomas Reese — December 13, 2022
(RNS) — The U.S. Catholic bishops’ opposition to the Respect for Marriage Act is destroying their credibility.

Does the pope need an editor?

By Thomas Reese — December 6, 2022
(RNS) — The pope’s recent interview in America magazine comes across as a first draft in need of editing.

In Advent, we hope and wait. Climate change doesn’t lend itself to either.

By Thomas Reese — November 28, 2022
(RNS) — Advent is supposed to be a time of anticipation and hope, but the threat of global warming brings me anxiety and fear.

Catholic bishops punt again on ‘Faithful Citizenship,’ reflecting divisions on politics

By Thomas Reese — November 18, 2022
(RNS) — Nothing said at the bishops’ meeting indicated that they know how to deal with the post-Dobbs, post-election reality other than to say, 'more of the same.'

Bishops need to acknowledge collateral damage from Dobbs win

By Thomas Reese — November 11, 2022
(RNS) — To the extent that the bishops helped the Republicans gain power, they must accept responsibility for what the Republicans did with that power.

If American history read like the Bible

By Thomas Reese — November 8, 2022
(RNS) — If the Bible exposes the flaws of our spiritual forefathers, why should American history cover up the failings of our founders?
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