A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken in light of a story. A great event has happened; the pilgrim hears the reports and goes in search of the evidence, aspiring to be an eyewitness. The pilgrim […]
Author: Andrew Staron
Andrew Staron is an assistant professor of theology at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia.
“Pray for My Mom”
Augustine’s Confessions. Very few other books have left their mark on an entire civilization as deeply as this one narrative of sin and grace. Less an autobiography in the contemporary sense than a reinterpretation […]
The Ignatian Character of Residential Campus Ministry
For the feast day of St. Ignatius (July 31st), founder of the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits), I’d like to consider the Ignatian character of campus ministry, particularly in the way it is conducted on many Catholic […]
Theological Grudge Match: The God of Mercy vs. The Book of Job
One of the most significant moments of my undergraduate studies came reading Dante’s Purgatorio with philosophy professor Francis Ambrosio. Beginning canto IX, we found Dante asleep as a star-lit night falls on Mount Purgatory. St. […]
Why did “Doubting Thomas” Doubt?
Spiritual reflections around the Catholic Church today will focus on faith and doubt–on the relationship between the two (i.e. “it’s okay to doubt sometimes”) and on the words of Jesus (“Blessed are those who have not seen and […]
Why did the crowd turn on Jesus?
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest!” We know how the rest of the story goes. Jesus—acclaimed as the one who is to save his people—enters Jerusalem […]
Jesus is Outside
He was scandalously conceived outside of a proper marriage, born outside of his society’s attention, and immediately a refugee outside his homeland as he fled brutal political power. He brought contempt and rejection upon himself […]
A New Year’s Eve After Christ
Today the Church celebrates its New Year’s Eve–tomorrow is the first day of Advent. In many ways this new year begins like those before, for we wait amidst questions. We look for answers to the […]
“Like a Virgin” touched (by God?!) for the very first time
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa” (1647–52), Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome The tradition of mystical ecstasy has claimed yet another victory for an orgasmic imagining of the encounter with God. In her autobiography, […]
Five Things I Learned from the Jesuits
July 31st is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the “Jesuits”). The Jesuits are a religious order, officially founded in 1540 and currently numbering over 18,000 […]
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