First Things has Powerful End of Year Message! “A Voice of Sanity” by R. R. Reno

By R. R. Reno, Editor, First Things, Dec. 12, 2023

I was climbing with a young friend, a priest, recently ordained. The early autumn sun gently warmed the night-chilled rock. Esoteric rock-climbing banter filled the day, but on the drive home we turned to what really matters: God and his Church.

“You’re lucky to be young and just starting out,” I said. My friend was perplexed. “Oh, don’t get me wrong,” I continued, “the Church is an institution with lots of problems. But the winds of change are blowing. People—I’m not saying most, but more than in recent decades—are growing hungry for spiritual substance. They want what you’re dedicating your life to providing.”

I often feel the shifting breeze. In the political realm it’s called populism, the vote of no confidence in the status quo. A rising tide of opinion doesn’t want current trends—globalization, the rainbow flag, preferred pronouns—to define the future. That mentality has a spiritual analogue, one that rejects religious mediocrity and compromise with the secular age. …

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