Michael Warren Davis, Author at Catholic Herald

Michael Warren Davis

After a devastating report, the blame game begins in Chicago

January 03, 2019

On December 20, the Attorney General of Illinois released a devastating report on sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy of the Archdiocese of Chicago. It was an all-too-familiar profile of lives destroyed by members of Christ’s holy priesthood. “Survivors reported battling alcoholism, drug use, mental health crises, and suicide attempts,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote. “They

Three reasons you should subscribe to the Herald this New Year

January 03, 2019

There’s a Chestertonism for every day of the year; why should the first be any exception? On this third day of 2019, here’s the big man himself: The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose;

What is the perfect Catholic cocktail?

December 20, 2018

When I approached our friends and colleagues about this little symposium, each one responded immediately with a moving appeal for their candidate. Clearly, they’d all given the matter some thought before. I like to imagine each of them toddling home from Mass one afternoon, whipping up a batch of their preferred oh-be-joyful, plopping themselves down

The wit and wisdom of a superlative priest-writer

December 13, 2018

A Year with Fr Rutler By Fr George William Rutler Sophia Institute Press, 744pp, £200/$250 About time last year I flew to New York with a single purpose: to ask Fr George Rutler to write an “Agony Priest” column for the Catholic Herald. Considering Father’s decades as a columnist, television host, and general man-of-the-cloth about

A triumphant premiere for a new Mass setting

December 13, 2018

On All Souls’ Day, St John Cantius Church in Chicago – renowned for its curious Polish-style architecture and liturgical grandeur – celebrated a Mass set to Mozart’s Requiem, as it does every year. Pilgrims from each coast and everywhere in between travelled to witness this triumph of Latin Rite liturgics. The only annual Mass that

The US Church’s $3bn question

December 06, 2018

On the same day that law enforcement raided the chancery of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the attorney general of New Mexico executed a search warrant on the chancery of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Officials were looking for information on two priests the archdiocese had named in a list they released of clergy who had

The ‘gay network’ claims which reach far beyond Connecticut

December 06, 2018

The day after the raid on Sante Fe, the rector of Holy Apostles College and Seminary in the Archdiocese of Hartford came forward to discuss the shocking conclusions of a 2012 investigation. The final report spoke of a gay subculture at the seminary, which it situated “in the context of a much wider homosexual network

St John Vianney’s incorrupt heart is touring the US. It couldn’t come at a better time

November 29, 2018

The new sex abuse crisis has brought the American Church to the centre of the world’s attention. People can’t take their eyes off the carnage left by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, his fellow predators and their enablers. It’s too easy even for faithful Catholics to forget that the Church is more than the sum of its

The ‘migrant caravan’ is testing the US bishops’ stance on borders

November 29, 2018

America’s Catholic clergy are longstanding opponents of immigration restrictions. In 2003, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a joint statement with the Mexican bishops’ conference called “Strangers No Longer” condemning efforts to curtail immigration – legal or otherwise – across America’s southern border. “We stand in solidarity with you,” they told migrants. “We commit

‘Preach the faith, but preach it fully’: an interview with Bishop Fellay

November 29, 2018

With his high forehead, cleft chin and old-world manners, Bishop Bernard Fellay has a definite aura. At Angelus Press’s annual Conference on Catholic Tradition in October, I watched as laymen, priests and Religious approached him, hoping to kiss his ring. He offered his hand with neither condescension nor embarrassment (both of which are more usual

As frustrated Catholics call for the nuclear option, a diplomat urges prudence

November 22, 2018

As the abuse crisis deepens and Church officials struggle to reassure laity that they are taking their grievances seriously, some social media users have proposed a radical solution of their own. They’re urging President Donald Trump to sever diplomatic ties with the Holy See. The argument stems from widespread claims – particularly those stemming from

The broadcaster ruffling feathers at home and abroad

November 22, 2018

Love him or hate him – and opinion is strikingly divided on that point – Raymond Arroyo (pictured) is the king of the Catholic airwaves. Lay people who usually have no interest in dedicated Catholic television channels switch to EWTN at 8pm on Thursdays to watch Arroyo’s programme, The World Over. Like mainstream cable news

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