Author: Deacon Richard D. Shewman

When American politicians speak of greatness one can hear the echo of American Exceptionalism in those words. This idea goes back to the Great Awakening, an early revival movement in…

When American politicians speak of greatness one can hear the echo of American Exceptionalism in those words. This idea goes back to the Great Awakening, an early revival movement in…

The slogan “Make America Great Again” during the last election cycle challenged the electorate to believe that somehow America had fallen from greatness and that a vote for Trump would…

Earlier I mentioned that passing on the faith requires an engagement of the heart, mind and will. Given the better educated populace in many parts of the world, it is…

The theologian and religious educator, Thomas Groome, suggests that the key to an enlivened faith, perhaps even the discovery of our own adult faith, is the result of discovering the…

Religion, as a social institution, has a variety of social functions, as well as more spiritually oriented roles. From the perspective of society, religion provides a model for organizing society,…

While my full-time ministry is as a judge on the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal and as the associate Director for the Permanent Deacon Formation Program in the Diocese of Erie, my…

We’ve considered religious truth and scientific truth. The first is dependent upon authoritative foundational stories of a narrative/religious tradition for its understanding of truth. The second is dependent upon the…

  As Jesus stood before Pilate, the Roman official was trying to reach a decision on what to do with this Jewish preacher and possible insurrectionist. Pilate asked him, “What…

Christianity is built on an awareness that humans can be cruel and self-serving. Indeed, we often act in such a manner. Simply operating by justice, humans would probably be wiped…