Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Stephen White
Do Lent! - The Catholic Thing
Lent is in full swing now. If you are like me, you enter this season full of determination and enthusiasm: My prayer will be deeper. My penance will be purer. My almsgiving will be richer. And may it well be so for all of us! But if you are like me, you also know that the Lenten journey doesn’t always finish with the same fervor with which it began. I can remember Lents – more than I care to admit – in which my best laid plans for fasting or scheduled prayer were soon derailed.
Snowed in and Blessed
Published February 5, 2026 The Catholic Thing It snowed last week here in the nation’s capital, and everything shut down. This storm was unusual, not so much for the amount of snow (about five inches where I live) but for the several inches of sleet that piled on top of the snow and then promptly froze into a solid mass, like concrete. The storm dumped much more snow farther north and much more ice farther south and west, causing massive power outages, taking down trees, and the like.
Snowed in and Blessed
It snowed last week here in the nation’s capital, and everything shut down. This storm was unusual, not so much for the amount of snow (about five inches where I live) but for the several inches of sleet that piled on top of the snow and then promptly froze into a solid mass, like concrete. The storm dumped much more snow farther north and much more ice farther south and west, causing massive power outages, taking down trees, and the like. The storm even spawned a handful of tornadoes.
Are All Welcome?
In one of the last frames of Wake Up Dead Man (the latest in the Knives Out series), we get a glimpse of the newly edited parish sign announcing, “All Are Welcome.” It’s a signal to our therapeutic culture that (spoiler alert) the good priest has triumphed over the bad. In a culture that shuns distinctions, boundaries, and limits, there’s no surer badge of goodness than welcoming everyone, without exception.
Sacerdotal Storytellers
The patron saint of journalists is St. Francis de Sales – whose feast is today, 24 January. The Holy Father’s annual message for the World Day of Social Communications is dated for the feast in his honor. St. Francis (1567-1622) was certainly a writer, but not every writer is a journalist.
Why We March - The Catholic Thing
One of the advantages of living in the suburbs of Washington DC – and, yes, there are some advantages – is that I am able to attend the March for Life almost every year. This year, while many would-be Marchers are wondering if their return flights are going to be cancelled by a massive winter storm, I have no such worries. I’ll be there again this year, marching and praying and taking solace in the tens of thousands of smiling young faces, families, and not a few friends.
The Holy Innocents
The Church, “expert in humanity” (as Pope Paul VI put it), knows that the mystery of Christmas (like that of Easter) is so great that it cannot be adequately plumbed – let alone celebrated – in a single day.
Imitating the Holy Family
The collect for today’s feast prays, “O God, who were pleased to give us the example of the Holy Family, graciously grant that we may imitate them.” Now, that’s a tall order. After all, the Holy Family was exceptional. Inimitable, one might say. Joseph and Mary were indeed married. But their marriage was unlike any other. Jesus was indeed their Son. . .but not in the usual sense.
Benedict’s Maestro Makes Music for Leo
High culture – and the spiritual appreciation of high culture – returned to the Vatican this month. Pope Leo XIV is quietly restoring some recent traditions, such as personally celebrating Holy Mass on Christmas morning, not done since 1994. Earlier this month, he brought back the classical sacred music concert.
Christmas Joy - The Catholic Thing
The history of salvation is long. It begins, as we read in Genesis, even before Creation itself. Before space and time were, God already was preparing all that would unfold. The ultimate culmination of that story is as yet unknown, though it has been revealed to us in part. Our own part in the story of salvation is unfolding every moment.
Our “Confinement”
If memory serves (an increasingly dubious supposition), my theatrical debut occurred in the first grade, when I played an elderly Civil War veteran.
HEC 2026 to showcase Saudi Arabia’s industrial transformation and heavy equipment investment under Vision 2030
Under the patronage of His Excellency Mr. Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, Minister of Industry & Mineral Resources, the Heavy Equipment Connect Forum & Expo (HEC 2026) will take place at the Dhahran International Exhibitions Centre (DIEC) in Dammam from 2 to 4 February 2026, bringing together leaders from government, industry, and investment to accelerate the Kingdom’s heavy-equipment and machinery sector in line with Vision 2030.
Nostalgia and Advent
The word “nostalgia” was coined in the seventeenth century by a Swiss physician named Johannes Hofer. The word was a Latinized combination of two Greek words: nostos, meaning “a return home” (think Odysseus), and algos, meaning “pain.” Hofer used his new word to describe a medical condition, one he noticed to be particularly common among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad, which might best be described as acute homesickness – homesickness so acute that it could sometimes be fatal.
Time & Eternity - The Catholic Thing
In the 12th and 13th centuries, monks developed some of the first fully mechanical clocks. Their purpose was simple. The monks would come to chapel seven times a day to chant the praises of God and intercede for the world. Clocks enabled them to do so in a more precise, disciplined, and uniform way. With these time pieces, they could, in effect, harness time and better place it at the service and praise of God. Now, consider what has become of the clock and our treatment of time.
Saints in the Halls of Heaven
Only a few years ago – more than twenty years into my priesthood – I discovered the Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation. They have been in the Roman Missal for decades now, but many of us priests leave unexplored the treasures of the Missal – votive Masses, Masses for various needs and occasions, solemn blessings, etc. The story of those reconciliation prayers is linked to the Holy Year 1975, and marks a fruit of the liturgical reform at a tumultuous time.
Synodality in an American Key
There are many meanings of “synodality” bandied about in various parts of the Church today: synodality is a “style,” a “process,” a “shape” or “way” of “being Church” etc. Whatever else the word might mean, there is broad agreement that the word denotes something with a close connection to the Second Vatican Council.
Priests, not partisans
Last week, my colleagues and I published findings from our latest study of American Catholic priests. A fair amount of commentary on the report has focused on the evident gap between older and younger priests, particularly when it comes to their political views and their pastoral priorities. And there are significant generational differences between, for example, priests ordained before 1980 and priests ordained since 2000.
Ignorance of the poor is ignorance of Christ
Pope Leo XIV’s recent apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, reminds us that in the poor we find a privileged place to meet Christ himself.
What the Boomers Take with Them
The generation of Americans born between 1946 and 1964 –the Baby Boomers– is slowly on its way out of the upper echelons of American society. Once the largest generation America had ever seen, the Boomers’ way of seeing the world, their memories of how things once were (for better and for worse), their hopes for how things might be, their baseline for what is “normal” when it comes to culture, society, politics, and religion: all of these are coming to an end, too.
What’s so funny?
This might seem an odd thing to observe just at this particular moment, when even a cursory glance at the headlines would suggest that levity is not quite the order of the day, but I sometimes fear we are in danger of becoming a nation of humorless scolds. I’m not thinking here of the tedious case of Jimmy Kimmel, which has much more to do with politics than humor. Nor am I thinking, at least not directly, of the malicious mockery which polluted social media following the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Maranatha
I was a college student in 2001. I remember being woken up on a bright Tuesday morning in September by one of my roommates. He was on the phone with his dad; someone had taken out the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We scrambled down stairs, switched on the TV, and gaped at what we saw. It was unbelievable. Surreal.
Verso l’alto
I love the mountains. I have for as long as I can remember. My native Illinois is flatter than Kansas and about as far from anything even resembling a mountain as one can get on the continent. The Midwest was good and wholesome, but boyhood camping trips to the Appalachians and Rockies left indelible marks. The mountains are just so wild, unpredictable; so full of adventure and wonder. Few sights are as awe-inspiring as a mountain vista.
Ep. 227: What is your horizon?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -57:22 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Ed is joined this week by Pillar columnist Stephen White to look ahead to this weekend’s canonizations of Bls. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. They also talk about examples of integrated masculinity and the impact of wonder. This episode is sponsored by Pillar listener Heath.
Breaking Free
Catholic social teaching is full of references to anthropology. For example, one of the recurring themes of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’ is: “There can be no ecology without an adequate anthropology.” Man cannot understand the meaning of creation, or how to use it well, without understanding himself, including his own purpose and ends. And man cannot understand his own purpose and end without some sense of the God in whose image he was created and for whom he was made.
Fathers and Sons and Baseball
Playing catch is at once active and meditative, both imitative and instructive. It’s a metaphor for communication between generations, with the added bonus that it doesn’t require much talking. Baseball was always a part of my relationship with my own Dad. He taught me to throw and catch and hit. My brothers and I inherited his love of the Chicago Cubs, too. I remember riding the L to Wrigley as a kid and sitting in the cheap seats with my glove on, hoping to snag a foul ball.
The Invisible Vocations Crisis
In the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council, the number of Catholic priests in the United States began to decline precipitously. Thousands of men left ministry and the number of men entering seminary to replace them began to shrink rapidly. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown, there were 59,192 Catholic priests in the United States in 1970. By 2020, that number had fallen to 35,513. The number of seminarians followed a similar trend.
The Future of Providence
Just south of the French city of Le Mans, on a ridge of high ground above the Loire River, is the Forest of Bercé. The oak trees of Bercé are known to grow especially tall and straight. This is no accident. Since at least the seventeenth century, the forest has been carefully managed, with beech trees planted alongside the taller oaks. The beeches compete with the oaks for light, forcing the oaks to stretch for the light above the canopy.
Influencers and authenticity
Earlier this week, Pope Leo welcomed pilgrims to Rome for the “Jubilee of Catholic Digital Missionaries and Influencers.” From afar, it appears to have been a wonderful and edifying occasion. Proclaiming the Gospel in our digital age presents innumerable challenges, and the people (often young people) who take to the pixels and airwaves to share the Good News need support and guidance from the Church.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Stephen
Contact Stephen, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack