If Kirk was a champion of free speech, than it seems the worst way to honor his legacy is to silence anyone for what they said about him, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.
Political violence rises when grievance and hopelessness converge; these forces are present and intensifying in the United States today. But Kat Armas says despair is not the only path.
Faith communities — especially the Catholic Church, with its deep intellectual and social gospel tradition — can play a decisive role in shifting the culture of discourse.
Dan Horan reviews theologian Hanna Reichel's For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional, a book that arrived by sheer coincidence of timing, or direct act of divine providence, an answer to unspoken prayers.
Charlie Kirk didn't deserve to be shot, but we shouldn't make him into a martyr or an example of Christian compassion and discourse. But that's what Bishop Robert Barron has tried to do, writes Tulio Huggins.
Pope Leo XIV told the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See that he is praying for Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist assassinated in Utah last week, as well as his wife and children, the Vatican spokesman said Tuesday.
Executive Editor James Grimaldi reflects a journalist's work in 2025, in the aftermath of horrendous video of Charlie Kirk's murder, and a school shooting that hit close to home for National Catholic Reporter staff.
Bishop Robert Barron praised the late Charlie Kirk after Kirk's shooting death Sept. 10. Barron spoke glowingly of the controversial activist despite Kirk's various political positions that conflict with Catholic teaching.
The Catholic right grants few, if any, nods to Catholic social teaching. Many righteous Catholics dismiss the preferential option for the poor (including immigrants) and the care of creation as "radical left politics."
"Everything is connected," writes Mike Lewis. "When someone’s life — anyone’s life — is cut short by a deliberate act of violence, a wound is inflicted on our shared humanity."
Again and again, our country is shaken by crises. Too often, politicians offer "thoughts and prayers" as their only response. And too often, these words are used to silence calls for meaningful change.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed after being shot Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, the president announced on social media.
