PUBLICATIONS

Ukraine’s Muslim Military Chaplains Fight for Recognition

…even as they build solidarity. (Inkstick, March 5 2024)

Neutrality or Solidarity for Charities in Ukraine?

In Ukraine, faith-based humanitarian workers face a fundamental question about the nature of their work. (Christian Century, December 2023)

R.M.N. Is a Kaleidoscopic Allegory of All of Western Civilization

Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu takes a hammer to true-to-life events and then puts the pieces back together again. (Christian Century, November 2023)

How a Buddhist-Inspired High School is Boosting Hungary’s Roma

The Dr. Ambedkar School is working to empower intellectual and political leaders from within Hungary’s Roma community, based on the Indian social reformer’s example. (Christian Science Monitor, September 6, 2023)

Hungary’s Progressive Christian Resistance

Viktor Orbán has tried to buy the loyalty of the churches, but not everyone is selling. (Christian Century 140:6, June 2023: 64–68)

Leading Hungarian Physicist Says Pope’s Sentimentality Is Roadblock to “Ethical AI”

János Kértész, head of an international consortium of scientists and industry experts that promote “humane” artificial intelligence, says pope has an idealized vision of society. (La Croix International, May 22, 2023)

Pope To Address Hungary’s Intellectuals as Government Control Over Universities Has Increased

Francis goes to Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest on Sunday, the final day of his official three-day visit to Hungary. (La Croix International, April 29, 2023)

The Pope in Hungary: Europe’s Special Case

Pope Francis will next weekend visit Hungary, a country taking a controversial and divisive path of social and political reform. (The Tablet 277:9499, 4–5, April 22, 2023)

Famous Hungarian Priest Reveals He Is Survivor of Clergy Sex Abuse

In run-up to Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest next month, revelations by Father András Hodászd have some asking if an influencer can have any “real” influence on Church. (La Croix International, March 2, 2023)

Franciscan Acting Workshops Help Ukrainians Express War Trauma

Meeting in a school auditorium in Legnica, Poland, the weeklong intensive training prepared Ukrainian actors to work with refugees in Poland and others in Ukraine who are struggling with the social and psychological wounds of war. (National Catholic Reporter, October 10, 2022)

Pope Francis Will Visit Hungary in 2023, According to Country’s President

The pope should make nuclear energy and the environment key talking points if and when he actually makes the trip. (La Croix International, September 1, 2022)

The Church in Eastern Europe Has a Chance to Improve Its Record on Refugees

This is a chance for the Catholic Church in Hungary, whose government has loudly opposed accepting refugees in the past, to correct its mixed record on fighting xenophobia. (America, March 10, 2022)

Postcards from a World on Fire: Romania

The sounds of farmers harvesting potatoes with horse-drawn plows have been heard across Transylvania for generations. But heavy, intense rainfall has caused rivers to overflow, destroying thousands of acres of potato fields. (New York Times, December 13, 2021)

Lesson from Hungary: Anti-Catholicism Is Not a Good Response to Anti-L.G.B.T.Q. Laws

Some activists in Hungary have reacted to an anti-L.G.B.T.Q. law by calling for an investigation of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. But turning the crisis into a political football may backfire. (America, July 22, 2021)

Pope Francis’ Simple (and Radical) Apology to the Roma

Pope Francis spoke of the importance of appreciating the Roma community’s culture and traditions and apologized for the church’s inability “to defend you in your uniqueness.” (America, June 7, 2019)

A Message to Pope Francis: Be Wary of Right-Wing Populists When You Visit Romania

The pope will visit a section of Romania with a large ethnic Hungarian population—and a Marian shrine that has attracted allies of the autocratic, anti-migrant Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán. (America, April 19, 2019)

Two Very Different Ways of Fighting Communism

Last week, the Cause of Cardinal József Mindszenty of Hungary (1892–1975) took a major step forward: Pope Francis declared Mindszenty Venerable. This Cold War leader—who was arrested, tortured and forced into seclusion by the Hungarian communist regime—demonstrated heroic courage in perilous times for the Church. (Catholic Herald, February 21, 2019)