Confessions of a Catholic Writer

Confessions of a Catholic Writer

From The Catholic Thing by The Catholic Thing

May 6, 2026 · 6 min · Episode 57

About this episode

Robert Royal discusses the challenges faced by Catholic writers in today's chaotic environment.

By Robert Royal Someone asked recently what it's like to be a Catholic writer these days. That brought me up short. Because the situation of a Catholic writer at present is pretty much like that of any Catholic – we're all bewildered by the many things now that seem to have passed beyond human, rational thought and action. Except, it's worse for the writer because he has to set down words to try to make some kind of sense about not only deep mysteries and moral controversies, but how they relate to our current chaos. The best thing he can do as he faces a blank sheet of paper – or more often now an empty screen – is to implore the Divine Mercy to send down a few decent sentences that might spread a ray of hope amid the darkness and noise. Our time is marked by what the philosopher Paul Ricoeur called a "hermeneutic of suspicion" – about everything, in both the Church and the world. Which is not entirely misguided, so long as it doesn't become the only lens through which we view the world. But social media has had the additional effect of whipping up doubts and conflicts into what often borders on hysteria. On such "platforms," every event becomes either the final cosmic…

People in this episode

Guest: Robert Royal

Topics covered

  • Catholic writing
  • faith
  • moral controversies
  • social media
  • truth
  • chaos

Keywords

  • Catholic writer
  • Divine Mercy
  • hermeneutic of suspicion
  • social media
  • truth
  • moral controversies

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