Thomas Reese

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese's column for Religion News Service, "Signs of the Times," appears regularly at National Catholic Reporter.

Reese entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained in 1974. He was educated at St. Louis University, the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and at the University of California Berkeley, where he received a Ph.D. in political science. He worked in Washington as a writer and lobbyist for tax reform from 1975 to 1978. He was an associate editor of America magazine, where he wrote on politics, economics and the Catholic Church, from 1978 to 1985 and editor-in-chief from 1998 to 2005. He was a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center from 1985 to 1998 and 2006 to 2013. During the summers, he works as a visiting scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. 

While at Woodstock, he wrote the trilogy on the organization and politics of the church: Archbishop: Inside the Power Structure of the American Catholic Church (1989), A Flock of Shepherds: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (1992), and Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church (1996). He also edited The Universal Catechism Reader (1990), an analysis of the first draft of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Episcopal Conferences: Historical, Canonical and Theological Studies (1989). He is also author of a NCR e-book, Caring for Our Common Home: A Readers’ Guide and Commentary on Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment (2015).

In 2014, Reese was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. He was reappointed to another two-year term in May 2016, and he was elected to a one-year term as chair of the commission in June 2016. His writings for NCR do not necessarily reflect the views of the commission.

Reese was senior analyst for the NCR from March 2013 to June 2017. He is based in Washington, D.C.

By this Author

Parents and residents stand to oppose the county's K-6 school mask mandate after public comment finished as more than 100 people pack the Harris Auditorium at a Genesee County Board of Commissioners meeting Aug. 30, 2021.

The good, the bad and the factual: Seeing American history through a biblical lens

Participants at contentious school board meetings about teaching history and mask mandates should take a lesson from Bible scholars: There are many voices with stories to share.

Pope Francis arrives for an audience for the annual exchange of Christmas greetings with members of the Roman Curia in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on Dec. 23, 2021. (RNS/Courtesy of Vatican Media)

Four things to look for in Francis' reform of curia

Thomas Reese: Ever since he was elected pope, Pope Francis has been trying to reform the Vatican Curia, the bureaucracy that is supposed to help the pope in his ministry to the universal church. He has had only limited success.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sits in St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 8, 2015. A long-awaited report on sexual abuse faulted his handling of four cases. (AP/Gregorio Borgia)

The lesson for bishops from Benedict report: Apologize, apologize, apologize

Thomas Reese: Too many Catholic prelates clearly failed when they put the themselves, their priests or the institution ahead of the lives of children. How badly they sinned, I will leave to God, but there is no doubt that they need to apologize.

Catholic bishops fight Biden but affirm his election

The U.S. Catholic bishops are frequently at odds with President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history. They unite with Republicans and evangelical leaders in fighting him on abortion and the application of LGBTQ rights to religious institutions. However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not hesitate to acknowledge Biden’s win. 

Elevation of the Eucharist is depicted in a stained-glass window at St. Anthony's Church in North Beach, Md., July 15, 2021. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Mark, a Gospel for Ordinary Time

Beginning this week and continuing until Lent, Catholics will be listening to the Gospel of Mark at weekday Eucharists.

"Earthrise" is a famous photograph of the Earth and parts of the moon's surface taken from lunar orbit by astronaut Bill Anders on Dec. 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. (Bill Anders/NASA/Creative Commons)

Earth: One of God's failed experiments?

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: Recent scientific discoveries about the universe suggest it may be time to update our theological imaginations about humanity's, and Earth's, place within it.

The Rev. Tom Reese, left, receives a COVID-19 vaccine from Dr. Michael Markel, center, and nurse Dia Hannah at Georgetown University Hospital, Medstar Health, Thursday, January 21, 2021. (RNS photo by Tom Reese)

Get vaccinated, get a booster

As a Christian, how could I justify taking a shot from someone who needs it more? Three things convinced me that I had to get the booster.

Youngsters enter the first new Catholic school built in Baltimore in roughly 60 years with a mix of enthusiasm and first-day-back jitters, Monday Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

Public funding of religious schools is coming. The first lesson is compromise.

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: The U.S. Supreme Court seems to be more and more sympathetic to government funding of education at religiously affiliated schools. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump attend a border security briefing in Weslaco, Texas, June 30, 2021. (CNS photo/Brandon Bell, Poo, via Reuters)

Someone is killing Republicans and Trump voters

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: People in counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 are dying at much higher rates from COVID-19 than people who live in counties that voted for Joe Biden, according to a study.

(Photo by KaLisa Veer/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

Happy New Year, it's Advent

Advent is the church's way of preparing for both Christ's birthday and the Second Coming of Christ. 

Kyle Rittenhouse, left, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, with another armed civilian. (Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP)

America sacramentalizes guns as God's gift to the good. This is heresy

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: America sacramentalizes guns. They are God’s gift to the good and just to protect our way of life. This is heresy.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops holds its Fall General Assembly meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, in Baltimore. (RNS photo by Jack Jenkins)

At meeting, American bishops ignore real problems while debating minutiae

The media was expecting fireworks this week, as the American Catholic bishops debated their highly anticipated document on the Eucharist.

In this image taken from video, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addresses the body's virtual assembly on June 16. (AP/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

Gomez, painting Catholics as victims, goes after his woke oppressors

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: "Bishop Gomez's remarks," Tobias Winright of St. Louis University worries, "lift rather than lower the bridge over the moat dividing U.S. Catholics and recent movements in the U.S. seeking to build 'a more perfect union' with true liberty and social justice for all."

A statue of St. Junipero Serra in Sacramento, California, is seen in this 2015 file photo. It was torn down by a group of demonstrators late July 4, 2020. (CNS/Nancy Wiechec)

California bishops should ask, 'What would Junipero Serra do?'

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: Last year, protesters were arrested after Junipero Serra's statue was torn down at a San Rafael mission. His statues were also attacked elsewhere. Bishops have labeled these attacks anti-Catholic; I think they should ask the following.

Pope Francis greets then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 19, 2013, as the new pontiff receives dignitaries following his inaugural Mass. (CNS/Vatican Media)

What will President Biden and Pope Francis talk about?

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese: This will not be a pastoral meeting between the pope and one of the Catholic faithful. This is a meeting between the president of the United States and an influential world leader. 

Pope Francis greets Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg during his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 17, 2019. (CNS photo/Yara Nardi, Reuters)

Pope should send Greta Thunberg to COP26 in his place

Fr. Thomas Reese: Pope Francis should appoint Greta Thunberg to the Vatican delegation to COP26 with full diplomatic credentials so she can go anywhere, attend any meeting and speak out for the children of the world.

"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1887) by Viktor Vasnetsov (RNS/Creative Commons)

Woe to you, Washington! Woe to you, New York!

Fr. Thomas Reese: Floods of biblical proportions are coming. Plague, famine and war are forecast. But don't blame God. We are bringing the Apocalypse on ourselves.

Pope Francis attends his weekly general audience, held in the Paul VI hall, at the Vatican Sept. 1. (AP /Andrew Medichini)

Five rules for disagreeing with the pope

Thomas Reese: Let's be honest. We are all cafeteria Catholics. The real question is how we avoid a food fight in the cafeteria. Disagreements should lead to conversations, not shouting.

Pope Francis stops to greet the faithful as he leaves after the Aug. 25 weekly general audience at the Vatican. (AP/Gregorio Borgia)

Should Pope Francis get a third COVID-19 vaccine shot?

Signs of the Times: What kind of witness would the pope give if he got a third jab? Will he be seen as an elderly person who needs protection or will he be seen as a first-world resident who ignores the needs of those in poorer countries?

People evacuated from Afghanistan step off a bus as they arrive at a processing center Aug. 23 in Chantilly, after arriving on a flight at Dulles International Airport. (AP/Andrew Harnik)

Pope calls on world to welcome refugees and immigrants

Signs of the Times: Pope Francis was at his prophetic best on his recent papal trip. He is standing up for the marginalized who have been bloodied by war, starved by famine and displaced by persecution. 

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