Reading Jeanne Schuler’s Creighton reflection on the daily scripture on April 24 piqued my interest in re-reading Dostoevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor.  Amid yet another ill-advised Vatican crackdown on religious women, everyone should consider the dire consequences inherent in Dostoevsky’s story.

In brief, the story goes this way as Ivan explains his “poem.” It is the 16^th century and Spain is in the throes of the Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor—a cardinal of the catholic church—has witnessed an auto de fé in Toledo on the previous day where hundreds of “heretics” were burned at the stake. Continue reading →