Bill Mitchell

A journalist and teacher, Bill has made stops along the way at the Detroit Free Press, TIME, the San Jose Mercury News, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Harvard's Shorenstein Center, Northeastern University and the National Catholic Reporter. From 2013-2015, Bill and his wife, Carol, lived at the Beacon Hill Friends House and wrote about their experiences on A Year in a Room. From 2105 until mid 2021, they lived across the hall from their daughter and family and posted occasionally to Across The Hall. They currently share a two-family house with their daughter and family in Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood.

Read The Spirit • 10th February 2025

Timely wisdom from a Paris Catholic church's many challenges

What happens to parish life when core principles of the faith are under attack right outside its doors? That’s a question for congregations of all stripes in these early weeks of Trump 2.0. It’s also a key question at the heart of this revealing history of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Paris.

National Catholic Reporter • 7th March 2019

Sullivan: Church should get real about gay priests

It's been a while since I showed up for a mission preacher at my parish. But Andrew Sullivan's presentation had that feel.

National Catholic Reporter • 29th January 2019

Shifting the conversation about staying in (or leaving) the Church

At the Paulist Center, we looked for a Meetup group for people struggling to stay Catholic. Finding none, we started one.

bmitch.org • 6th December 2018

First Meetup: Catholics Struggling to Stay Catholic

Here's an update about the Dec. 3 meeting at the Paulist Center of a group of Boston-area Catholics struggling to stick with the Church for whatever reason.

The Boston Globe • 23rd September 2018

Pilgrimage amid turmoil: Exploring a broken church on divided land

With turbulence roiling the contemporary church, the chance to explore its origins beckoned as a welcome respite, a refresher on the stories that shaped our beliefs.

Poynter.org • 23rd August 2018

Time for journalists to force accountability on bishops

With Catholic bishops answerable only to the pope, they function as their own bosses. Their cover-up of clergy sexual abuse hammers home how well that's worked out.

WBUR Radio • 21st August 2018

Letter Asking All U.S. Bishops To Resign Garners 3,500 Signatures

After I was quoted in a Globe story about the letter, WBUR included me in a Radio Boston segment about it.

National Catholic Reporter • 21st August 2018

Why the bishops should welcome invitation to resign

Why I signed a statement urging all 456 U.S. bishops to resign: Abdicating some "earthly status" would show with action some of the remorse they claim with words.

National Catholic Reporter • 26th June 2018

Kathy Shaw, relentless tracker of clergy abuse, got the story out

Kathy was one of the unsung heroes of the story behind the story told by the Spotlight film. It was a role she happened into, and proceeded to do extraordinary work with it for more than 15 years.

National Catholic Reporter • 11th May 2018

Davida Coady: An Appreciation

Davida Coady was the sort of Catholic who prompted a friend to describe her as a saint, but not the sort of saint who would get too far with a canonization committee. I explore some of what was involved in living that sort of life.

National Catholic Reporter • 19th April 2018

Weekend on the Cape and a glimpse of future church

Once a year for the past few years, our small men's group has gathered at the home of one of our members, a cozy but plenty big place on a pond at Cape Cod... The group includes nine guys ranging in age from 57 to 69...

National Catholic Reporter • 18th October 2016

Can Chris Wallace make sense of debate nonsense?

As moderator of Wednesday night's third and final presidential debate, Chris Wallace of "FOX News Sunday" faces a more extreme challenge -- and bigger stakes -- than the journalists who...

National Catholic Reporter • 11th March 2014

Finding a parish I can love aligned with a pope I can follow

When Pope Francis encourages compassion for those judged and excluded by the church, I can't really include myself among those alienated masses. I'm not gay. I'm not a woman. I'm...