Peter F. Steinfels (born 1941) is an American journalist and educator best known for his writings on religious topics.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, and a lifelong Roman Catholic, Steinfels earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and joined the staff of the journal Commonweal in 1964. He served as a visiting professor at Notre Dame in 1994–95 and then as visiting professor at Georgetown University from 1997 to 2001. From 1990 to 2010, he wrote a column called "Beliefs" for the religion section of The New York Times.[1]
He has also been a professor at Fordham University and co-director of the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture. Steinfels has written several books, including The Neoconservatives: The Men Who Are Changing America's Politics and A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America .
He has argued in favor of the ordination of women as priests and deacons, and has suggested that this could eventually lead to the creation of female cardinals.[2]
In 2003, he was awarded the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame, the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.[3]
He is married to Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, a writer and former editor of Commonweal. They have two children, Gabrielle Steinfels and John Melville Steinfels.