For the child—and the adult who knows there is still a child in all of us—fairy tales reveal truths about ourselves and the world. As psychologist Bruno Bettelheim stated in his extraordinary study titled The Uses of Enchantment (1976), “the fantastical, sometimes cruel, but always deeply significant narrative strands of the classic fairy tales can aid in … Read more
While there have been some notable attempts to help us understand the rationale behind the most recent motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes, the published reflection on the document by Italian Professor Massimo Viglione stands out because it is the only one that recognizes the sin of envy that is driving this latest papal attempt to destroy … Read more
The sadness that many of us feel about the release of the motu proprio Traditionis custodes restricting the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass cannot be denied. There is great uncertainty as to whether those of us who attend the Latin Mass regularly will continue to have access to it. While some bishops—like the courageous … Read more
While a growing number of media outlets are attempting to indict “white supremacists” for the dramatic increase in reported hate crimes against people of Asian descent, the reality is that for more than four decades Asian Americans in some of our largest cities have been the victims of violence and discrimination perpetrated by members of … Read more
While faithful Catholics are grateful for the statement last week from five of our bishops on the threats posed by the Equality Act, it is a bit too little and much too late. For more than two years, Crisis Magazine has been sounding the alarm about the threats posed by the Equality Act that was … Read more
Although many of us eagerly await the upcoming release of Crisis contributor Austin Ruse’s new book titled Under Siege: No Finer Time to be a Catholic (Crisis Publications, 2021), we cannot help but wonder which Catholics he is referring to in the subtitle. Certainly, it has been a fine time for the Catholic President Joseph … Read more
For those of us who recall Senator Biden’s leadership in crafting the most racially biased drug and incarceration policies throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it is difficult to take him seriously when he claims to believe that black lives matter to him. Biden did not seem to worry about black lives in 1984 when he … Read more
As expected, Hollywood is lining up to support Joe Biden with lavish fundraisers and high-profile endorsements. According to Variety, Biden’s campaign is tapping a “network of donors and fundraisers who raised millions for the Obama-Biden ticket.” Last month, film producer and co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg, raised $6 million for the Biden campaign at a … Read more
Ignoring concerns about the threats to women’s civil rights, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, promises to use the Equality Act to promote a long list of transgender rights that will eclipse women’s rights and the rights of people of faith if he is elected. The misnamed Equality Act, approved by the House … Read more
While the supporters of same-sex marriage dismissed claims from critics who predicted that once the Supreme Court opened the door to same-sex marriage in Obergefell in 2015, it would only be a matter of time before polygamous marriages would begin to be normalized. And although there are still laws against polygamy, polyamorous marriages are already … Read more
Fearing that New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College is at risk of losing its Catholic identity, and that their voices will be silenced, members of the order of Benedictine monks of Saint Anselm Abbey—the monastic order that founded the college—have filed a lawsuit against Saint Anselm’s Board of Trustees. The lawsuit, filed on November 27th in Hillsborough … Read more
Moving from political obscurity as the gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to the media’s flavor-of-the-month Democratic presidential candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced last week that his campaign has raised over $7 million since launching his exploratory committee in January. “Mayor Pete,” as he has asked his constituents to call him, is the first of … Read more
In what is becoming yet another scandal for the Catholic Church, Rhode Island’s governor, Gina Raimondo, joined a growing list of Catholic lawmakers embracing a woman’s access to late-term abortion. A graduate of Providence’s Catholic college prep school La Salle Academy, an institution that describes itself as “rich in history and grounded in the tradition of … Read more
In many of California’s largest cities, pets are replacing people. In a recent article, “San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone?,” the New York Times reports that the City by the Bay has the lowest percentage of children of any of the largest 100 cities in America. The article introduces a young San … Read more
Mandated under an Obama-era broadening of Title IX, the federal law that governs gender equity in education, colleges, and universities has created an elaborate bureaucracy replete with lawyers, investigators, case workers, survivor advocates, and peer counselors to protect the students from sexual abuse and harassment on their campuses. Unfortunately, none of the campus bureaucracy that has … Read more
Instead of helping faithful Catholics put things into perspective on the predatory priest crisis, several Catholic college leaders have made things worse. Buffalo’s Canisius College president, John Hurley, issued a letter to the campus community decrying the male leadership of the Church. Claiming that “for centuries, the institutional Church has marginalized women in so many … Read more
The Title IX world turned upside down when Avital Ronell, a “world renowned” lesbian New York University professor, was “found responsible” for ongoing physical and verbal sexual harassment of Nimrod Reitman, her male graduate student. Reitman, who identifies as gay and is now married to a man, claims that Ronell, age 66, refused to work … Read more
A former Sacred Heart University student accused of making up rape allegations against two football players to gain sympathy from a prospective boyfriend faces trial this week in Connecticut on charges of falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. She faces up to six years in prison if convicted. According to press … Read more
Continuing his commitment to a doctrinal vision that prioritizes the lived experiences and insights of ordinary Catholics over the authoritative teachings of the Church, Pope Francis recently affirmed the importance of what he called a “free and responsible” form of Catholic theology—a “creative fidelity”—in the life of the Church. Speaking before a Vatican gathering of 100 … Read more
For nearly a decade, progressive politicians like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) helped to create a culture that has denied due process protections to college students accused of sexual harassment and assault. Convinced that college campuses had become havens for rapists, Senator Gillibrand and her progressive peers in the Senate helped to usher in new federal requirements … Read more