Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably the greatest play ever written. It is, however, also one of the most misread and misunderstood. One could write a book, or perhaps a whole shelf-full of books, on the way in which the play is misconstrued by critics, or the manner in which it is sacrificed to the latest literary … Read more
As Texas and an increasing number of states are saving the lives of unborn children by successfully implementing restrictive abortion laws, we are already witnessing the return of the pre-Roe era of “abortion tourism.” It is likely that once again—as in the early 1970s—New York City will be the deadly destination of choice for women … Read more
In response to an apparent plague of video game addiction among young people, China has set strict limits on playing video games for people under 18 years old that restricts them to three hours a week. This builds upon much looser restrictions on gaming imposed in 2019 which allowed for an hour and a half … Read more
“I am a queer Catholic. When will the church feel like home?” This question was posed by a young woman named Grace Doerfler in a recent essay in America magazine. As someone who once lived life as a gay man and who has now converted to the Catholic Church and found there a welcome home, … Read more
“Pride goeth before a fall,” as the Good Book tells us. But prior to the fall, there is often a leap. The proud person believes he can do things that are far beyond his ability. Being ignorant, incompetent, or unqualified are not factors that deter him from attempting to do what he cannot do. A … Read more
“No Place for Politics in Biden Communion Flap” “Pope Says Bishops Should be Pastors, Not Politicians” “Pope Warns Clergy Against Allowing Political Preferences to Enter Holy Communion Equation” “Vatican Warns U.S. Bishops About Denying Communion” On Wednesday, September 15th, Pope Francis finally weighed in on the issue of denying the Eucharist to Catholic politicians who … Read more
What is the purpose of Catholic education? As Catholics, this is a question we should always be asking and concerned with. Catholics are supposed to be a separated people, a people elect and married to God through Jesus Christ. Catholic education, therefore, as an extension of our own ecclesiological theology, is equally meant to be … Read more
In January 2019, a year before COVID-19 descended upon New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo and a beaming group of New York progressives enacted a hideous piece of legislation. They made abortion possible right up until the moment before delivery and even stripped the baby of protections if he or she accidentally survived the scalpel. Their … Read more
“People warn that you’ve got to watch what you say on the air,” said Tom Basile, “because of the cancel culture. I’m not going for any of that. I’m going to put God first.” Basile, news anchor and host of the weekly show America Right Now at Newsmax TV, is a faithful Catholic and a … Read more
The Wall Street Journal recently published a powerful article on the large and growing gap between the numbers of men and women enrolled in American colleges and universities. Enrollments have declined steeply in recent years, but they have declined much more among males than females. Only 40 percent of current college students are males. The … Read more
O martyrs of God, your race is run, All thanks to his redeeming Son. You’ve vanquished every foe, Eternal joys are yours to know. “What is uniquely Christian,” declared Hans Urs von Balthasar near the end of the Second Vatican Council—widespread forgetfulness of that fact having seeped into the soul of Christendom—“begins and ends with … Read more
COVID-19 restrictions limited attendance at the beatification Mass of Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński on Sunday in Warsaw, Poland, to seven thousand of the faithful. The beatification had already been delayed more than a year due to the virus lockdowns. But the restrictions and cloudy weather could not limit the sheer joy of the Cardinal’s countrymen, nor … Read more
Hot Take: the movie Hostiles, starring Christian Bale, is a love story. One wouldn’t think this gritty, modern western would be a love story, given that it’s rife with suffering and violence. But it is precisely because of its real and raw depiction of lived human experience that it is a love story in the … Read more
According to the Western press, the main takeaway from Pope Francis’ address to the bishops of Slovakia was: limit your homilies to ten minutes! We know that the advice’s “theological note” (the degree of how authoritatively binding a teaching is) is de fide definita because (a) he’s said it before and (b) it was accompanied … Read more
Many conservatives say the Culture Wars are over and we have lost. Many people look around our culture and society and see utter destruction. They see grade-schoolers being taught that the gay-sex drug PrEP is just peachy. They see kids being taught there is this thing called anal sex. Seventh graders in my local school … Read more
When I was first married, my husband and I agreed that when children came along, we would homeschool them. I had been gifted with a homeschool education from kindergarten through 12th grade and couldn’t imagine any alternative for our future family. “But,” said my husband, who is himself a product of excellent Catholic schools, “if … Read more
After reading David Larson’s two-part series in Crisis on the horrific abuse that members of the clergy enacted on vulnerable adults, I became aware, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, of a troubling experience of sexual misconduct that occurred over ten years ago that I had completely forgotten and buried out of shame. In … Read more
One thing that every COVID-19 mandate has in common—masks, lockdowns, and now vaccines—is that they originated in the dictatorship of technocracy. By this term, I am referring to the combination of applied science and statecraft as the solution to the problem of suffering and death. The underlying historical context of this phenomenon is the centuries-old … Read more
Failure in Church leadership, a rejection of faith by the culture, and ruthless attacks on the dignity of the unborn are systemic in our age. Sorrow, loneliness, and fear for the future due to the present moment are all palpable feelings in the human condition for our current time period. When the societal storm waves … Read more
Is there a more contentious issue today than the topic of vaccination? I would say lockdowns, but even nations who were once mad with lockdown-lust have recently admitted that shutting down civilization is perhaps not a sustainable way to live; for evidence of this, see the recent news out of Australia. If there has been … Read more