On the 14th of May in 1940, following a massive invasion four days earlier by the German High Command, Holland was forced to surrender, along with Luxembourg and Belgium, each fated to spend the next five years in a state of brutal subjugation under the heel of the Third Reich. Wholesale deportations soon began, especially … Read more
The American Medical Association House of Delegates recently released a statement calling for sex to be removed as a legal designation from birth certificates. Sandra Fryhofer, the chair of the board of the AMA, stated: “Designating sex on birth certificates as male or female, and making that information available on the public portion, perpetuates a view … Read more
The tract in the pre-1970 Mass of the Common of the Blessed Virgin begins: “Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, thou alone hast destroyed all heresies. Who didst believe the words of the Archangel Gabriel.” Why is Our Lady the destroyer—or Exterminatrix—of all heresies? Because she believed the words of the Archangel Gabriel; her fiat of absolute … Read more
The Merchant of Venice is perhaps the greatest and indubitably the most controversial of Shakespeare’s comedies. It has been misunderstood and misconstrued to such a degree, however, that it is often seen as a tragedy, not a comedy. Such is the critical blindness of the age in which we find ourselves. Prior to a discussion … Read more
Thanks to the inspiration of Joseph Ratzinger’s writings on liturgy, and especially the “rising tide” effect of Summorum Pontificum, a grass-roots movement to restore sacredness to the modern rite of Paul VI was in full swing. It was not Vatican decrees or diocesan reforms that yielded better Masses, but rather the influence of priests who … Read more
I recently had a surprisingly uplifting conversation with my nine-year-old daughter. Mae, returning from Catholic camp, apologized to me for failing to abstain from meat on her Friday at the camp. In her calculus, Catholic camp would reflect our household, throughout the penitential and ordinary seasons, in that the very basic weekly abstention from land … Read more
The louder he talked of the common good, the faster we counted our spoons. That’s not the original quote, of course. What Ralph Waldo Emerson actually wrote over a century and a half ago was, “the faster he talked about his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” But the sentiment is the same: that … Read more
Let’s get one thing straight: I’m a Protestant. Like all the rest, I’m still trying to wrap my head around transubstantiation, things relating to Mary, and places like Purgatory. But despite all this, I’ve never felt such a feeling of belonging to something as I have at the Parish of Holy Innocents—one of the last … Read more
There’s a touching section in Alessandro Manzoni’s classic novel The Betrothed, which focused on the vicious plague that consumed Milan and the Lombardy region in the 1620s. Renzo, the main character, watches a young Italian mom hand over the lifeless body of her precious daughter to a monatto, i.e., a worker tasked to collect the … Read more
No authentic pastoral program will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral. A truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin…. [W]e wish to make it clear that departure from the Church’s teaching, or silence … Read more
American Catholics are really excited about Britney Spears’ announcement on Instagram that she is “Catholic now.” An article on the website ChurchPOP noted: “Whether or not Spears’ announcement is serious, let us continue to pray for her. Our Lady of the Rosary, please pray for Britney Spears!” Catholic social media influencer Lizzie Reezay of the … Read more
Now that the dust has settled from Traditonis Custodes (somewhat), it might be a good time to recall Eliot’s Christianity and Culture, where, he perceptively remarked, “Victories are never permanent, and neither are defeats.” Though an unreconstructed Anglican, he possessed a sensus Catholicus, which shone through in sentences like that. It is an insight we should … Read more
Steve, a Catholic husband and father, is the sole breadwinner for his family. His wife stays at home to care for their four children while he works in sales for a large corporation. Recently, his company announced it will be requiring all employees to get the COVID-19 vaccination by October 1 or they will be … Read more
In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords is currently scrutinizing the new animal welfare bill, and many have argued that it is bad law. It doesn’t solve any particular legal problem, and there are concerns that passing it will give some committee free reign to hammer the farming and fishing industries. These are good … Read more
It is not a secret that there is a war on art, a war against the good and beautiful. The new Vandals are on the move. And unlike the vandals of the previous generation who framed crud as art, the new Vandals tear down and destroy all art in the name of the politically correct … Read more
A few days ago, as everyone on social media knows, the American gymnast Simone Biles, a truly spectacular athlete, removed herself from her team at the Olympics because she could no longer trust her sense of her body as it must spin and somersault in the air and plunge to the floor. Divers have been … Read more
Harsha Walia, a month after she called for Catholic churches to be burned “down,” resigned from her post as executive director of a Canadian civil rights group after a public outcry. She sparked an online fury in calling for violence against Catholic churches stating “Burn it all down.” Nonetheless, her approval of violence was not … Read more
Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis custodes has perplexed (or even shaken the faith of) many Catholics who find refuge in the sacred tradition preserved by the old Mass. Perhaps some souls are motivated by the nostalgia that Pope Francis has cited. But surely something deeper than romanticism motivates young families to endure inconvenience for the … Read more
Let us be honest with ourselves—we are angry. A cursory review of social media substantiates this. There is a limitless list of reasons why we are angry. We can point to COVID-19, economic hardship, politics, Church scandals, and theological grievances. We might be angry over less big-picture concerns, including strife among family members, friends, and … Read more
After being laicized by the Vatican in 2019 for allegations of decades of sexual abuse, 91-year-old Theodore E. McCarrick, the now infamous former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, D.C., has been criminally charged with abusing a teenage boy nearly fifty years ago in Massachusetts. He faces three counts of indecent assault and battery on a minor. … Read more