On the few occasions that the USCCB has, as a body, decided to publicly criticize now-President Joe Biden for his more egregious rejections of Church teaching, a reminder has always been included that the bishops eagerly look forward to working with the new administration on those issues in which Biden’s politics do not contradict (or, … Read more
“At the bottom of their hearts the great masses of people are more likely to be poisoned than to be consciously and deliberately bad. In the primitive simplicity of their minds they are more easily victimized by a large lie than by a small lie.” The author of these chilling words: Adolf Hitler. President Biden, … Read more
When I decided to return to class at Catholic University of America in the spring, I knew things would be different. I was ready to face the challenge of the COVID-19 restrictions, as well as the political climate revolving around the election and BLM movement. What I was not ready for was to watch as … Read more
“To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.” So wrote Edmund Burke, the Anglo-Irish Protestant statesman whose Reflections on the Revolution in France is considered one of the finest political treatises of modern conservatism. Perhaps Burke’s sentiment seems overly simplistic—of course we will like things that are likeable. Yet it is … Read more
“I wanted to let you know about some of our ads that have recently been pulled on Facebook,” wrote my publicist at TAN Books in an email, “including all of our ads for The Devil and Karl Marx.” That would be my book: The Devil and Karl Marx. It has sold thousands of copies, is … 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
Last week, The New York Times published a blistering attack on the Dominicans of the Saint Joseph’s Province for their supposed laxity in investigating abuse charges against one of their priests. (Full Disclosure: I served for a time on the Dominican Foundation Board of Directors.) The Dominicans have cried foul. And, indeed, there are several … Read more
Today there is a sacred, orthodox Catholic Church, and there is a mundane or secular Catholic church. Today’s secularized Catholic “church” is not precisely a parallel, nor is it an ersatz, religious institution. This secular church is a profane perversion, a sacrilegious caricature, attempting not just to substitute for Christ’s Church but to hallow pan-sexualism, … Read more
There are many different kinds of bishops. The basically good bishops lead morally upright lives, are faithful to the magisterium, and are dedicated to service. There are numerous varieties of bad bishops: those sexually active with females or males; those who cover up for priests who engage in immoral behavior; those living luxurious lives and … Read more
It’s a dark time for faithful Catholics in America. The president declares himself a “devout” Catholic, but his policies openly defy the moral teachings of the Church. The vice-president is an ardent anti-Catholic who has shown a taste for authoritarianism. But what’s happening in the nation’s capital is only a disturbing reflection of our broader … Read more
For a universal re-establishment of the Minor Orders according to the perennis sensus of the lex orandi of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the following principle, perennially valid in the life of the Church since apostolic times: “In the history of the Liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture” (Letter to the … Read more
As I walked through the busy Stuff-Mart, I felt an increasing sense of isolation and the faint stirrings of panic. It had been only two weeks since the governor’s mask mandate was ordered and I was not adapting well. My husband chatted with me while we shopped but his words sounded like muffled gibberish from … Read more
Last week, many small investors made a fortune from their investments in GameStop, a video game retailer that—by most accounts—is becoming obsolete. Due to a collective enthusiasm generated in the subreddit community r/wallstreetbets, GameStop shares went from below $3 to over $300 in less than a year. Because of the success of GameStop, investors are … Read more
It is not likely that anyone will have heard of Heywood Broun, but he was a once very well known, well-connected newspaper columnist. His take on the world was fairly cynical, especially on the subject of organized religion, which he held in some contempt. But everyone will have heard of Fulton Sheen, the world’s first … Read more
I have to admit many prejudices. I don’t usually read anything recommended by Father James Martin, SJ. I usually avoid the National Catholic Reporter, as forever burned in my memory from one of their articles—by the redoubtable Rosemary Radford Ruether—is the most fatuous line I have ever read: “The recent election of Joseph Ratzinger as … Read more
After decades of playing its own executioner, perhaps it has come to this for the generally infertile American Catholic education system: it will be only the finger of God working through heroes that will come to the rescue of its lost children. As we enter “Celebrate Catholic Schools Week,” it would be good to find … Read more
After 46 years of tens of thousands marching in Washington, D. C. to peacefully protest the national legalization of child murder, the March for Life has been canceled and converted into a virtual affair for 2021. Of course, there is nothing surprising in this, but is there something disappointing? For some, the March for Life … Read more
As I write this, the elite who’s-who of the world are meeting virtually, as part of the Davos Forum 2021 held by the World Economic Forum. For the uninitiated, the event is essentially a gathering of major world figures—heads of state, financiers, medical professionals, etc.—who meet to discuss global plans. It is not clear if … Read more
Sometimes I think that a people more starved for beauty has never walked the earth. And it is a scandal that our Church does not help. We talk, for example, about “the planet,” but not about woods, hedgerows, small streams, sparrows, badgers, rocks, and moors. The poet Wordsworth could sense, in his memories of the … Read more
The new Biden administration can disrupt the second Cold War by disengaging Russia from China. First, a mea culpa. Heck, mea maxima culpa. I apologize for the current state of relations between the United States and Communist China. I am guilty of an offense that occurred maybe 50 years ago. As a young know-it-all with … Read more