The obvious problems with the recent opening of the ministries of lector and acolyte to women by Pope Francis has already been the subject of a number of articles, including one that I wrote earlier this week. As I reflect further on the motu proprio Spiritus Domini, I see more and more disturbing implications of … Read more
On January 8, 2021, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey banned President Donald J. Trump for life. The opportunity for virtue signaling proved irresistible to Dorsey. After the debacle in the Capitol on January 6, Dorsey did what he had been wanting to do for years: cleansed his platform of dissent. Democracy means that the Democrats say … Read more
For a moment as brief as it was recent, the prospects of Catholics in the American public square looked better than they ever had. Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic mother, was nominated and confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Attorney General William Barr was speaking frequently about the place of people of faith—and … Read more
Faithful Catholics in America have long lamented the dreadful Mass attendance numbers of the past half century. In 1970, 55% of American Catholics attended Mass; by 2019, that number had dropped to little over 20%. It’s clear that most self-identifying Catholics don’t think it’s obligatory, or even beneficial, to participate in the “source and summit” … Read more
The Biden Catholics at the National Catholic Reporter are feeling righteous. The editorial staff has demanded that the Catholic supporters of President Trump “confess their complicity in the failed coup.” Beginning with the fact that there was no attempted “coup,” the NCR crowd has provided much high-flying moral outrage worthy of an SNL sketch—“Sackcloth and … Read more
COVID-19 experts prescribe that we should socially distance ourselves from our neighbors. In his time, Henry David Thoreau (writer, philosopher, and poet), encouraged another form of social distancing. Thoreau advocated distancing not to avoid contagious disease, but as a means to evaluate who and what the human person truly is. He observed that the modern … Read more
If anyone asserts that this sin of Adam…is taken away either by the forces of human nature or by a remedy other than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God in his own blood, made unto us justice, sanctification and redemption…let him be anathema; for there … Read more
In my experience as a teacher, I have generally found that there are very few surprises when predicting which students will succeed or fail in school and beyond. The students who succeed and become leaders are inevitably the ones who work hard, follow the rules, and take relatively few risks. The students at the bottom … Read more
My wife was at the rally in Washington DC yesterday. She went in a small bus with a handful of conservative men and women, most of them well into their 60s. A friend of ours was there with her children. There were many children there. Participants were given specific instructions in advance about how to … Read more
Yesterday’s images of people literally invading the Senate chambers of the U.S. Capitol are stunning. Following months of “mostly peaceful” (i.e. violent) protests in major cities last summer, these scenes conjure up comparisons to revolutionary moments in history. What they don’t conjure up, however, is the quintessential image of America. Things like this aren’t supposed … Read more
The Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election scheduled for today shows every sign of becoming a real circus. Whether the efforts of the President and his supporters—namely, to undo what is widely considered to have been a spectacularly fraudulent election—will succeed or not will may be known by the time you read these words. … Read more
Like many of her fellow lefties, Nancy Pelosi is a troll. I’m not talking about her looks; I’m talking about her clever use of deliberately inflammatory behavior that serves only one purpose: to keep the enemy (that’s us) riled up about a problem that doesn’t exist. Case in point: the January 2 House of Representatives’ … Read more
[Editor’s Note: Published below is an interview with Archbishop Carlo Viganò conducted by Stephen K. Bannon, host of the popular podcast, “War Room: Pandemic.” Crisis is publishing this interview as a newsworthy perspective on current events. The opinions expressed therein do not necessarily imply endorsement by the Crisis Editorial Board. The full interview can also … Read more
More than 38 years ago, Ralph McInerny and Michael Novak founded a new journal called Catholicism in Crisis, later renamed Crisis Magazine. In its opening editorial, entitled “The Present Crisis,” they wrote, “The crisis in which we find ourselves is one of faith and theology, especially concerning questions of the temporal order and the role … Read more
The recently-opened 117th Congress experienced what could be considered the most laughable prayer ever uttered if it was not in the context of such a serious platform. Representative Emanuel Cleaver from Missouri was sworn in on Sunday, and led a prayer in front of Congress to conclude the process. Ordinarily, this would be an appropriate … Read more
On Saturday, Pope Francis released an apostolic letter in the form of a motu proprio. In this letter, he announced the transfer of several financial competencies within the Vatican from the Secretariat of State to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). The Secretariat of State has been embroiled in several criminal … Read more
Years ago, after another outrage in Beirut, I recall a comment by a Jihadist intellectual. He was disgusted with the then widespread belief that such atrocities only happen within Muslim countries, a sign of their civilizational inferiority. He longed for the day when such frequent bombings would also be an everyday event in Western cities. That … Read more
Grace builds upon nature, and perfects it. But what if the foundation of nature is missing? I look out of the window to the broad stretch of open yard behind our house. It is covered with the snow we got last week. If you stand in it, and look at it in the light of … Read more
Liberty is enshrined as the greatest good of the American political experiment. Its primacy is codified in our founding political documents, anthemized in our patriotic music, and honored in political speeches, legal rulings, and newspaper editorials. “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation,” wrote the Supreme Court majority in its 1943 ruling, … Read more
We’ve been hearing it for weeks now: 2020 was a terrible year and we all can’t wait to shake its dust from our feet and move on to a better, brighter 2021. Between tense racial eruptions, the Covid stranglehold of fear and “socialist” distancing, and the flagrant fraudulence of our election system, 2020 was a … Read more