In 1873, a saint who professed herself “madly fond of children,” who “desire[d] to give many elect souls to Heaven,” gave birth to her ninth child—St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Today, the bishop presiding over the Vatican’s “Biological Extinction” workshop explains that with “education” we “don’t have children. We don’t have seven children. Maybe we have … Read more
Two trials, two appeals to conscience. Trial 1: I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen. Trial 2: If the number of bishops and universities should be so material as your lordship seems to think, then I … Read more
When the Supreme Court imposed phony marriage on the entire country, the LGBTs were left wondering what to do next, how to keep their issue boiling? Some of them, chief among them radio host/activist Michelangelo Signorelli, accurately predicted that the conservative Christian response would be to protect religious freedom, that the Christians would beg to … Read more
In the span of a few years, the dictatorship of relativism has given way to the tyranny of political correctness. Under the first regime, universal truth was supplanted by personal truth; under the current one, it is exchanged for outright falsehood. Consider the rise of statements such as, Sexual orientation is inborn and fixed. Gender … Read more
If he could’ve seen what has happened in many American institutions in the last half-century, especially the university, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), the famous Italian Marxist and co-founder of the Italian Communist Party in 1921, would be beaming. World War I was a major disappointment for him. Rather than unite against their wealthy “oppressors,” the proletariat … Read more
As I went to the local supermarket this Ash Wednesday, I was surprised by a table outside on the sidewalk with two men in clerical collars. The sign said it all: “Ashes to Go.” They were administering ashes to shoppers. I had already received my ashes from the priest at church, but I politely asked … Read more
The people who brought you the extra-large vaginas marching on Washington in January are at it again. They have deemed today, March 8th, as “A Day Without Women.” You can show your support for abortion, Planned Parenthood, same-sex marriage, and of all things—transgenderism, by … not showing up for work. (They wisely didn’t make female … Read more
Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant (Sirach). I heard last month about the Academy Awards and the Big Flub. I suppose it would’ve been fun to witness it live instead of on YouTube, but not fun enough to regret skipping the broadcast altogether. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about … Read more
If we hope to have a Catholic Literary Revival—the kind for which Dana Gioia called, and which periodicals like Dappled Things and publishers like Wiseblood have been supporting—we need to engage the “tweens.” Or, as modern marketing lingo terms them, the “middle-grade” set. If you have been in one of those old-fashioned places called a … Read more
Small but hopeful news from the euthanasia front here in Canada, which, as you may be aware, along with its no-holds-barred-free-for-all abortion policy (not unlike North Korea), as of last June now also has the unenviable distinction of becoming one of the few nations to universally legalize euthanasia. Death for all, underwritten, and undertaken by … Read more
Throughout the centuries, one of the biggest sources of crises of faith has been the ignoble, hypocritical behavior of Christians. Józef Tischner, a Polish priest, philosopher, and Solidarity chaplain, once said that he never met anyone who lost his or her faith by reading Marx or Lenin, but he knew many who had lost it … Read more
Some people say we never hear about sin any more. Not true. It’s just that they are not the familiar sins listed in the Catechism: stealing, lying, missing Mass on Sunday—and especially nothing about sexual sin. Yet we do hear about sins all the time—in the news, on talk shows, and in every kind of … Read more
France, the land of the French Revolution, of liberty, fraternity, and equality, is displaying few of these qualities these days. Not that the French revolutionaries ever did in their time. They guillotined those who belonged to the wrong class, the wrong (i.e. losing) political party, those adhering to Church and King and ultimately each other. … Read more
March 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of Blessed Paul VI’s social encyclical Populorum Progressio. Even today, this document is regularly referenced by some Catholics, particularly Latin Americans, because of its focus upon global poverty. Others, however, view the encyclical as a highly time-bound text and reflective of many now-discredited economic ideas which proliferated in the late-1960s. … Read more
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ’t, ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. Hamlet, I, ii, 133-8 Recently, a document about education in Australia found its way onto my desk. Hereafter … Read more
Everyone seems to agree that today there’s a growing gap between rich and poor, rulers and ruled, the center and the margins, elites and populace. The gap is economic, of course, but more importantly it’s social, cultural, and even spiritual. The New York Times, for example, recently admitted the obvious, that they and the rest … Read more
Advocates typically maintain that abuse of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) laws is extremely difficult, and when it comes to the legalization of PAS, we have nothing to worry about. Despite the fact that safeguards designed to prevent abuse are wholesale neglected in other areas of the world where PAS and/or euthanasia have been legalized for any … Read more
The sonorous start of Lent jolts with the reminder that man is dust and shall return to dust. It is hardly what we call news: before there were calendars and clocks or Donne’s tolling bell, Abel learned it when Cain struck him. Even the immortals of our civic pantheon and postage stamps were immortalized by … Read more
Six years ago my bandmates and I sat stranded in a broken down van on the Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel. Though we were nearly 2,500 miles away from our home in Northern Nevada, we naturally assumed that this was just another small bump we would have to endure on our way to rock … Read more
The imperial American judiciary has struck again. This time it has taken upon itself the prerogative to enter a domain that historically it shied away from: national security. A few weeks ago, a federal judge in Washington State stopped the implementation of President Trump’s executive order temporarily halting entry into the U.S. from seven Islamic-majority … Read more