Troubled Thoughts About the Synod
The Instrumentum Laboris is not as bad as some argue, but it is worrisome because of the impression it gives of structuring a supposed listening session in order to achieve previously conceived results.
The Sad Phenomenon of “Gray Divorce”
Well over a third of couples getting divorced are over the age of 50. What is causing this rise in “gray divorce”?
A Visionary Anchored to Planet Earth
Where in the correspondence of St. Ignatius of Antioch can one find an ideal point of entry?
The Curmudgeonly Catholic: Three Life Lessons from Evelyn Waugh
On the anniversary of his conversion to Catholicism, we would do well to learn some lessons from the life of Evelyn Waugh.
The Black Legend of Christian Brutes
In recent years, the secular Left has been working feverishly to turn Christians into violent monsters. We are told that the number one threat of terrorism in America is from the Right.
Let Us Be Frank About Our Future
Fifty years ago, the percentage of religiously unaffiliated Americans was about five percent of the population, meaning that in just two generations that cohort has increased 500 percent, and most of that has been just in the last twenty-five years.
Pro-lifers on Trial and the Denial of Reality
For the first time ever pro-lifers were accused of employing prayers and hymns as weapons against women seeking abortions. Apparently one need not shoot an abortionist or torch a clinic to be justly accused of violence.
Is Opposition to Illegal Immigration a Sin?
Not only do nations have the right to enact laws that limit immigration but also nations have as their principal obligation to first assure the common welfare of its own citizens.
Reigniting the Fires of Catholic Education
If education is not to be a matter of merely filling buckets which happen to be empty, but of lighting fires that have gone out, how are we to set them blazing again?
Do to Your Wife As You Would Have Your Bishop Do to You
A false dichotomy is created in the Church by setting fidelity to theology and liturgy against fidelity to an obedience that is not in harmony with them.
From Sts. Cosmas & Damian to 40 Days for Life: Nothing New Under the Sun
Like Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Catholic physicians and nurses in the United States are finding it increasingly difficult to continue to practice according to faithful morals and ethics without running afoul of secular “standards of care” in the exercise of their professions.
To Be Based or Not to Be Based
To be Catholic today often means to be “based.” But there are dangers to chasing after baseness.
Why Are Americans Having Fewer Children Than They Want?
Americans may desire to have more children, but their lives are often orchestrated in a way that makes that seem impossible.
Heartbeat Laws Are Not a “Terrible Mistake,” President Trump
While president, Donald Trump achieved many pro-life goals. But now he hides in ambiguity, trying to sound ethical while opening a loophole for abortion that should outrage many of his supporters.
Why Today’s Church Is Feckless Against Transgenderism
While conservative Muslims and evangelical Christians have publicly fought against gender theory indoctrination, Catholics bishops have largely been silent.
The Not So Strange Death of Religious Liberty
A number of long-term trends, including the collapse of mainline Protestantism, has led to the death of religious liberty, killed by the very groups who long defended it.
The Choice Between War and Humiliation
Russia could no more accept NATO in Ukraine than France could have accepted neutrality in 1914. Both states were reacting to conditions created by an opponent, both saw themselves in jeopardy, and both had in front of them a no-war option leading to a peaceful exit.
The Papacy, Doctrine, and Development
The pope is not a free agent. His authority, humanly considered, flows from his submission to and dependence upon Peter, that fisherman, that first pilot of the bark of the Church.
Britain Is No Longer a Christian Country Because Its Priests Are No Longer Christian
Recent news that a majority of Anglican priests no longer believe Great Britain to be a Christian country may be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy. Their Catholic counterparts should avoid making the same progressive-pandering mistakes they have.
Can the Pope Declare an Unbaptized Infant a Martyr and a Saint?
The tradition of the Church requires humility on our part—the humility not to say we know anything more or anything less than what we certainly know.