I ducked into the church for a weekday Mass taking place in the late afternoon. I was a visitor to the parish and have, since then, had no opportunity to return. The low ceilings and darkness were suffocating, and the slices of sun that shot through the oblong, rectangular windows did little but draw one’s … Read more
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” There is a great difference between being materially poor and being poor in spirit. All people, both rich and poor, are called to be poor in spirit. For rich and poor alike, the question of how to exercise this virtue concretely is … Read more
By the late 1980’s, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists in this country had cornered the market on the Bible—it was simply assumed by most people that Catholics didn’t really use the Bible. Being a “Bible Christian” meant being a Protestant of some sort. Catholic leaders of the time didn’t help. They were embarrassed to engage in apologetics, … Read more
The Second Book of Maccabees presents us with the incredible story of Eleazar, “one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence.” The Greek conquerors told the Israelites: eat swine or go to the rack. Given the choice between violating the commandments of God or death, Eleazar … Read more
I have never felt so different and “other” as I do now. I am one of the unvaccinated. Sitting here in the middle of Sydney, where double vax rates approach 90%, with the unvaccinated to be shunned until (if?) we hit 95%, it is easy to feel alone. So, while almost all my friends and … Read more
The Church has an ancient storehouse of vast treasures, old and yet fresh as the morning dew. Most of us have forgotten them, these treasures which used to be in the daily lives of the simplest peasant in medieval Europe. The feasts and fasts, commemorations, processions, prayers, and hymns that make up the traditional liturgical … Read more
Damien Le Guay is a contemporary Catholic French thinker and author of two important, but unfortunately untranslated, books. Qu’avons-nous perdu en perdant la mort? (What Have We Lost in Losing Death?) questions how today’s funerary customs have erased death from human consciousness. La mort en cendres: la crémation aujourd’hui, que faut-il en penser? (Death in … Read more
She was only 24 years old when she fell asleep in the Lord—a tragic swimming accident in late September. Bright, kind, and beautiful, she had recently graduated from a Catholic college in California and was studying nursing at a university in Ohio. When our community heard what happened, we were shaken to lose such a … Read more
The transactional nature of the political scene in Washington, D.C., is well-known. A friend of mine once summarized things well: it’s the kind of place where people are keen to feign interest in you for just as long as nobody more interesting, useful, or prestigious enters the room. As a newcomer to the District, this … Read more
But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. —Matthew 14:26 I have always liked Halloween as a joke that’s hard to get. The joke, as I see it, is that death is something to smile about, even laugh about. … Read more
I have always been fascinated by Denmark. The small Scandinavian Kingdom that was once so much larger (it even owned the U.S. Virgin Islands before 1917) first impressed itself on me as a child, when I watched Danny Kaye sing about “Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen.” The tales of Hans Christian Andersen made an early entrance into … Read more
A few years ago, a visitor traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to tour Sacred Heart Academy, a classical, K-12, parochial Catholic school that has turned around completely after nearly closing its doors. The visitor said, “This is incredible. This is like looking into the past.” Fr. Robert Sirico, then the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, … Read more
After more than a decade of successful leadership in university expansion and academic excellence, The Catholic University of America’s President John Garvey announced his retirement last month. In a laudatory article in The Washington Post, President Garvey is described as having led “the most successful era of fundraising in university history, resulting in more than … Read more
October 19 is the feast day of St. Isaac Jogues in the General Calendar. He was a Jesuit missionary working and living among the Mohawk Indians in the 1630s and 1640s before being tortured and beheaded on October 18, 1646. Few Catholics, especially Catholics in America, even know of the story of the North American … Read more
Much has been written in Crisis and elsewhere about the declining marriage and birth rates in Western society and the rising average age of the marriages that do occur, including among Catholics. Many factors appear to contribute to this pattern: the epidemic of sins such as pornography use and fornication; the educational and wage-earning gap; … Read more
The National Education Association, at their annual meeting June 30-July 3, 2021, pledged to spread the controversial Critical Race Theory in public schools in all 50 states and 14,000 local school districts. Their agenda, according to a report by CatholicVote, includes a “national day of action” in October, when they will join with Black Lives … Read more
A relevant question regarding the COVID-19 vaccines is whether or not it is reasonable to apply for a religious exemption simply because the vaccine may have, at some point in its development, utilized parts of an aborted baby. In order to arrive at my answer, please follow me through a brief theological discussion to its … Read more
Recently, an online firestorm erupted among Catholics surrounding a recent letter from the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X arguing for the moral permissibility of taking an available COVID-19 vaccine if the situation were grave enough to warrant the act. My intent here is not to evaluate all the details of the letter, or to … Read more
A great sea change came over my life when, quite by accident, I first stumbled upon a copy of Joseph Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity. Based on a set of lectures, given in the summer of 1967, that captivated large numbers of German university students, it appeared in English two years later. I discovered it several … Read more
For the past two months I have not known what is going on with liberal Catholics like Mark Shea, or Simcha Fisher, or Dawn Eden, or the guy who runs WherePeterIs, or any of the rogues’ gallery I’ve had so much fun with on Twitter these past few years. The reason is that in early … Read more