We Roman Catholics are in the midst of the First Communion season — dark suits fitted for seven-year-old boys, white dresses and veils for the girls, lots of flash photos, and earnest young faces in prayerful concentration for receiving Christ in the Eucharist for the first time. My memories of First Communion are quite different. … Read more
A few days ago, Russell Shaw offered a thoughtful look at some of the causes, manifestations, and effects of what has been known as “clericalism“: a spiritual and ecclesiastical “caste system” in which the few elite clergy are presumed to enjoy a native superiority — in authority and due respect, in level of and … Read more
Why does the mainstream media insist on describing any Catholic — no matter his or her level of faith — as "devout"? Is it a simple confusion, or is something more troubling going on? Everybody loves a riddle. See if you can guess what ties these people together based on the MSM coverage: Brought up … Read more
Imagine a man who wakes up in the morning with a headache, fever, and chills. The symptoms persist and are there when he goes to bed that night. Next day, it’s the same thing again — headache, fever, chills. This continues day after day, week after week, over and over. Finally the poor man starts … Read more
One out of every ten Americans is a lapsed Catholic, according to the Pew Forum’s recently released “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.” Though the Pew statistics could be disputed, the survey confirmed what any observer of the Church knows: Many cradle Catholics leave the Church never to return. In response to the Pew survey, Inside Catholic … Read more
When popular columnist Robert Novak observed some Catholic politicians receiving Communion at two stadium Masses celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI, he took a bishop and a cardinal to task over it in the pages of the Washington Post. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for laity to raise a respectful eyebrow at clerics whom they … Read more
Last week, a new wrinkle seemed to appear in the conduct of Pope Benedict XVI vis-à-vis the sex abuse scandal. Down in Paraguay, Bishop Fernando Lugo got himself elected president of the country in direct defiance of canon law. What is more, he is earnestly seeking to be relieved not merely of his office but … Read more
No collection of contemporary music represents the immediate postconciliar period in liturgical North America quite as well as the Glory & Praise series. In its successes and failures, fawning fandom and bitter critics, Catholics have a body of work that was as ubiquitous as any other music collection in American and Canadian parishes in the … Read more
Put forth a robust defense of the free market as the most morally and materially satisfying economic system and you invite all manner of invective and accusation. What are you, some kind of dissenter? Not so fast. Although the documents of modern Catholic social teaching normally begin with Rerum Novarum (1891), students should instead start … Read more
The above title is of a book, published 100 years ago in 1908. It is the single-best book published in the last hundred years. Take it on faith if you must. Read it, you will find out. The book is profound, witty, memorable, incisive, and brilliant. It is, of course, G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. The … Read more
This year marks an anniversary for Catholics in Britain: 230 years since the first Catholic Relief Act. In 1778, the law banning Catholic worship and making it a capital offence to be a Catholic priest was relaxed for the first time since the reign of Elizabeth I. For several years I worked at the House … Read more
Regrets? I’ve had more than a few. Stubborn vignettes cling inexplicably to the crags of my memory. There was the time in fifth grade when Heide, the prettiest girl in school, approached me in the lunch line, held up a quarter, and asked if I wouldn’t mind buying her a pretzel. I proved … Read more
Pope Benedict XVI has left America a treasure of wisdom that will take some time to unlock. Just a few of a wide variety of pearls include the relationship of freedom and truth, the primacy of human dignity and human rights, the “responsibility to protect,” the place of religion in the public square, and the … Read more
Now that Benedict has come and gone we are in the thick of media analysis of the meaning of it all. Many folk (Rod Dreher is a notable example) were (as I expected) disappointed because the pope didn’t “do something” about bishops who have, to say the least, not particularly distinguished themselves in the Scandal. … Read more
Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the United States was a huge success. The eyes of America were upon him, and most people liked what they saw — very much. Benedict is not the trained actor and charismatic figure that Pope John Paul II was, but there is a fundamental decency that shows through to compliment … Read more
His Holiness came to America known as the “enforcer” of Catholic doctrine. He left America as the face of the Church, the face of peace. Benedict XVI arrived in the midst of swirling controversies, but in addressing them, he raised our hearts and minds to the place where all struggles cease and all questions are … Read more
Particularly in springtime, the campus of The Catholic University of America is arguably one of the prettiest in the country. But in anticipation of a visit from Pope Benedict XVI, the school — which is America’s only pontifical university, supported by the bishops and the pope — did freshen itself up, installing a new … Read more
Like many American Catholics who weren’t lucky enough to score tickets to a Papal Mass, I have been watching this week’s events unfold on my television screen. Viewing from my living room, with a gang of kids gathered around me on the couches, reminds me of the springtime three years ago when we watched the … Read more
Pope Benedict XVI’s address to Catholic college presidents yesterday afternoon was brilliant. The pope built upon a generation of Vatican efforts to encourage the renewal of Catholic identity in Catholic education. But more than that, he laid out a vision and roadmap for renewal that are ultimately tied to the survival of the West. … Read more
Stretching from the Southeast gate of the White House around the corner to Constitution Avenue, a line of people from as far away as California began forming at 7:00AM yesterday. They were among the 12,000 people who greeted Pope Benedict XVI on the South Lawn of the White House at his official welcome after … Read more