Catholic Living | Crisis Magazine

Chartreuse Monastery

June 19, 2013

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Silence and Culture at a Carthusian Monastery

by R. Jared Staudt

When the film Into Great Silence came out in American theatres back in 2007, a student of mine, who is a high school religion teacher, took some of his students to see it. They had to leave about half way…

{ 15 comments }

June 17, 2013

Keeping Score: The Divine Meaning of Success

by Regis Martin

Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just. Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must Disappointment all I endeavor end? — Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. If success in…

June 14, 2013

J.R.R. Tolkien: Husband and Father

by Philip Kosloski

Best known for his fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien is probably better known by members of his family for his profound example of true fatherhood. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January…

June 13, 2013

The Sheer Joy of Fatherhood

by Arland K. Nichols

Recently I ran into my former advisor at Texas A&M University whom I hadn’t seen for nearly a decade. While I held my son Thomas in my arms, I shared with him the details of my pro-life work for Human…

June 11, 2013

Love the Sinner

by Bernadette O'Brien

On the forest floor, half covered in withered leaves, lay the naked body of a child, a young girl. Her short dark hair reached just to her shoulders; her face was obscured with leaves. In her childish breast there was…

June 6, 2013

Is Lying Ever Justified?

by Scott P. Richert

“The problem is not that we are sinners: the problem is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done.” In his homily at his daily Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae on May 17, 2013, Pope Francis…

June 4, 2013

Sex Denied

by Pete Jermann

The standard Catholic critique of gay sexuality has failed to persuade. This is due to an insistence on the part of many ecclesiastical authorities to focus narrowly on homosexuality alone rather than present the comprehensive understanding of human sexuality found…

June 3, 2013

Defending the Real Presence

by Regis Martin

“This is the saddest story I have ever heard.” So begins one of the finest novels written in English in the last century, The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford. It is not, however, the saddest story ever told. That…

May 27, 2013

Why Do We Honor Self-Sacrifice?

Memorial Day marks one of several days Americans celebrate the many great blessings that we have as a nation. We traditionally do this by taking trips to the lake, playing baseball, and racing. At these events, there is also always…

May 23, 2013

St. Thomas of Napa Valley

by Donald DeMarco

The Sebastiani family has been making and selling wine in California for more than one hundred years. One of its Napa Valley wines bears the intriguing label, “Aquinas,” in honor of the Catholic Church’s greatest philosopher/theologian. The choice of this label…

May 22, 2013

The Ultimate Ballfield

by Anthony Esolen

Major League Baseball has retired the number 42, in honor of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color line and opened up that institution to all Americans. Justly has the league set aside the anniversary of this event as…

May 16, 2013

Remembering Fritz Wilhelmsen

by Regis Martin

I first met Fritz Wilhelmsen (1923-1996) in the summer of 1970, falling at once under the spell of his magic. Such a long time ago it all was, too. Yet I remember it all as if it were but yesterday. …

May 13, 2013

What Jesus Really Said About Sins of the Flesh

by Anthony Esolen

I have often heard it said that our Lord did not care overmuch about sins of the flesh; for He was relentless in his attacks upon hypocrisy, pride, and avarice, but was so mild towards adulterers and fornicators that we…

May 7, 2013

Catholic Fears of the Dreaded Religious Calling

The other day I walked into our bathroom to encounter a small stack of towels, folded on the floor—the same stack my wife had earlier asked our eighth grade son to put away. She hadn’t told him to put the…

May 6, 2013

Cause for Mirth: The Return of Abbey Brewing to the United States

by R. Jared Staudt

Beer is another one of those testimonies to how the Catholic Church built European civilization. It is true that brewing was widely practiced in the ancient world, but the process was very primitive, even as simple as soaking a loaf…

April 29, 2013

Is Chant Like Folk Music?

by Jeffrey Tucker

Somehow we have this impression that Gregorian chant is part of a high Church ethos. It’s for conservatives and traditionalists who favor their liturgy buttoned up, obedient, and strict. On the other hand, this line of thinking goes, people who…

April 22, 2013

Episcopal Attacks on Orthodox Catholic Blogs

by Dr. William Oddie

Not for the first time in his own indispensable blog, Protect the Pope, Deacon Nick has drawn our attention to another attack on Catholic blogs, coming from a familiar prelatical source. In a homily given during the Diocese of Westminster’s…

April 15, 2013

The Cost Of Being Catholic

by Christopher Manion

Nowadays, “charity” conjures up various images, some of which are quite distant from everyday life. Consider the “nonprofit sector”—or government welfare programs. Others images are more immediate—soup kitchens, or Salvation Army kettles. But charity—caritas—is actually a supernatural virtue. As Saint…

March 29, 2013

Good Friday and Good Death: A Meditation on Michelangelo’s Crucifix

by Andrew Wilson Smith

As morbid as this may sound, one of the main functions of the Catholic Church is to teach us how to die. Death is the common lot of man—the great democratizing element in our lives. The only question that remains…

March 27, 2013

Easter Hope Amid the Horror of Death

by Regis Martin

As anyone with half-a-brain knows, success in the publishing world is measured by the number of books sold. What many do not know, of course, is that there are only two categories that perennially produce best sellers. Cookbooks and diet…

March 20, 2013

What to Hope For in a New Pope

by Regis Martin

Imagine members of the lay faithful being invited to instruct the cardinals who come to Rome to select a new pope. They would be asked precisely whom they would choose as successor to St. Peter. Of course the cardinals are…

← Previous Entries