What Does It Mean to Be a “Welcoming” Church?
Contra Cardinal McElroy, genuine ecclesial inclusion goes through the path of acknowledging and renouncing one’s sinfulness.
The Marriage/Parenthood Disconnect
While conceptually distinctive, Catholic theology has always recognized marriage and parenthood typically go in tandem and that openness to life is a prerequisite to entering a valid marriage.
“C’mon, Ring Those Bells!”
Church steeples point men’s attention beyond the horizontal, the level of their eyes, and church bells are acoustic reminders of transcendence. Today’s world needs more, not less, of those reminders.
From Pronouns to Names: The Latest Front in the “Gender Identity” Wars
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, identity is not self-invented: it comes directly from God. Gender-neutral names seek to undermine that God-given identity.
Start Living a New Kind of Year
Living wholly in the civil, present, temporal world tends to blur our attention to the “bigger picture.” Trying to live according to the rhythms of the liturgical year gives us perspective: everything is not about the right now and the demands of the moment.
Our Holy Innocents Today
The Feast of the Holy Innocents should remind us of the abortion holocaust, not immigration debates. The Church’s vestments are red because the children bled and were dead, not because the Holy Family fled.
Canceling Church Services on Christmas?
Some Protestant pastors are canceling their Sunday church services this week because it’s Christmas Day and they fear no one will show up.
The Banshees of Inisherin: Morals, Niceness, and the Truth of the Times
A new film poses some interesting religious questions even if, in the end, its nexus to religion is faux.
Loosing and Binding
Penitents do not have an absolute right to absolution: they must meet what the sacrament itself requires for the forgiveness of sins.
The Normalization of Sterility
Today is “World Vasectomy Day.” What do roaming vans offering fast, local sterilization tell us about how far our culture has fallen?
Affirmative Action as Secular Pelagianism
A current Supreme Court case may overturn affirmative action – is this a good or bad thing?
The Grave Evil of “Recomposting”
There is a movement to promote “recomposting” humans after death, but this process inherently devalues the human person by actively choosing to break down the difference between a person and a thing.
Three Months of Dangerous Holidays
Columbus Day started an almost three-month cultural flagellation feast for liberals which continues through Thanksgiving, reaches a peak at Christmas, and culminates in January 6th.
You Cannot Serve God and Mammon
Mammon is properly not “served” but “used.” It is a thing. It serves a purpose: acquiring goods that better human life. If we “use” mammon for that purpose, it’s good; if we “serve” mammon, we make a tool which should be our servant our master.
What’s Happening to Work?
The paradox of Labor Day 2022 is that Americans seem less and less inclined to labor.
When Did John Lose His Head?
Some nominal Catholics want it both ways: acquiescing in, if not promoting, the contemporary ethic while having some sentimental moments about old John the Baptist.
Bishop Barron’s Burning Question About Elijah
Was the prophet Elijah “fired” by God, as Bishop Barron alleges? Or is a better way to understand this biblical story?
Another Win for Religious Freedom
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District represents another victory for religious freedom and pushes back against the idea that religion must be invisible in the United States.
A Win for Religious Freedom
The Supreme Court’s in Carson v. Makin, striking down Maine’s ban on tuition reimbursement for certain high school students continues the Court’s efforts to roll back false understandings of the First Amendment.
How Men “Benefit” From Abortion
Pro-lifers have always maintained that, far from “liberating” women, Roe liberated men to follow their most base sexual instincts while sloughing the outcome on to women and on any child that is conceived.