Is Cardinal Marx’s Heresy Set in Stone?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church isn’t above question or critique, but such inquiries should challenge not *what* the Catechism teaches but, rather, *how* it teaches it.
Lia Thomas’ Victory Is a Loss for Women—and for Him
The lunacy of a man competing in women’s sports as a “woman” reveals that liberalism is like the snake that swallows its own tail, full of contradictions that end in shackling absurdity if pursued long enough.
Are You Responsible for the Errors of Russia?
The great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky believed that we are individually responsible for the sins of everyone in the world—and it is a mindboggling and soul-shaking meditation that is ripe material for Lent.
Who Knows More About the State of Our Union?
Who recognizes better the state of collapse of our American union today? Joe Biden or Vladimir Putin?
Putting the Pope on the Pillory
Recent accusations against Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI remind us that the Church is still in need of a deep scouring.
Wringing Out Another Wild Year
Before we ring in the New Year, let’s wring out the problems that continue to plague us.
Yes, Bishop Staglianò, There Is a Santa Claus
There is more to the canon of Christmas than the Gospels. There are symbols and sacramentals that proceed from this source, and Santa Claus is among them.
George Floyd Was Not Jesus Christ
In anticipation of The Catholic University of America’s obligations and observations regarding Black History Month, an icon entitled “Mama” by artist Kelly Latimore was displayed outside Mary, Mirror of Justice Chapel at the Columbus School of Law—and, like the pachamama, soon disappeared. Whether this was an act that mirrored justice or injustice may be a … Read more
A Beautiful Funeral
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
On Ghosts: A Little Spectral Speculation
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
Labor’s Lost Love
That sport best pleases that doth least know how: Where zeal strives to content, and the contents Dies in the zeal of that which it presents: Their form confounded makes most form in mirth, When great things labouring perish in their birth. Love’s Labor’s Lost Strange to say (though not much stands outside that category … Read more
Is Boris Johnson a Catholic?
“A pretty face may be enough to catch a man, but it takes character and good nature to hold him.” – St. Thomas More To the dismay of many a crumpet-and-tea Englishman, earlier this summer British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was married in Westminster Cathedral, the seat of Catholicism in London. Johnson’s marriage to Carrie … Read more
The Anti-McCarrick
After being laicized by the Vatican in 2019 for allegations of decades of sexual abuse, 91-year-old Theodore E. McCarrick, the now infamous former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, D.C., has been criminally charged with abusing a teenage boy nearly fifty years ago in Massachusetts. He faces three counts of indecent assault and battery on a minor. … Read more
Is Naked Normal?
Every summer brings high temperatures and new lows of indecency to our streets as fashion trends plummet more and more into nudity. This summer, especially, there is a bizarre vibe of “letting loose” as a result of coming out of lockdown, celebrating restored freedoms with freedom from clothing. It is strange and disconcerting. But strangest … Read more
Rebuilding the City of God: Thomas Gordon Smith, 1948-2021
Everyone knows that a good man is hard to find, but a good artist is even harder—especially in the Catholic art scene. As a result, what is not hard to find are churches resembling space stations, sentimental plaster saints, and modernist nonrepresentational adornments. Sacred art is in crisis, and on June 22, the world lost … Read more
Standing with Vlad the Impaler
A video went viral this month of a tough New York mother taking a stand against her local school board in fiery protest over the woke, anti-police, LGBTQIA+ agenda she perceived being foisted on children by teachers in the classroom. While some criticism may be leveled against such heated displays, it nevertheless serves as a … Read more
St. Joan of Arc: Girl Power or Godly Power?
The Dauphin had heard of this girl from Domrémy who wished to see him. Rumor had it she won over the commandant of Vaucouleurs by predicting the outcome of the Battle of Rouvray. How intriguing. The rough soldiers who were bringing her apparently called her la Pucelle, “the Maid.” How amusing. The frivolous Dauphin, Charles … Read more
St. Dymphna and the American Madhouse
Their attitude is really this: that the man must stop thinking, if he is to go on living. Their counsel is one on intellectual amputation. If thy head offend thee, cut it off; for it is better, not merely to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a child, but to enter it as an imbecile, … Read more
Outside the Box: Resurrection or Reanimation?
The earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. —Matthew 27:51-53 West was a materialist, believing in no soul and attributing all … Read more
The Error of St. Patrick
My wife recently brought me to a local curiosity shop where she enjoys hunting to find something extraordinary. Picking our way through a labyrinth of treasure and trash—the indescribable flotsam and jetsam of life—she pointed to a place on the cluttered pegboard wall. There, peering piercingly through a tangle of frames, infernal bric-a-brac, mannequin heads … Read more