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; [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

In response to an apparent plague of video game addiction among young people, China has set strict limits on playing video games for people under 18 years old that restricts them to three hours a week. This builds upon much looser restrictions on gaming imposed in 2019 which allowed for an hour and a half [...]

What is the purpose of Catholic education? As Catholics, this is a question we should always be asking and concerned with. Catholics are supposed to be a separated people, a people elect and married to God through Jesus Christ. Catholic education, therefore, as an extension of our own ecclesiological theology, is equally meant to be [...]

O martyrs of God, your race is run, All thanks to his redeeming Son. You’ve vanquished every foe, Eternal joys are yours to know. “What is uniquely Christian,” declared Hans Urs von Balthasar near the end of the Second Vatican Council—widespread forgetfulness of that fact having seeped into the soul of Christendom—“begins and ends with [...]

When I was first married, my husband and I agreed that when children came along, we would homeschool them. I had been gifted with a homeschool education from kindergarten through 12th grade and couldn’t imagine any alternative for our future family. “But,” said my husband, who is himself a product of excellent Catholic schools, “if [...]

Failure in Church leadership, a rejection of faith by the culture, and ruthless attacks on the dignity of the unborn are systemic in our age. Sorrow, loneliness, and fear for the future due to the present moment are all palpable feelings in the human condition for our current time period. When the societal storm waves [...]

In Northern Virginia, where critical race theory, gender ideology, and emptied classrooms because of COVID-19 have sparked protests by angry parents of public-school students, a parish priest is taking up the legendary Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes’ mission of helping Catholic children get out of public schools by every means possible.  Archbishop Hughes founded the Catholic [...]

The devout and observant Christian is undoubtedly aware of the precarious state of the faith in our modern world and is becoming increasingly open to out-of-the-box solutions. One such possible solution is to take a cue from our bearded Amish neighbors and form rule-based religious communities—but maybe without the horse and buggy. A brief peak [...]

In the unfortunate battle between Catholics who promote the COVID-19 injections and those who oppose them, several specious arguments have arisen. Proponents point to a long list of commonly used medications they say were also developed or tested using the cells of HEK-293. This is a fetal stem cell line propagated from an aborted baby [...]

The City of God is no ordinary work of Christian theology. It is one of the most influential works of Christian theology ever written. Reading St. Augustine’s work can be difficult—the size, alone, can be off-putting and burdensome. But reading Augustine is always a treat and insightful, especially when realizing wisdom and insight that enriches [...]

Tragic news from France informs us that a Rwandan man, Emmanuel Abayisenga, murdered Fr. Olivier Maire, 61, the French provincial superior of the Montfort Missionaries (the Company of Mary). Abayisenga is also the main suspect in an arson attack on the cathedral in Nantes, in northwestern France, in July 2020. The suspect had been under the [...]

If one were to visit Kerala (the southernmost state of India, known for the early Christian community founded by St. Thomas the Apostle) and drive through the various towns and villages, one would find bold displays of Christianity amid a predominantly Hindu country. A Catholic parish is not hidden away in a town but exhibited [...]

The philosophy of materialism—the view that the physical world is the only thing that exists—pervades our era. Proponents of this philosophy often use the opinions of scientists to defend it. It isn’t surprising that some who devote their lives to the study of matter accept an idea that emphasizes its importance. However, the disregard for [...]

[Editor’s note: As Raymond Cardinal Burke continues his fight against COVID-19, his friends and admirers felt moved to put together this little symposium in his honor. We hope that it will inspire the faithful to continue praying fervently for his good health, both physical and spiritual. We also hope that it will hearten Cardinal Burke and [...]

Raymond Cardinal Burke suffers from what I call the Ratzinger Syndrome. Remember God’s Rottweiler? The scourge of the Catholic Church? The inquisitor? Torquemada! There was no end to the slanders heaped upon Ratzinger’s head. This lasted just as long as he was merely a Cardinal. But when he became Pope Benedict XVI, something happened. Folks [...]