In mid-March 2013, two men came to world power, each a leader of nearly one fifth of the population of the earth. And it looks as if Pope Francis and Xi Jinping will be leaders for life. Each has a new program for his people. One speaks of “accompaniment” and has initiated a “process of [...]

Slight squeamishness settles about the minds of a certain kind of Catholic this Sunday. “Reimagined Catholics,” that is: Catholics more at home with America magazine and the National Catholic Reporter than The Baltimore Catechism and the unredacted Lives of the Saints. You know, those Catholics quite comfortable with Mr. Biden warmly received at our altar [...]

On October 30th, Fr. James Jackson, FSSP, a well-known traditional Catholic priest, was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography and erotica. Jackson, author of a popular book on the traditional Latin Mass titled Nothing Superfluous, was a pastor for years at a Colorado FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) parish before being transferred [...]

I read with keen interest a talk delivered by Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk on October 23 in Rome, during a conference organized by Voice of the Family, a lay-run Catholic pro-life, pro-family organization. Entitled “Ethical questions concerning Covid-19 vaccines,” the talk very ably covered the moral reasoning involved in evaluating the moral liceity of the [...]

The future of contemplative orders in the Catholic Church is under siege, not by the oft-bemoaned vocations crisis, but by Archbishop Josè Rodrìguez Carballo, the secretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. In 2018, Carballo released Cor Orans, a series of regulations on women’s monastic orders. Cor Orans [...]

Cardinal Blase Cupich recently furthered The Big Lie of our times. This Lie of surpassing Bigness is not the systematic cover-up of decades of sexual abuse by ecclesiastical authorities, although this can certainly be laid at their feet. Neither is it the strange eagerness of many bishops to promote illegal immigration, resettlement, and the mass [...]

I was giving a talk for adult education in the faith at a parish not my own, and the subject of cooperation in abortion was discussed. In the small group session, a young lady said to me that she was upset to feel criticized because she had accompanied a friend to an abortion clinic. “I [...]

Overwhelmingly, the most common experience of Catholic priests, parishes, and dioceses is one of overwork, hackneyed originality, and shortness of funds. In truth, we are in survival mode; few parishes or dioceses have any growth or effective plans for the future years. Most Catholics no longer know what mission is. They hopelessly confuse it with [...]

The “popular movements” are the vanguard of the Catholic social justice warriors. They consist of a vast menagerie of Leftist activists and community organizers found in political action groups, Basic Christian Communities, worker organizations, and indigenous peoples’ lobbies. They exist worldwide, especially in less-developed nations, and they implement the tenets of liberation theology.   Pope Francis [...]

Last month I wrote a piece entitled Unclean! Unclean! in which I criticized the decision of the Archbishop of Moncton to divide his flock between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, and to refuse any longer to nourish the latter with sacramental graces. That piece lasted some thirty-six hours before it was removed. Apparently, one doesn't [...]

I do not think of myself as a visionary or a prophet. Indeed, I am dubious of such phenomena. I’d prefer to call my experience a “mental image” or a “dream image.” It came to me in that in-between state when I was not sure if I was praying or dozing. But it really doesn’t [...]

The Church, we know, cannot bless sin. It appears all right, however (even, evidently, laudatory), to have so-called Gay-Friendly Parishes (GFPs). Under that umbrella, these GFPs tolerate or encourage activities, associations, publications, shows, and similar celebrations (even Masses) that more orthodox parishes rightly spurn or condemn. At the outset, we must be clear that James [...]

In my last Crisis article, I shared my difficult and painful experience of sexual misconduct inflicted by a Jesuit priest. Second to this traumatic experience was reporting the incident and being informed that nothing will happen to the accused. For those who have not, by the grace of God, experienced clergy abuse or misconduct, it [...]

The Abrahamic Family House is scheduled to open in Abu Dhabi in 2022. It will consist of three main buildings—a mosque, a church, and a synagogue. A project of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF), the Abrahamic Family House was inspired by the 2019 Document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and Grand [...]

Whether cohabiting couples, out and proud gays, “social” alcoholics, serial monogamists, or persons engaged in any one of the number of socially acceptable sins, they are members in churches—maybe yours—who have gone unchallenged for behaviors and lifestyles that are incongruent with Scripture and Church teaching; and many are in leadership roles. Most egregious are Catholic [...]

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the establishment of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims by Pope St. Paul VI. A distinct body from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), it was erected in order to promote and stimulate religious relations between Muslims and Catholics. At the time the Holy See, like many [...]

The Catholic world is abuzz with news that a prominent Anglican Bishop converted to Catholicism. Michael Nazir-Ali, the retired Anglican Bishop of Rochester, England, and once close to being tapped as the Archbishop of Canterbury, was received into the Catholic Church on the Feast of St. Michael (September 29). Needless to say, many Catholics were [...]

In September 2020, the USCCB Committee on Doctrine published "Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church: An Aid for Evaluating Hymn Lyrics." Initial promise notwithstanding, there has not appeared to be too public a follow-up to the document. Coming out in September last year, its impact was likely limited, as the big pew missalette [...]

If I were a convert, which I am not, I think I’d rather resent hearing the Pope tell me that I’d made a mistake in becoming one. It seems rather off-putting, don’t you think, to go ahead and pope, only to have the real one in Rome suddenly announce that maybe you shouldn’t have? What’s [...]

Earlier this month the Archbishop of Cincinnati announced his plan to restructure the archdiocese in light of changing demographics and the declining number of priests. The goal: to reduce the number of parishes by 70% over time.  Pause for a moment and reflect on that: a major United States archdiocese plans to shut the doors [...]