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The shameful betrayal of a courageous pastor

St. Mary's church in Greenville, South Carolina, is a model Catholic parish, with an outstanding young pastor. The liturgy is beautiful and reverent; the religious instruction is meticulous and orthodox; the lay people are numerous and active. There is a busy school (run by the Nashville Dominicans), and each year there are dozens of adults welcomed into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.

Modern Knowledge

In these modern times, knowing things is paradoxically very difficult. Whether in the university, on the street or within families, we find ourselves divided between absolutists and relativists, conservatives and liberals, believers and atheists, creationists and evolutionists, poets and scientists. Indeed, the world is invariably divided into two kinds of people on every subject imaginable—all, more or less, depending upon what we think we “know”. Whenever we assert a particular proposition (say an interpretation of history, a political conclusion, or even a statement about the measurable material world, such as global warming), we find a hundred facts immediately adduced in favor of a contrary position. We can look up support for any idea at all on the Internet, in mere seconds. Just when we think it has never been easier to know the truth about anything, we become hopelessly embroiled in a sea of contradictions about everything.

Discouragement and Faith

An impressively large number of people around the country prayed hard for the election of pro-life candidates on November 4th. Not only were there vast numbers of people praying privately, but there were innumerable publicly-announced prayer gatherings, novenas, chaplets, rosaries, holy hours and periods of Eucharistic Adoration. These prayers were offered by people of deep faith who knew that we needed a miracle and who relied on God to provide it. But apparently God did not respond. So why do we still believe in Him?

What's wrong with Catholic voters? What's wrong with Catholics?

Yesterday, according to the exit polls, between 53 and 54% of American Catholic voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama, despite the Democratic candidate's enthusiastic support for unrestricted legal abortion.

Grave and manifest: an archbishop's odd logic on withholding Communion

In a a fine column that appears this week in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Review, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore has joined dozens of other American bishops in affirming that the protection of innocent human life is the paramount political issue of our time. For that affirmation-- and for the clarity and candor with which so many bishops have made it-- we should all be grateful.

Canonization, Flashpoints and John Henry Newman

The impending beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, though no date has as yet been announced, has become a flashpoint of controversy, as beatifications and canonizations often are. Newman was one of England’s greatest literary and spiritual figures. When and if he is canonized, he will be the first Englishman so honored since the age of the English martyrs following the English Crown’s defection from the Faith.

When Bishops Disagree: Contradictory Statements on the US Presidential Race [Updated]

Is it reasonable to think that in one American diocese it would be morally justifiable for a voter to cast his ballot for Barack Obama in this year's presidential election, but for a Catholic voter in another diocese the same vote would be sinful?

Our Man Martino

I’ve had frequent fantasies about three things: (1) Being Superman; (2) Being a walk-on player for the Washington Redskins who saves their season; and (3) Being a bishop who travels around his diocese in disguise, revealing his identity and taking immediate action whenever he encounters a serious abuse. The third fantasy is by far the most satisfying. The stakes are higher—nothing less than everlasting life—and it somehow seems less likely than either of the others. What I’m saying here is that I’ve generally thought it less likely that a bishop would act this way than that I could be Superman.

Oh Well, We Can Always Pray

There are so many things wrong with the world that it is a wonder we are not overwhelmed. But as Chesterton had King Alfred say in his Ballad of the White Horse, we Christians generally have more heart to fight and die than pagans have to live. Thus does the Christian King Alfred, defeated and disguised as a minstrel, answer the sad and despairing songs of the pagan Lord Guthrim:

Was Shakespeare a Catholic? Should We Care?

The long-running debate over whether William Shakespeare was a Roman Catholic has heated up again recently in the Catholic press. Some months ago I pointed readers to what I regard as the finest summary of the state of the argument in Robert Miola’s “Shakespeare’s Religion”, which appeared in the May 2008 issue of First Things. Few critics are as balanced as Miola in their assessment of the evidence for and against. Most people seem to care very passionately about the answer. In my mind, the most intriguing question is, “Why?”

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