Commentary
Chicken Man
The Christian redefinition of greatness allows even the most ordinary people to be great... No job is too small for greatness, provided we perform our tasks with love and diligence.
Catholic hospitals must witness to the Truth
Legally-speaking, the use of the word “Catholic” in a name or statement of purpose has always involved a certain connection with, or at least permission of, the bishop of the diocese in which an organization is located or controlled. This may not always be upheld in secular law, but it must certainly be assumed in ecclesiastical law, and any organization which bears the Catholic name ought to be approved, or if necessary repudiated, by the official Church.
Freedom in vocation: The Sound of Music (1965)
The Sound of Music is rightly beloved by Catholics. James and Thomas discuss the movie's all-around excellence, break down Julie Andrews's virtuosic performance, and explore what the film says about the freedom and openness necessary to discern and pursue one's vocation in life.
Truth and Goodness? Yes, but we must not forget Beauty.
Catholics today are developing a keener sense of the formative power of the arts, as compared with my own generation, which was focused almost exclusively on the new and very bad philosophical and theological propositions and ideas which haunted the Church.
The Reformation is over
Now, I fight for a living. But when it comes to Evangelical Protestants, I’m a lover, not a fighter. And what I want to say to my Evangelical friends, whom I love, is this: The Reformation is over. Come home.
Father Radcliffe blames the Russians—not the Bible
Perhaps we are entering a different sort of conflict in the world: a conflict between the morally decadent West, which promotes a hedonistic culture, and a resurgent Africa, where Christian leaders are unapologetic about their faith and— not coincidentally— Christian influence is growing.
185—The Stigmatists—Paul Kengor
In his new book, The Stigmatists: Their Gifts, Their Revelations, Their Warnings, Paul Kengor gives a historical overview of the phenomenon of the stigmata, focusing especially on one thing many stigmatists have in common: they receive visions, often prophetic ones.
What it means to be “welcome” in the Catholic Church
The Church in the West needs to learn once again that conversion is always a process of improvement not only by addition but by subtraction. All are welcome who are willing to accept the truth that Christ teaches through His Church. In fact, the difference between those who are welcome and unwelcome in the Church is the difference between sinners who are willing to allow Christ and the Church to help them conquer their sins and sinners who intend instead to conquer Christ and the Church.
Silent and smiling, Pope offers an opening to ‘transgender’ advocates
The Pope didn’t say anything himself. He didn’t need to.
The splendor of the priesthood
A priest may remain faithful to the Church, orthodox in teaching, but cold in devotion to the Lord.
Yes, we should celebrate Columbus Day
But Columbus did what no European did before him. Whatever Europeans may have been here prior to Columbus left no lasting legacy. You and I are part of a civilization in this hemisphere that begins with—and is in direct continuity with—the great explorer. Yes, he was motivated by ambition. He was also motivated by a deep Catholic piety.
Sifting the Synod for the Divinity
The limitation of the power of meetings in the Church explains why there is such continuity between the Church in one age and the Church in another age, and why the Church has the same structure and teaches the same thing today as she did 2,000 years ago. There are always many who purvey false teaching, and others who refute them. But the intrinsically limited power of even synodal sessions ought to alter the way we evaluate the fruitfulness of “meetings” in ecclesiastical affairs.
When top Vatican officials clash on sex-abuse discipline...
It is difficult to imagine that in this case, Archbishop Peña Parra would have rescinded the priest’s laicization without having discussed the case with Pope Francis.
Pope St. Stephen and the Sacraments
After the controversies in the mid-third century, in the aftermath of the persecution of the emperor Decius and the schism of Novatian, Pope St. Stephen was instrumental in clarifying the Church’s theology of the sacraments of Baptism and Penance and Reconciliation.
My truth? The real Personal truth is neither mine nor yours
If the first mark of our human freedom is indeed that we are capable of seeking the truth, then the chief result of our proper exercise of that freedom is not only the conformity of our minds to reality (the human definition of “truth”), but also a direct participation in the life of our loving Father, to whom we come through Christ, who is not only the truth, but the way and the life (Jn 14:6)
Harris campaign rhetoric in the Vatican newspaper
What makes his analysis remarkable is not his obvious sympathy for the Harris campaign, but the reasoning that leads him to the conclusion that a Trump victory would cause “an unprecedented twisting of democracy.”
Jesus Does Not Follow the Science
The social sciences also reveal -- with absolute certainty -- that the abuse of human sexuality and the breakdown of the family leads to poverty, despair, single mothers, abortion, perversions, disease, gangland violence, and a host of other disorders.
Highlights: making the Church less worldly, a Catholic movie from 1903, music and conversion
A collection of highlight clips from past episodes.
The Israel-Gaza War: Evangelical vs. Catholic reactions
I am aware of no distinctly Catholic theological reason for supporting Israel. In fact, the distinctly Catholic commentaries that I have seen on the Israel—Gaza War tend to run the other way. Nevertheless, I’m with Israel. Not “to the hilt, no questions asked, end of story.” But at the end of the day, yes, with Israel and against her enemies. Here’s why.
An extraordinary statement from the world’s Orthodox leaders
"Our Churches categorically reject the justification of same-sex relations ...."
St. Francis of Assisi—Setting the Record Straight
Who is St Francis? A saint who radically followed the heart of the Gospel.
Three blockbuster books on our contemporary gender crisis
When the Pontifical Academy for Life muddied the waters of human sexuality still further in 2022 by casting doubt on the veracity of Catholic teaching on contraception, a group of distinguished Catholic scholars participated in a conference in Rome designed to offer a response to the PAL. Out of this conference grew three major works on the severe problems occasioned by our contemporary confusion about human sexuality and gender identity.
Vance’s incoherence on abortion
If it is barbaric to watch a living baby die after a botched abortion, why isn’t it barbaric a few minutes earlier, when the abortionist tries to kill the baby in the womb?
St. John Henry Newman—Three Poems on the Angels
"My oldest friend, mine from the hour / When first I drew my breath; My faithful friend, that shall be mine, / Unfailing, till my death..."
Francis, false hopes, and the Church’s Divine Constitution
It defies the imagination how dense so many Catholic leaders can be about what constitutes authentic Catholic renewal. People always seem to want to tinker with structures, rules, sacraments, liturgy or patterns of consultation when the fundamental call to renewal has always been exactly the same as when Our Lord proclaimed it at the beginning of his public ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”
Priests in Hell
Even the many good deeds of the priest will torment him in hell by reminding him of his heavenly eternity had he remained faithful.
Why did the Vatican punish a Catholic journalist?
And what, exactly is abuse of the journalistic apostolate?
Abortion is about sex. Duh.
Pro-lifers were telling the truth when they compared the plight of the unborn child to that of the slave in the antebellum South or the Jew in the Holocaust. What they missed, though, is that American slavery and the Nazi Holocaust have nothing to do with sex. Abortion has everything to do with sex. Particularly nonmarital sex.
St. John Henry Newman—The Self-Wise Inquirer
"In proportion as we lean to our own understanding, we are driven to do so for want of a better guide. Our first true guide, the light of innocence, is gradually withdrawn from us; and nothing is left for us but to 'grope and stumble in the desolate places,' by the dim, uncertain light of reason."
The Pope’s politically-incorrect message to East Timor: keep having babies
East Timor lies at one end of that population-growth zone, where the proponents of what the Pope terms “cultural imperialism” have not yet fully convinced the natives to stop reproducing. And even Pope Francis, who has shown so little sympathy for large families, recognized there that the presence of so many babies and toddlers is one strong indication of a healthy culture.
Do Catholic women now have a valid reason to support Harris?
Catholic women prefer Harris. Since we are considering polling data that comes from those who attend Mass weekly, and who believe everything the Church teaches, and who grasp Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, we may in this instance see an opportunity for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to focus its energies on the blunt moral demands of the natural law, and on the overwhelming priority to minimize the absolute moral evils protected and even imposed by law.
Father Caius and the Tomb of St. Peter
Caius was a priest in Rome, in the third century. He wrote that if one comes to Rome, one can visit the shrines at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. These tombs had been known and visited since the apostle’s deaths, and are known to this day - they are in the same place where Caius knew them. The tomb of St. Peter is directly under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.
On contraception, an unfaithful Vatican consultor
The decision to remain open to life in marital relations builds the appropriate space for sacrifice and spiritual maturation which is communicated throughout the family and formed in the next generation. Indeed, couples who commit themselves to living their love vocationally, in a lifelong union defined by the very will of God, have significantly higher success rates in marriage, find a deep and genuine joy in a generous family life, and—incidentally—provide the kind of future citizens that are so badly needed to reshape a wholesome and spiritually productive society.
Why Kamala Harris is skipping the Al Smith dinner
Her most avid supporters would be disappointed if Harris failed to confront the cardinal; yet she would offend against civility, and lose the sympathy of many Catholic Democrats, if she did. She couldn’t win.
Ambition
As his disciples jockey for position, Jesus redirects their ambitions… Human dignity in Jesus is the basis of Christianity, and service in sacrificial love is its ambition.
The Chosen, Season 4: Lectio Divina or Fan Fiction?
At its best, The Chosen has shed new light on moments from the Gospel by noticing small details of Scripture and fleshing them out. Invented backstories for the Apostles served to support and color the Biblical account. But in season four, the writers seem to be caught up in their own story ideas, so that even the Gospel eventsare overshadowed by wholesale invention.
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