A sub-category of News.
On June 24, 2022, the pro-life movement won. Roe was overturned. Prayers of thanksgiving went up, corks were popped, and the movement finally exhaled. After 50 years, we finally had a victory—the victory we’d been marching for, praying for, and fighting toward for half a century. But while we exhaled, the pro-abortion movement sprang into…
History is filled with stories of deathbed conversions. Some are reasonably well-attested, others disputed, and still others plainly legendary. Constantine delayed baptism until near death after a life marked by political power and violence. Oscar Wilde is often said to have received Catholic rites at the end of his life, a claim treated cautiously by…
Stuffed in between the Offertory and the Preface is a short but ancient prayer most Catholics probably pay little attention to: the Orate Fratres. The name comes from the Latin and is translated as “Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable…” I contend that Catholics rarely see the coherence of Mass prayers….
It’s been a little more than eight months since Cardinal Robert Prevost was elevated to Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, and he’s still a mystery. There’s more we don’t know about him than we do know. We can all speculate about how his pontificate will play out, but ultimately we need to realize that…
I remember being one of a small number of folks who were privileged to be asked in 2021 to view a rough draft of what would soon become “Mass of the Ages/ Episode II: A Perfect Storm.” Having been interviewed for this documentary in 2020, I was asked for my suggestions for the final cut….
Our humanity is tightly tied to memory, and so we celebrate anniversaries: weddings, births, deaths, ordinations, and inaugurations. This year of our Lord 2026 is no different, and it features two milestones of church and state. Eight hundred years ago, St. Francis surrendered his soul to Our Lord; two hundred fifty years ago, the United…
Teaching is a difficult and generally thankless job. Yet, our society could not function without those who answer the call to this work. From the loving guidance of parents to the necessary correction of a confessor, growth is only possible because of those God has put before us as guides. In a way, we are…
A few years before Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring came out, I read the whole trilogy for the first time. Many striking aphorisms stuck with me afterwards, among them “Not all who wander are lost.” Of course, the release of the films resulted in an enormous wave of interest in…
Thanks to Kevin T. DiCamillo for his recent Crisis article titled “Looking for a New Parish—and Crossing Some Off the List.” I suspect his search for a decent parish resonates with many of us who have been similarly disappointed. Our search for the numinous in the very Church in which it supposedly resides has left…
Editor’s note: this feast takes place tomorrow, beginning the traditional Octave of Christian Unity. Part I – The Roman Calendar in 1954: The Last Year of Wholeness Part II – The Vigil of the Epiphany: the Forgotten Gateway to Christ’s Manifestation Among the more consequential yet often overlooked changes to the Roman calendar in the…
