A sub-category of News.
Above: the Usumacinta River in the state of Chiapas, southern Mexico. With the dust settling around the “Mayan Rite” controversy, we can now examine the issue thoughtfully. This topic is inherently sensitive, so it’s essential to tread carefully. Opinions have ranged widely: some attack anything originating from the Vatican—sometimes to generate profit—while others defend Church……
Many years ago, I had a wonderful plumber who was always there when I needed him. Nothing was too much trouble, both night and day, on weekends, and even on holidays, when he never charged more than the current rate. Sad to say, I never really appreciated him. He was just the man I turned…
Most Catholics wouldn’t consider the motherly image of Our Lady of Guadalupe a martial image. The serene, pregnant Virgin—signified by the black sash expectant Aztec women wore—appeared to St. Juan Diego and upon his cactus-fiber tilma in 1531, a decade after Christianity came to the Mesoamerican people. In a tender vision to Diego’s uncle, the…
I am grateful to Fr. Brian Harrison, OS for taking note of my contribution to the growing number of voices asking whether Francis is Pope. Fr. Harrison, however, thinks that’s one question we ought not to ask: My reply: Why talk in the abstract? In 1378, there was a concrete case of “an ordinary lay…
’Tis the season, indeed—one of hope and anticipation—Advent is upon us. And much like the West, Eastern Churches remember Christ’s birth through prayer and opening oneself to the work of the Holy Spirit. Although referred to as Advent (Latin: “coming, arrival”) in the West, among Eastern Catholics, the season is known as the Nativity Fast….
Syrian Christians and other minorities throughout the region have well-established reasons to worry about the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. The toppling of the Syrian government was sudden, performed by militants with ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS, and looked exactly like another of the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s proxy regime-change wars—which in the…
Above: the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls. Today marks the 170th anniversary of the consecration of the new Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, performed by Blessed Pope Pius IX († 1878). The ancient and venerable Ostian Basilica is hailed as a On December 10, 1854, the basilica emerged from the ashes of a devastating fire…
Besides watching the Steelers score touchdowns, which does not happen all the time but certainly more frequently than a Kamala Harris press conference, the highlight of my weekend is building skyscrapers with my granddaughter. She will soon turn five, and while she has absolutely no architectural skill to speak of, neither do I, which is…
At last, the election year of 2024 is crawling toward its close. Many are joyous that Trump won; others are dismayed. In Europe, the Ukraine War continues, while the feckless political leadership from London to Vienna are more concerned with destroying both dissent and the farming sector than they are with public safety. The less…
The Vatican has recently approved of some considerable alterations of the Novus Ordo celebrated in the Mexican diocese of Chiapas. These alterations are put forward as springing from immemorial Mayan traditions. The controversy leads me to think again about what it means to have any kind of culture at all, especially as against the phenomena…
