A sub-category of News.
NB: I tried to post this on Friday: On 17 October, as I write, it is the anniversary of John Paul II’s election as Vicar of Christ, Bishop of Rome, Supreme Pontiff. As a young priest and bishop then-Bishop Karol Wojtyła participated in the Second Vatican II and, indeed, as part of the group which…
Above: pope Pius XI with Monsignor Carlo Confalonieri, circa 1920. Exactly a century ago tomorrow, on October 20, 1924, Pope Pius XI issued the Motu Proprio Latinarum litterarum, establishing a special chair of Latin literature at the Pontifical Gregorian University. This initiative aimed not only to revive the study of Latin but also to underscore…
All saints are heroes, but not all heroes are saints. There are some who have made great sacrifices for Christendom while not necessarily leading particularly virtuous lives. In our own times, marked by the cult of celebrity, we might think of Mel Gibson, whose The Passion of the Christ, released twenty years ago, is not…
What are we to make of Thomas Merton’s affair? The nurse? No, not the affair with “M,” but his affair with “A”—alcohol. Merton was restless and fearful the summer evening in 1966 when he wrote, “Where will I be when the dark falls and the dragons come and there is no more beer?” The careful…
One comes away from reading Gareth Gore’s new book, snidely titled Opus, in need of a shower. And not because of the supposed revelations in the book, but rather because of the malevolence that Gore ladles out on every page. Equal dollops of malevolence and duplicity. First, consider duplicity. The touchstone of most of the…
Above: Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in the forest by Carl Larsson (1853–1919) If there was ever a time in history that craved fairy tales, it would be the present age. The emphasis on science, research, and reason has become a common norm in modern society to vest and defend beliefs. But what…
Getting ready the other day to fly out to Denver for our son’s wedding, I found myself mulling over what exactly I might be expected to say at the rehearsal dinner. At the very least I should tell everyone what an honor and joy it is to be here in order to pay tribute to…
I went to bed on Thursday night the 29th of September shrugging off the approaching hurricane Helene. I live in the mountains of North Carolina, and I know hurricanes generally peter out by the time they get to the hills. My neighbor and I did think the night before that maybe one of us should…
Above: the Cataldo Pilgrimage. Back in July, during a large gathering of Catholics in Indianapolis, I was on a three day, strenuous pilgrimage. I admit that I walked this pilgrimage with people who attend the SSPX, the FSSP and the CMRIs. You know the kind: those who will attend any Latin Mass that they can…
St. Angela of Foligno was a wife and mother before she became one of the greatest mystics in the Church. She called prayer “The School of Divine Loving,” or Schola Divini Amoris, because it is the place where selfishness is cast aside in order to practice what she called Divine Loving—in other words, the same…
