A sub-category of News.
Thomas Edward Lawrence, the Oxford archeologist who became the famous “Lawrence of Arabia,” wrote a narrative of his adventures participating in the Arab revolt against the Turks during World War I. At an important point in the Arab revolt, Lawrence was given the opportunity to be of great influence in the war. He was as…
One of the great gifts of the Trump Era is that we have come to know the institutions we grew up trusting are corrupt. FBI, corrupt. CIA, corrupt. Judiciary, corrupt. Not that we grew up knowing the NIH or the CDC, but we know now they are corrupt, too. We knew the media and the…
Amplified by the words and actions of Pope Francis, the crisis within the Church in recent decades represents, according to many authors from conservative and traditional Catholic circles, an unprecedented phenomenon in history. Even Pope John Paul II, who unfortunately embodies certain well-known neo-modernist tendencies, was forced to acknowledge in his exhortation Ecclesia in Europa…
I am now back in New England on a short visit from Austria, and Halloween has been in the air since early October. In many ways New England is the modern epicentre of the holiday. When I was a boy, it was most definitely a children’s holiday, and in terms of sales a pale second…
Perhaps, as the election approaches and the news becomes saturated with grim predictions and shrill voices, we’re beginning to feel that our nation’s destiny is sliding more and more out of control, giving way to feelings of anxiety and tension, or even terror. From a biblical perspective, this state of affairs—our being helpless before the…
Now that the proverbial cat is conclusively out of the bag, and all the animal experts have determined that the damn thing is feral, why doesn’t somebody just put it out of its misery? Not to mention the misery of so many victimized by its vicious bite. Don’t we all deserve a clean break from…
Above: the Holy Father with participants of the Synod in Rome. October 26, 2024. Photo by EPA-EFE/RICCARDO ANTIMIANI / MaxPPP The Synod on Synodality has just concluded in Rome. As if to end the restless period with a final surprise, it was hours before the Final Document was published when Pope Francis announced that he…
We’re living on borrowed time. Election Day is immovably looming ahead, like the last feature on a roll through Freddy Fear’s House of Scares. We’re clicking toward it, buckled in with the master switch thrown to lock us in our seats. I try to make the most of every day while they still feel “normal,”…
“Render unto Caesar…” may cause some alarm. God Incarnate seems to be lauding Caesar, yet Caesar hardly seems laudable. The Caesars were a rather disreputable bunch, given their depraved lives. Let us recall that after the worthy life of Augustus, there were Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Hardly Catholic role models. All the Roman emperors, whether…
Above: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC). Our epoch of political ideology and activism, in which we tend to view exterior activity in society as the highest form of activity, needs to embrace again the contemplative life. The knowledge and love of God is the highest end of the contemplative life.[1] Political activism…
