A sub-category of News.
Empathy, I’ve long seen, is often a function of where you happen to be looking. It’s easy for people to feel sorry for someone standing in front of them, begging to be let off from some penalty for their wrongdoing, full of excuses, explanations that don’t explain anything, and suggestions that maybe the wrong they…
Read Part I: an Eastern Message to Western Trads Pope Benedict IX Benedict IX, born Count of Tuscolo, was elected Pope for the first time at the age of 18 or 20[1] (although other sources say the age of 11 or 12[2]), and was a notorious Pope. Known to be a devil from hell, coming…
As different as my culture is from that of my readers, there are still many things in common between Anglicanitas and Pax Russica – those two split-league hairs were once paired branches of the Roman Empire. Grafted by cutting, this ancient sprig has turned into a shrubbery sprawling East and West down from the Hill…
I recently came across an announcement for a seminar on the annulment process in the diocesan paper of a fairly large and populated American diocese. (It was not my own diocese, nor even in my own state.) I am an attorney and have some interest in preserving marriages and preventing divorces, or at least in…
On the morning of February 5, 1597, twenty-six crosses lined the brow of Nishizaka, the western slope of the mountain overlooking Nagasaki Bay. Below, the mountainside was blanketed with Christians awaiting the spearmen’s coups de grâce. Perhaps, amid the muffled sounds of weeping, they heard the mournful creaking of the ships in the harbor—that gateway…
Americans are not noted for embracing weakness. And survey data shows, alas, American Catholics are much like their fellow citizens in our tastes, beliefs, and practices. This fact means that in 2024, a year of elections, global treaty-making, and (possibly) a papal conclave, ordinary American Catholics will have the power to do…well…actually, almost nothing. Despite…
We are approaching eleven years since Jorge Bergoglio was elected Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. While most of us knew almost nothing about the man when he walked onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, now most Catholics wish they knew less than they do. From pedophile-enabling Cardinal Danneels joining Francis on that balcony…
Above: Plaza Mayor de México (today Plaza del Zócalo), 1830 by Theubet de Beauchamp, showing the Mexico City Cathedral where San Felipe was baptised. On May 13, 1524, twelve Franciscan friars from Spain set foot on Mexican soil for the first time. The evangelization of Mexico had begun! According to Robert Ricard in The Spiritual Conquest…
In this Sunday’s Mass for Sexagesima, we have in the Epistle from 2 Corinthians the mysterious description by Paul of his elevating vision of Heaven which readied him for his trials, which gave him authority, which transformed his person. He was drawn into mystery and changed. In the Gospel from Luke 8 we have the…
It’s a byword. It’s a slogan. It’s a catchphrase. It’s what both hedonism and Christianity promise. Communist and democratic politicians promise it. Credit cards and casinos assure it. Evangelical ministers and prostitutes preach it. They all call it freedom. We all want it. But they can’t all have it. So who does, and what do…
