A sub-category of News.
Richard Dawkins once quipped, “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid—or insane or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that.” The seed of that sentiment was planted 100 years ago in July 1925, when John T. Scopes was tried…
The 6th Sunday after Pentecost offers riches from the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel of Saint Mark. The 1962 Missale Romanum presents these readings not in isolation, but as a liturgical unity, revealing the depth of Christian life in its paschal dimension: dying and rising in Christ, and being fed in the desert…
The growth of the “Restore the ‘54” Movement amongst traditionally-minded Catholic laity has led to a rediscovery of the above “Prayers for the Emperor” during the Traditional rites of Holy Week. Now, as with so much else, Dom Guéranger in his Liturgical Year gives us some important information on these prayers: On his coverage of…
It was consoling to see the image of the Roman Pontiff saying Mass for the Carabinieri in their chapel at the Castel Gandolfo Station last Tuesday. I am aware that the lone ad orientem image that has been circulated and talked about is part of a greater collection of photographs that includes a lot of…
Above: Cardinal Pizzaballa prays with Catholic children in Gaza. In the aftermath of the grievous strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, together with His Beatitude Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, entered Gaza this morning as part of an ecclesiastical delegation… Source…
In a culture where every contour of the public life assists in communicating the message of Jesus Christ, the first citizen of the realm will be the Church, she who is both Bride and Body of Christ, the beloved one whom God Himself has chosen and designated to be Mother of all who have been…
On July 19, 2024, the world lost Wolfgang Smith, one of the most important yet underrecognized thinkers of our time. A rare polymath, Smith devoted his life to uniting the rigors of science with the depths of metaphysical and theological wisdom. In an age dominated by materialist reductionism and technological utopianism, Smith stood apart by…
I was recently made aware of an 8-year-old with an addiction to pornography. I will repeat that: an 8-year-old with an addiction to pornography. In fact, I will repeat it again because I worry that we have become so desensitized that this statement will not elicit the shock and horror that it should. Recently, I…
“This Mass is offered for….” How many times do Catholics hear that ritual phrase sometime before or at the start of Mass? It typically announces the intention for the Mass, usually for “the repose of the soul of….” The problem with ritual phrases is that they sometimes become white noise: routine enough to be expected…
In the past, I’ve written a good deal of criticism of the contemporary culture in which I live. I believe such criticism is not only warranted but important and necessary. At the same time, criticism and critique should never be an end point but, rather, a starting point. Let me indulge in one more critique:…
