A sub-category of News.
Have we still got a Christian consensus around which Americans of every possible persuasion can rally round? A public philosophy, that is, whose strength and wisdom continue to inspire support? And if so, what is the core principle that binds us together as a people? It is, I would argue, the belief that God—not doctors…
Above: George Washington donated the money to build the first Catholic Church in Virginia. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, it would be wise if we, as American Catholics, celebrated our own origins in this country, which – like the country itself – is far older…
As part of the Jubilee Year, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) organized a pilgrimage to Rome to participate in the occasion. Upward of 8,000 people took part, consisting of roughly 800 priests and religious, with the rest being lay faithful. Interestingly, the SSPX pilgrimage was included on the official Vatican website, which published…
During hours of darkness in Holy Week, the Church observes the peculiar liturgy of Tenebrae. As the Office progresses, the candles on the lampstand are extinguished one by one, until darkness is total. It’s a mournful liturgy, to express the desolation of the Church as the Light of the World is about to be eclipsed….
Above: Las Piedrotas, Jalisco, México The train’s forged-steel wheels slowed down and screeched to a stop at Kilometer Marker 491, in the windswept, desolate Highlands of Jalisco. In one of the railcars, six Catholic men waited their fate, on that morning, April 25, 1927, in Rancho San Joaquin, when, suddenly, a soldier called out three…
There is something unspeakably shocking about any mass shooting. There is, sadly, something less shocking about a transgender mass shooter. Yesterday, 23-year-old Robin (formerly Robert) Westman, ambushed the back-to-school Mass at Annunciation preK-8 School in Minneapolis. He was armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, and he brought two-by-fours to barricade the…
After years of enduring Pride and Prejudice marathons—those BBC adaptations my wife and daughters adore with a fervor that could power a small nation—I’m calling it. Jane Austen’s masterpiece, for all its wit and charm, has been hijacked by a culture that has traded grit for gossip, purpose for pining, and covenant for curated vibes….
If you shut your eyes so that you never have to see the stars, refusing ever to stand enraptured beneath the heavens, you might as well be dead. In fact, you may already be dead, only the coroner hasn’t come round yet to confirm it. “There was a time when I gazed upon the stars…
For many Catholics, the Covid era was regarded as an illumination of sorts. Churches were shuttered, government slipped on an iron glove, and separations began to ensue. These could be seen as contractions, if you will, prior to the more serious birth pangs foretold in Matthew 24: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against…
Just like any other attempt to convene a pan-Orthodox synod (i.e., council) of the Eastern national Churches, the so-called “Pan-Orthodox Council of Constantinople” (held in Istanbul from May 10 to June 8, 1923 and pictured above) was doomed to fail from the very beginning.[1] For among the most important invited churches, several were absent: the…
