A sub-category of News.
St. Patrick’s Day rolls around again today on Monday, March 17, 2025. As always, all eyes turn – in reality or remembrance – to the Emerald Isle. The Jews may have invented the word Schmaltz, but no one has perfected its use quite like the Irish outside Ireland – and especially in New York, Boston,…
As we continue to pray for Pope Francis’ health and well-being, many are again speculating whether he might be considering amendments to the norms for electing a new pope. The last changes were made by his predecessor just days before his historic resignation on February 28, 2013, and weeks before the conclave to elect his…
Pope Francis has made headlines in recent months for expressing increasing concern about the death toll in Israel’s 16-month military incursion into Gaza, even invoking the specter of “genocide,” a term that has been used for many months now by international tribunals, jurists, U.N. officials, Holocaust historians, and human rights groups to describe Israel’s brutal…
If we try to put ourselves into the shoes of the ancient Roman catechumens, being prepared from the pre-Lent “Gesima” Sundays onward, we can perhaps grasp the psychological and pedagogical importance of having the Gospel reading about the Transfiguration on this 2nd Sunday of Lent. Much of the content of the Mass formularies and the…
Not the least of the many astonishing things to be said about Augustine is the fact that it should have taken him nine years before he finally broke free of the Manichean chains that bound him. No less astonishing, of course, is the fact that it took less than a minute after hearing the singsong…
Sometimes, the good old words are the only words that will do. Those are harsh words in the headline, aren’t they? They shock. They scold. They have meaning. There are a couple of slutty whores parading around our internet world. One goes by the name of Bonnie Blue. The other is Lily Phillips. Lily had…
As I went up to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday this year, I reflected on the meaning of Lenten sacrifice and the power of offering up fasting for a worthy cause. With all the turmoil in our beloved Church in mind, I sought a meaningful intention to unite my prayers and fasting with the needs…
Much has been written about the global fertility crisis, but almost all of the solutions to this crisis that have been proposed thus far are unlikely to be effective. First, a few statistics to summarize the situation: Between 1950 and 2021, the global total fertility rate (TFR, defined as the number of children that women…
The relationship between Europe and America seems frayed at the moment—not least since Vice President Vance’s comments at the Munich Security Conference last month, and his, President Trump’s, and President Zelenskyy’s Punch and Judy show at the Oval Office. The Vice President’s comments at Munich sent Europe’s chattering classes screeching—though no one tried to refute…
I first met Erick Ybarra over 10 years ago after I had left Eastern Orthodoxy and reconciled myself with the Holy Father (“I Left Eastern Orthodoxy for the Church Led by Pope Francis, and I Don’t Regret It”). Since that time, I have been very blessed to know Erick as a friend and we have…
