My family is blessed to have a heroic priest living in our home. How this came to be I will get to later. But for now, I will describe what it is like. It is overwhelming. It is unsettling. It is appalling. It is heavenly. This priest will spend a typical morning as such: He…
In many police departments across the country, the four-to-midnight shift is known colloquially as the “four-to-four.” Get it? You work the first eight and then imbibe until the wee hours of the morning at your (quite often divey) establishment of choice. This was a schedule I kept up for a good portion of my twenties…
There are many preconceived notions when it comes to a woman’s role in the home. It isn’t difficult to find two very polar opposite views in regards to the definition of a housewife and mother. The polar opposites can be quite deafening and the progression of this role, in modern society, has created a level…
Memento Mori is an ancient monastic expression that has had a bit of a gothy rebranding and promotion in the Catholic underground. Of course, the nomenclature is timeless and sound–we are all going to die, and we should live as if we understand that; to paraphrase St. Robert Bellarmine, those who live well, die well.…
Something that’s been brought front and center within the last year is a real need to nurture life of the domestic church within our homes. We can’t control what our Church leadership does, but we can control the decision to bring Christ into our home life. Despite the importance of this, family prayer with little…
My Dear Wormwood, I was thrilled to hear you have been making progress with the mother. You have a good lead, from what I hear. She’s feels over-worked, unappreciated, and discouraged? I’m so glad to hear it. If you tread carefully, this can be a great opportunity. With the kids waking her up every hour…
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on the topic of introducing children to the traditional Latin Mass and making it fruitful for them. The second part is available here. NB: This article, along with its companion piece, has been published in rewritten form as chapter 20 in my book Reclaiming Our…
When COVID-19 became a worldwide phenomenon, many states, like my native Virginia, closed schools for the remainder of the year and are deliberating on whether or not they will reopen in the fall. This means that parents across the country are being forced to homeschool their children. The level of their involvement will obviously vary…
I let out an audible groan when I came across an opinion piece in The New York Times a few weeks ago titled “Christianity Gets Weird.” The accompanying grainy graphic of a pair of praying hands and the label-maker tags “GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE! VEILS VEILS VEILS! WEIRD CATHOLIC TWITTER!” threw me back to the era of…
It wasn’t long after I became a Catholic at the age of eighteen, during my freshman year of college, that I began to discern religious life. I figured that if I was going “in,” I was going all in, and the monastic ideals of stability, fidelity, and obedience appealed to the desire for “something more”…
With all the myriad problems afflicting the Bride of Christ in her human element today, it can be tempting to be caught up with problems about which we can do precious little. It is easy to be consumed with the sex abuse crisis, the corruption in the episcopacy, and the liturgical abuse at the parish…
