It is a dark and quiet night, and my family has just finished a rosary in our lonely parish church. Thank God that we have access to the building. As we head to the exit it is impossible to ignore the many little white boxes covering a table near the door, waiting for pick up.…
If you’re a Catholic, you’ve probably seen it: a mysterious series of letters and numbers, looking for all the world like an equation, inscribed in chalk over a doorway at your parish, or at the home of a friend. Maybe you thought you could figure it out. Maybe you were too embarrassed to ask, “What…
Yesterday, we published a somewhat provocative piece by Suzan Sammons about the March for Life, and why she — as a pro-life mother with a history of participation in that event — thinks that in the wake of this year’s cancellation, the time for the March has passed. Sammons writes: It was a high. For…
Editor’s Note: We believe that considering and discussing multiple perspectives on the future of the pro-life movement and social conservatism in general is important at this time in our nation’s history. The following, therefore, is the opinion of the author and not the position of 1P5. That the national March for Life has been laid…
In one of my weaker moments, I did something rather foolish, born from curiosity. That is, I read Pope Francis’ new motu proprio: Spiritus Domini. It was not so much what the document promulgated that interested me – that women shall be made official acolytes and lectors of the Church – but rather in how…
CNA has the story today on the March for Life going Virtual for 2021. It was sadly predictable, but still a significant first: The 2021 March for Life will take place virtually, organizers announced Friday. The March for Life Education and Defense Fund, the organization behind the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., said…
The COVID-19 lockdown has placed a greater burden on the poor as many have lost their jobs or homes and are seeking assistance. In a previous post I discussed the obligation of almsgiving according to the authoritative sources of the Church. Here I argued that this obligation is binding on all Christians according to their…
Don’t you hate it when fellow Catholics say to you: “The Church has faced crises worse than this one before”? You hate it because you know it’s false. Of several popes who flirted with heresy, only two seem to have crossed a line: Honorius and John XXII. Honorius made one error in regard to Christology;…
On Dec. 21st, 2020, Pope Francis made his annual Christmas address to the Roman Curia in which he contrasts the concept of crisis with that of conflict. He also called for a year long study of Amoris Laetitia. This article is a partial response to the pope’s address. “Jesus, you really do love your…
Back around the turn of the millennium, I was invited one day to sing for the first time the Mass of the Dedication of a Church (Introit: Terribilis est locus iste), at a solemn Mass on the anniversary of a parish run by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. It was the first time I…
When my alarm went off at 3:15 on a Saturday morning, I briefly questioned my own sanity. I had promised my seven youngest children, ages 14 years to 7 months, that I would bring them to a pre-dawn Rorate Caeli Mass – a sung Latin Mass that takes place during Advent and honors Our Lady. …
