Fr. James Martin, S.J. believes that John Henry Newman may constitute a model of holiness for those with homosexual inclinations. While he draws back from concluding that Newman was certainly “gay,” he wants to proclaim the message that “a gay person (someone with a homosexual orientation, if you prefer) can be holy, even a saint.…
On May 13, 1524, twelve Spanish Franciscan friars set foot on Mexican soil for the first time. After walking barefoot from the coast of Veracruz, they finally arrived at Mexico City, a distance of 250 miles over two mountain ranges. These men “of exceptional worth” became known as “The Twelve Apostles” because of their apostolic…
Happy St. Hubert’s Day, everyone. By now, we are done with our soul cakes, our Hallowtide jack-o-lanterns, our cemetery visits, parties, and trick-or-treating. The carved pumpkins are getting softer, the candy is wearing out its welcome, and many folks are taking the fake spider webs and orange decoration lights off their houses. At this point,…
St. Anthony Mary Claret is often depicted in paintings as having a glowing substance within his breast. This is because on May 16, 1862, Our Lord gave St. Anthony the extraordinary privilege of retaining the Sacramental Species perpetually within him. St. Anthony writes in his autobiography that he considered omitting this remarkable detail about himself…
The news of the supreme glorification, on October 13, of Saint John Henry Newman (1801–1890) reawakens interest in this British cardinal, theologian and apologist. Beatified by Benedict XVI on September 19, 2010 in Great Britain, he was born in London to an Anglican family. For 20 years, he was minister of the Anglican Communion at…
Today, we remember the 174th anniversary of the conversion of John Henry Newman from Anglicanism to Catholicism. What makes this anniversary special is that next week, in a move that most fully encapsulates the old saying “truth is stranger than fiction,” Pope Francis will be canonizing the very same Newman who would have disagreed with…
It was the dawn of the 20th century. The hedonism of the Belle Époque whirled through Europe’s capitals; like Poe’s raven, the precursors of civilizational decay tapped at the windows of the West. The ideologies originating in the Age of the Enlightenment were nearing full fruition in what American historian Lawrence Sondhaus would term the…
PREFACE: I shall not endeavor to explain how these two letters fell into my hands. I shall only note how curious their contents are in light of the debates surrounding the upcoming Amazon Synod. 1. My dear Wormwood: I am gravely troubled by your slackening efforts against priests. You proceed as if they are equal…
Franciscan Catechism: Progressives’ Fake News on the Saint from Assisi Guido Vignelli Chorabooks 164 pages $15.61 paperback, $7.80 e-book If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name “Francis” is perhaps not quite the same as it used to be, perhaps a quick read of Guido Vignelli’s Franciscan Catechism: Progressives’ Fake…
Sanctification: Neither as easy nor as impractical as we think Many people are wondering how to handle the current crisis in the Church, what they can do in practical terms, in a situation that seems increasingly apocalyptic and completely out of their hands. We’ve been dissatisfied with the answers we’ve had so far from the…
When looking at the problems facing both the world and the Church today, it’s tempting to try to reduce those problems to one and only one cause. Whether it be the sexual revolution, Vatican II, or certain political ideologies, we are attracted to simple answers to complex problems. That being said, there are certain causes…
