The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta — known as “the Sovereign Military Order of Malta” or the “Knights of Malta” for short — is one of the Catholic Church’s oldest and most respected institutions. Founded in Jerusalem in the 11th century, the lay religious order began as…
While a stunned and confused Catholic audience is now watching the seeming papal takeover of the Order of Malta, there also arises now a kind of inner conflict within the ranks, especially from some more conservative or traditionalist Catholics. An introductory presentation of this manifold debate might thus be a way of bringing out more…
(Image courtesy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta website) Fra’ Matthew Festing, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, offered his resignation at the pope’s request earlier this week. Today, the Sovereign Council of the Order — the only body with the authority to permit his resignation — has accepted his decision. Further,…
We’ve all seen the video of “Doctor” Nucatola of Planned Parenthood, discussing with revolting dispassion — over lunch and a glass of wine — the methods by which babies are dissected alive, “crushed” in certain strategic places, and have their their organs surgically removed for resale. Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards took…
On January 24, 2008, my very first piece of professional writing was published. Marking a controversial foray into a several-year position as a columnist and blogger at InsideCatholic (later to be re-branded under its original name, Crisis Magazine), I told anyone who cared to listen why I had not attended the March for Life just two days before:…
My husband and I have long had a specific goal of raising children who are innocent — not ignorant. We homeschool and make careful choices as to what our six boys read and the movies they watch. So often, these choices of ours are misunderstood by friends and family. Like recently, when a neighbor was over…
The 2016 presidential election in the United States presents an occasion for us to reflect upon the Catholic view on what constitutes a good and just government. In order to understand the Catholic perspective, we must first ask the question: what is the nature and origin of the government? The traditional magisterium of the Church…
(Image: St. Nepomuk, martyr of the Seal of Confession) As was to be expected, the first cases are now coming up where priests are being punished for not going along with the new “spirit” of Amoris Laetitia. That is to say, for not willingly administering the Sacraments (especially Penance and the Eucharist) to the “remarried”…
Editor’s note: The following is the first part of a series. Read Part II, Part III, and Part IV at the links. I. Introduction What is going on in the Church these days? How to understand the origin of our present dilemmas, and what to do about them? Like many of you, I’ve wrestled with…
This week is book-ended with woman-centered marches in our nation’s capital, the Women’s March and the March for Life. The first touted the “rights” of women and trumpeted the need for “progress.” The second seeks progress, too; it urges society to leave behind the dated and detrimental notion that a woman must be allowed to…
Many are familiar with Aristotle’s view of virtue. Simply put, Aristotle proposed virtue as the mean between two vices – but the virtue, he continued, does not fall directly between the two. Instead, it falls closer to one than the other. Thus, for example, he proposed bravery to fall between cowardice (the defect of the…
