I am a 38-year-old priest. Most of my priesthood has been spent with university students and young families. Every week, I end up in some conversation on the phone with someone who is enduring unspeakable suffering within their family. I know that every age of history has suffering, but something is different about this year.…
On the official website of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria – whose reigning archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn – two different articles, though not explicitly related to one another, will likely be of great importance for Catholics in the world today. First, there is to be found the report that Pope Francis himself has just written…
As we have reported before, the topic of married priests seems to be on the agenda of Pope Francis. Not only did Sandro Magister report on this matter right after the second Synod on the Family last year, but also Bishop Erwin Kräutler of Brazil declared, after his private audience with Pope Francis in 2014, that…
After the German publisher Droemer Verlag first released it on 9 September 2016, much has already been deeply discussed and variously reported about Benedict XVI’s new interview-book, Benedikt XVI. Letzte Gespräche (Benedict XVI – Last Conversations) which so far has only been published in the German language. It has been shown, for example, how the…
Puritan’s Empire Charles A. Coulombe Tumblar House 624 pages $35.95 Puritan’s Empire by Charles A. Coulombe is a unique tour de force of American history from a Catholic high traditionalist perspective, spanning the colonial period to the modern day. Although some sections are dry, the colorful and controversial personal analysis undergirding the volume’s rationale will keep the…
Fascism: The Career of a Concept Paul Gottfried Northern Illinois University Press, 2016 207 pages $45.00 A brief anecdote in the author’s introduction makes clear why tradition-conscious Catholics may find interesting this work by Jewish intellectual Paul Gottfried: As a young, impressionable person, I was told by a family friend that an opera singer whose…
Today is the Feast of St. Matthew. The following is excerpted from the book “Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew” by 1P5 contributor Eric Sammons. Stories of personal conversion comprise one of the most powerful genres of religious literature. St. Augustine’s Confessions, a classic example of this type of…
On June 29, 1972, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his coronation, Pope Paul VI declared to the world, “From some fissure the smoke of Satan entered into the temple of God.” The pope was referencing the diabolical forces that had infiltrated the Church through the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Now a key…
Those who attend the Traditional Mass regularly are deeply familiar with, and deeply appreciative of, the recitation of the Prologue of the Gospel of John at the very end of Mass. It has always struck me, and I have no doubt it strikes many others, as a beautifully appropriate moment of meditation, a long-drawn breath…
Pope Benedict’s new book-length interview with Peter Seewald, entitled Benedict XVI — Last Testament, has offered new insights into the mind of the Pope Emeritus. From Ed Pentin at the National Catholic Register, we are treated to portions of both Benedict’s own commentary and that of his long-time personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who spoke at…
How Can I Help the Team? This summer, I coached my oldest son’s baseball team. These seven- and eight-year-old boys were very much still learning the game; so in addition to teaching them basic skills of hitting, catching, and throwing, one of my main tasks was teaching them mental focus. That is, I couldn’t have…
