When I was about ten years old, I came across a story in a Catholic magazine about the secretive inner workings of a Satanic Mass. The specific incident described involved a sort of ritual torture of some teenagers as part of the ceremony, and it detailed the gruesome things they were forced to consume from the chalice and…
There are times where an important spiritual concept is lost in the marketplace of religious ideas, subdued and modified by pop psychologists and religionists seeking simple solutions rather than lasting challenges. The concept of “acedia,” if mentioned at all, is often grouped with negative emotions, depressive states, and feelings of underachievement. Jean-Charles Nault’s (O.S.B.) The…
“Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt. 6:33) For several centuries now, there has been an intense “cultivation” of the town and an under-cultivation of the country. Industrialism has been the focus of our economy, creating a mass exodus from the country as…
As the presidential aids open the large case, Pope Francis stares into it, quizzical, examining the two medals laid therein. An aide of Evo Morales (the Bolivian president and leader of that nation’s Socialist Movement) then turns, draping first one, then the other, around the pontiff’s neck, the latter a four-sided cross inlaid with a hammer and sickle, superimposed…
Miserando atque eligendo: these words, chosen by Pope Francis as his motto, seem fitting, as his emphasis on the theme of mercy has been clear since the very beginning. And so, it should come as no surprise that he has announced a Year of Mercy—in fact, a Jubilee Year of Mercy—that will begin on December…
Jeremy David! How are you? You have to congratulate me! David Jeremy, well I’ll be. I haven’t seen you in ages. Congratulations! What am I congratulating you for? Jeremy I got married! David That is worthy of celebration. Fantastic news! Who’s the lucky lady? Jeremy La— No, oh no. Oh, I thought you knew!…
Why does it matter if people convert to Catholicism? Isn’t being Methodist good enough? Is a lapsed Catholic — a part of our religion by baptism — beyond hope? What about a nominal Christian who believes in doing good, even though she rarely darkens the doorstep of a church? And what about all those of other faiths…
I began a one-woman abortion clinic protest in 2006 in Germantown, MD, but I wasn’t alone. I had four children at the time, ages 3, 5, 7, and 9, and they came along, too. Every Friday morning we stood at the clinic’s parking lot entrance praying the Rosary and holding a few signs offering women…
If man is haphazardly here, an accident in the night of the universe’s thoughtless dream, I suppose liberty is being unfettered, choosing one’s own way, determining one’s own meaning, taking advantage of the time, carpe diem. So little time, so many options. Gold? Guns? Girls? Metric asks, “Is it ever gonna be enough?” This is…
On July 2nd, 1776, the American Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain, setting in motion a chain of events that would give birth to the United States. The next day, John Adams, founding father and future president, wrote to his wife Abigail: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in…
Some days, the words don’t want to come. Some days I sit, fingers poised above the keyboard, staring with a growing sense of panicked futility, willing myself to fill the empty page. There’s so much going on, but I have moments when I just don’t want to face it. To read the news is to submit to…
