Featured posts
Category: Featured
The Miss America America Deserves
I don’t pay attention to beauty pageants. I suspect that the last time I watched even five seconds of a Miss America contest was when I was about 16, and gazing on beautiful women marching around a glitzy stage in high heels and bikinis seemed …
‘Ad Orientem’ Liturgy: To What End?
One of the chief arguments for the traditional Christian practice of celebrating the Eucharist ad orientem — the priest and people together facing the same direction, toward the liturgical “east” of the apse — is that the Mass is a sacrifice offered …
Summorum Pontificum: Where Are We After Seven Years?
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic letter motu proprio (given on his own initiative to the Church) that addressed a serious concern long-neglected: the status of the ancient form of the Roman liturgy. After nearly four decades …
Listening Like a Catholic: The Discernment of Personal Musical Taste (Part 2)
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on the topic of cultivating a more authentic taste in music. The first part is available here. In the last article, we discussed some of the criteria by which we may evaluate the …
Don’t “Rebuild” Your Parish. Restore It.
Last week I wrote about the newly founded “Amazing Parish” movement which, according to their website, “seeks to provide resources to pastors and parish leaders so they can create a thriving parish life.” The group recently held its first ever …
Beware the Tactics of the Devil
Any combat training and tactical planning begins with a process of intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination. Recon (reconnaissance) is a military term used to determine the enemy force’s disposition and intention, gathering information (or intelligence) about an enemy’s composition and …
Listening Like a Catholic: The Discernment of Personal Musical Taste (Part 1)
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on the topic of cultivating a more authentic taste in music. The second part is available here. There is an old saying that “one can find Catholic music performed everywhere except …
Stalling Sainthood: The Inexplicable Interruption of the Cause of Bishop Sheen
You no doubt have already heard the news. If you are like most of us, you may be feeling shock and dismay. The cause for the canonization of Bishop Fulton Sheen has been derailed by the Archdiocese of New York …
Does the Islamic State Want to Assassinate the Pope? 5 Things Catholics Need to Know
Last week, the Vatican took pains to deny that Pope Francis is in the crosshairs of the Islamic State (IS). And yet, there is reason to believe that there is more to the threat than the Vatican wants to let on. While on …
“You are Peter”: Getting Papal Authority Straight
There’s a scene in Evelyn Waugh’s masterpiece novel, Brideshead Revisited, that I often recall, to my amusement. Father Mowbray is giving instructions in the Catholic faith to a lapsed Protestant named Rex Mottram. Mister Mottram isn’t really sincere in his …