“In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” a chant familiar to every school-aged child in the United States. Well, let us hope that this is still the case! It marks the event, of course, in which the Italian-born navigator, Christopher Columbus, departed from Spain and discovered the Americas. An event of enormous…
This column is a response to a piece written by a priest in a diocesan newspaper, essentially arguing that we must always seek common values and common views with all people who disagree – a false irenicism. While it is true that “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (Prv 15:1), there are also times when…
Everyone has a crisis of faith at some point in their life. I have had an on-going crisis of faith ever since I became a Christian. Now that crisis of faith is coming to a head. They used to say of the early Christians, “see how they love one another.” As Catholics, we believe that…
“Brethren: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 5:15-16 RSV). True in St. Paul’s day. Perhaps even more so in our day. If…
From The Three Ages of the Interior Life By Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. — As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to converse with…
There are many historical figures waiting to be elevated to sainthood because they were killed in hatred of the faith and of Christian civilization: Simon de Montfort (1170-1218), victim of the Albigensian heretics; Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, killed in 1587 by Elizabeth I Tudor; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, monarchs of France, guillotined in…
When in your own land you go to war against an enemy that is attacking you, you shall sound the alarm on the trumpets, and the Lord, your God, will remember you and save you from your foes (Numbers 10:9). In Jewish tradition, the trumpet or the shofar was blown to announce the new moon,…
Considering the pervasive societal darkness and rapid collapse of moral law around us, the laity are faced with a deep need of ‘finding refuge.’ Whether or not we are aware of pondering it, interiorly, a question is there. How was the flame of faith fostered in the Dark Ages other than intentional areas of refuge…
Having assembled a “who’s who” of (mostly) American traditionalism for this year’s Catholic Identity Conference, the annual symposium organized by Michael Matt and The Remnant, attendance this past weekend in Pittsburgh was bustling — more than 700 people, and it was sold out for weeks. Despite a rather somber overall tone — occurring just weeks…
This is the question I get asked the most by Catholics unfamiliar with cancel culture. To be honest, I find it surprising amidst the rash of cancelation in various forms that there is still so much confusion – especially after so many bishops closed churches due to Covid and made it seem as if the…
One hundred years ago today, the city of Palestrina inaugurated the monument dedicated to the greatest son of this ancient town located 23 miles east-southeast of Rome, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the “Prince of Music” born here in 1525. It is the fine statue by the Florentine sculptor Arnaldo Zocchi (1862-1940) which stands in the…
