“Dad, guess what!” My eight-year-old son Joseph came home from a recent weekend stay with his grandparents. It was his first weekend spent away from his parents, and evidently, he had some exciting news. “Oh boy,” I thought, “what crazy codswallop did my dad teach him now?” “They sang ‘Companions on the Journey‘ at Grandpa’s…
We have updated our original piece about Eugenio Scalfari’s latest bombshell, in which he claims that in his presence, Pope Francis denied the divinity of Jesus. In the updated version, we have included a human translation of the section of the editorial in question, provided by Giuseppe Pellegrino. Because so many readers have already viewed…
Amidst the raging debate over what was at best a syncretistic (and at worst an overtly pagan) opening ceremony for the Amazon Synod, an early push for ending clerical celibacy from Cardinal Hummes, cringe-inducing virtue-signaling from members of the Catholic media, and the jaw-dropping brazenness of a key synod organizer — Bishop Erwin Kräutler — openly supporting women’s…
Today, we remember the 174th anniversary of the conversion of John Henry Newman from Anglicanism to Catholicism. What makes this anniversary special is that next week, in a move that most fully encapsulates the old saying “truth is stranger than fiction,” Pope Francis will be canonizing the very same Newman who would have disagreed with…
Dear Father N., Thank you for coming across town from your parish to ours to celebrate Mass for us as often as you do. As one of the few parish members (if not the only one) who doesn’t speak Japanese as a first language, I very much appreciate your written English translations of your homilies.…
Author’s note: Since writing “Take Me to the Pigs: Finding Hope in Dark Times” last November, I got engaged to the very same boyfriend and joyfully married him in a TLM wedding on July 27. God is good! My little baby, Your father and I’d been married less than six weeks when we discovered that…
Victory is a theme dear to the hearts of Catholics, and that’s partly why the feast of October 7 means so much to us: it’s the glorious day Our Lady helped us save Christendom at the battle of Lepanto. In fact, it was originally called the Feast of Our Lady of Victory by Pius V,…
I hope you’ll pardon me if I offer some commentary that is a bit more stream-of-consciousness than usual. The storm is gathering, but life goes on. I’ve had a couple of days this week, mostly related to my children and their end of quarter school events, that have kept me away from my desk for…
Epistle: Ephesians 4:1-6 Gospel: Matthew 22:34-46 Grant, we beseech You, O Lord, that Your people may avoid the temptations of the devil, and with pure minds follow You, the only God. – From the Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Note: some parishes may be celebrating the External Solemnity of Our Lady of the…
Although active participation may have dissipated as a liturgical rallying call, it remains an unusually revealing and concise way to track how the Church has evolved over recent decades. This was a new concept in regards to liturgy, and its importance is paramount, as it is a frequently cited justification for the 20th-century liturgical reforms.…
The Church’s most urgent need… How would you define it? Here is how Bishop Athanasius Schneider once answered the question: Before we can expect efficacious and lasting fruits from the new evangelization, a process of conversion must get under way within the Church. How can we call others to convert while, among those doing the…
