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 …
Quo Vadis, Cardinal Burke?
Last December, news broke that Cardinal Burke had been removed from the Congregation for Bishops. Before the end of the year, I heard from a reliable source that Burke was also expected to be removed from his position with the Congregation for …
‘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 …
1P5 Digest and New Podcast – Available Now!
It’s 3PM on Friday here on the East Coast, which means that if you’re like most of the working world, your brain has already involuntarily checked out. It may already have wandered to a nice glass of whatever you’re having. …
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 …
1P5 Podcast – Episode 4: Catholic Dads Roundtable
Today Steve does a 1P5 Roundtable discussion with Elliot Bougis and Scott Broadway . We talk conversion stories, the evangelical power of the Eucharist, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and those pesky labels we append in front of the word “Catholic”
9/11 and Saint John Paul II
It was 4:30AM in New York City and in Washington DC on the morning of September 12, 2001. More than just a new day was dawning, however. It was also the dawning of a new era. Just the day before, …
The Science of Evil Just Caught up to Thomas Aquinas
In the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas argues with specificity the maxim that many Catholics have often repeated in the contemplation of evil as a choice: even in committing evil, man always seeks a perceived good. From the Summa: Now a certain …
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 …