The movie Braveheart dramatizes the heroic struggle, led by the commoner William Wallace, for Scottish independence. In one scene, the Scottish nobles gather after some initial victories by William Wallace over the English. The nobles begin bickering over how best to negotiate with the English King, Edward Longshanks, for they fear losing their lands and…
I have never been more than an occasional viewer of Fr. Robert Barron’s Word on Fire chats. His recent televised interview with EWTN’s Catherine Szeltner put paid to whatever interest I had. Newly elevated to an auxiliary bishop in the sprawling L.A. diocese, now-Bp. Barron was in Baltimore for his initial appearance among the USCCB.…
Halloween snuck up on my family again this year. A new baby, a child entering college, a late start to homeschool, and the ever-present demands of work and family just about pushed the whole thing out of our minds. We were going to do a family theme: the Skojecs as the Avengers for Halloween. It was perfect.…
It’s been a heavy couple of months. I’m feeling it, and I’m sure you are, too. Which is why this Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer spoof from the crew of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is just what the doctor ordered.
After the first terrorist attack in Paris in January of 2014, I began working on this essay. Following the most recent attacks, I decided it was time to finish it and see it published. Two important articles have raised important questions about the state of the West in its unavoidable confrontation with the increasing expansiveness…
A couple of things have come to my attention in terms of the day-to-day operation of the site that need to be dealt with. I’ll list them briefly here. Advertisements We have advertisers here at 1P5. Good people who pay good money to link to their products and services. These are not ads served up by…
Maureen Mullarkey’s latest is up on her personal blog. A preview: One thing for which we can be grateful to Pope Francis: His pontificate puts paid to the superstition that our popes are chosen by the Holy Spirit. That could only be believable if we are willing to say that the Spirit operates like a…
“Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, “have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders.” It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church, Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible.” – Catechism…
I spent the first six hours of today seeing to neglected administrative tasks – cleansing my inboxes of the thousands of emails languishing there (and no, I haven’t gotten back to all of you yet – feel free to follow up if you are waiting on something from me), processing checks from our donors (thank…
This morning, Steve recorded a new podcast with Islamic Scholar and Catholic author, Andrew Bieszad, about the Paris attacks. Andrew’s assessment of what we’re seeing — and what’s coming — is a sobering one. Don’t miss it.
In the wake of the Paris attacks, Steve speaks to Islamic Scholar and author Andrew Bieszad, who says that the kinds of terror attacks we’re seeing from ISIS are nothing more than “The Application of Islamic Teaching in Practice.” Worse yet, Andrew believes this is just the beginning of what’s to come. From France to Europe,…
