Happy Feast Day, St. Athanasius!
A true patron saint for our times.
Seeing My Father Pray the Rosary Saved Me From Homosexuality
As a child, I revered my father and I didn’t understand him. I instinctively knew that my survival depended upon him. My father was a hard worker. He was industrious. He could create something out of nothing: a garden, a tree house, an addition to our home. He was a dispenser of my material happiness;…
Why do the Freemasons Love Pope Francis? Part II
Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a longer three-part study of how the Freemasons in the world have responded to Pope Francis and his papacy. Without further introduction, we continue herewith the collection of quotes and varied evidence to show just how much Masonry approves of Pope Francis. Part Two of Three Parts:…
Leaked Report of Cardinal Burke Audience Reveals Background on Malta Crisis
Today, 28 April, the Austrian Catholic website Kath.net has published an important report written by a Maltese Knight about a recent audience with Cardinal Raymond Burke in which the (“de facto suspended“) Cardinal Patron revealed much of the background of the current crisis in the Order. Burke, who has not spoken publicly on the matter himself,…
Fra’ Festing Rediscovers His Fight
When Fra’ Matthew Festing abdicated his position as Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta — at the pope’s direct request — it left many scratching their heads. How could he allow himself to be pushed out so easily? How was it that his earlier resistance to interference in the sovereign order over which…
An Unsettling Development in Norcia
I’ve never been to Norcia, but before the seemingly-endless series of earthquakes that ravaged the town and destroyed the Basilica of St. Benedict, I would imagine it as my friend Hilary White described it, or as it was captured so beautifully in the photographs and descriptions (like the one above) offered by Julian Kwasniewski. Just the other…
Christ’s Atonement: More Than Just Payment for Sin
One sunny autumn day, as I was taking a walk throughout my neighborhood, I spotted a man whom I had never met before, and who I knew did not live in the neighborhood. After briefly talking, he reached into his pocket and handed me something. It was a dollar bill with a picture of Benjamin…
FSSP Superior Distinguishes Fraternity from SSPX, Eschews “Traditionalist” Label
(Image: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at an ordination of FSSP priests in Wigratzbad, Germany, 1990.) The usually cautious and reserved Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) has now given its current opinion concerning the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and on its possible formal re-integration into the structures of the Catholic Church. Father Bernhard Gerstle – the…
A Short Summary of the 22 April Lay Conference on Amoris Laetitia
Yesterday, 22 April, there took place the important lay conference in Rome which was organized by the Italian publications La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana and Il Timone and which was dedicated to a public critique of the post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Already today, there have been several articles about this event published, among them by Dr. Sandro Magister,…
Ravens and Saints
I seem to be developing a particular love and admiration for our corvid friends lately, with a pair of clever and beautiful magpies visiting my garden in Norcia quite regularly and huge numbers of crows and ravens in that ancient valley. It struck me a while ago just how frequently they appear in Christian history…
Remembering to Say Thank You
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost May. 2017 is speeding by, and it seems like it’s all we can do to just keep up. Every day, a little voice in the back of my head reminds me: “Hey! Say thank you to all the people who make this possible!” I even have a reminder email…
