by Shaun Powell “In the seminary we were taught that our homilies should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Recently out of work, I sat in the pew, worried about how I was going to provide for my family. An …
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Grace in the Dark: COVID-Era Quality Time with the Blessed Sacrament
On May 13, Steve Skojec issued a call for submissions detailing a “positive development” showing how “grace is at work in building up the Mystical Body of Christ” in the midst of (among other “demoralizing” events) the COVID epidemic. Here …
Of Scorpions, Frogs, and Politics
“But my people would not listen to me . . . . So I let them go their stubborn ways and do whatever they wished” (Psalm 81:11-12; cf. Romans 1:24-25). One version of a famous fable is this: A …
Very Online Toxicity & Catholic Commboxes
A couple weeks back, I announced that I was temporarily turning off our comment section as a desperate attempt to help keep my head above water. With an overwhelming amount of feedback from a couple of pieces I’d written still …
Our Lady of the Lonely: Oaxaca, Mexico
There is one business that is thriving in this pandemic: The dog-breeding business. Of all things! This I did not know. I discovered this one day as I was walking along the pier at our lake-side city. A popular spot …
There are Gladsome Catholics Out There, in the Real World
Browse the Catholic realm of the internet on a fine afternoon following work, and what shall you see? Another day, another puerile fight. Such is, with increasing frequency, the life of internet “evangelization”. On a recent day I observed a …
Of McCarrick, Jesuits, and Summorum Pontificum
It was a Saturday afternoon in summer. It was bright and sunny. It was a “Saturday vigil” Mass for some green Sunday or other. I was twelve. The celebrant was the diocesan bishop, Theodore McCarrick. He was doing a parish …
The Family That Prays Together Stays Together … But Why?
The phrase, “The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together” was coined by Venerable Father Patrick Peyton.* And it seems to have been received as a relatively uncontroversial assertion. But I want to ask why this works. Why does the family …
Remembering D-Day
They protected our freedoms; now it is our turn. Yesterday, June 6, 2021, marked 77 years since the D-Day Invasion at Normandy. As memories of that fateful day dim, we must take steps to remember. We have a duty to …
OSB vs. UFO: Stanley Jaki and the Theology of Aliens
Publisher’s note: for those unaware of recent developments on the topic of “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” or UAPs, the U.S. Military has declassified several videos showing recent encounters between fighter planes and UAPs (conventionally known as UFOs) as well as Naval …
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