There is a rush of books out at the moment decrying the decadence and disintegration of our modern Western culture. Ross Douthat's The Decadent Society is an objective look at the root causes and types of decadence and where it might be leading. Carl Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self examines the philosophical [...]
I was fascinated to read this article about the study of fossilized footprints in New Mexico's White Sands National Park. A small woman—or perhaps an adolescent boy—walks quickly across a landscape where giant beasts roam. The person holds a toddler on their hip, and their feet slip in the mud as they hurry along for nearly [...]
I was a curate (parochial vicar) in the Church of England in the late 80s when an older priest introduced me to the Isle of Wight. The island is a beautiful, little known corner of England that is delightfully behind the times. Opposite the port of Portsmouth, just off the Southern coast of the English mainland, [...]
The divisions in America reached a climax this week, and they are not going to go away. Donald Trump has now said he will assure a peaceful transition of power, but what next? He's also said, "This is just the beginning." Is this more grandstanding and bragging from the braggart in chief or is he planning [...]
Locked, as he was, in the post war struggle with communism, Fulton Sheen's prophecies about the end time are somewhat dated, but his underlying vision is strong and sobering. In his Communism and the Conscience of the West he discusses the Antichrist: The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will [...]
This session is a summary and a chance to draw together the theological themes embedded in the Infancy Narratives.
I love putting together stuff that nobody thought of putting together before, so here's the link between Indy and the Magi: You know the backdrop for the final scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the famous "Treasury" at the historic site of the ancient city of Petra. It's pictured here. Well, the Treasury is not [...]
Here is the poem for the Nativity from my cycle of poems on the Holy Rosary: Forget your Christmas cards and little creche the cutesy donkey, sheep and shepherd boys. Put away the twinkle lights and all that trash; the candy, carols, cards and tacky toys. For there in your safe familiar manger lies something [...]
I've been thinking a lot on the fact that Jesus was born in a cave. Here is an expanded version of an article I wrote which was published last week at The Stream website: If you have set up your nativity scene by now you probably put the figures in a quaint, wooden stable shed. With [...]
First, what do I mean by "Christmas Clutter". I don't mean the boxes of unwanted presents, extra Christmas lights that don't work, abandoned wrapping paper, leftover food or your tree that's dropping its needles. I'm talking about all the stuff that has accumulated around the simple stories of Christmas as recorded in the gospels. Christmas is [...]