How many times have I heard priests exclaim their enthusiasm for ‘full participation’ at Mass. It is a kind of modern Catholic mantra. Indeed, not only a Catholic mantra, it has become an ideological slogan before which all must bow. So, in the name of ‘full participation’ we have overturned 2000 years of church architectural tradition [...]
My article for Imaginative Conservative website this week is a review of Dr Taylor Marshall's excellent novel,Sword and Serpent Taylor takes us to fourth century Rome to tell the story of St George and the Dragon. He's done a great job weaving together legend, myth, history and a traditional hero's quest story. His accomplishment in Sword and [...]
My article for Aleteia this week echoes Pope Francis' message at his audience on Wednesday. Take some time off and relax! Beginning a three-part teaching in support of the family, Pope Francis began with the subject of celebration. His down to earth teaching in his usual accessible style was a reminder of the third commandment to [...]
I should say straight up that I am not a political animal. I'm Amish. That is to say, my usual response to politics is to shrug and say, "A plague of both your houses." My cynicism about politics springs from several instincts. The first is that anybody who wants to be in power probably shouldn't be, [...]
News is out that Sophia Institute Press (along with Crisis Magazine and Catholic Exchange websites) will soon be holding hands with EWTN This is good news. Small publishers are finding it increasingly difficult and EWTN's media muscle and global reach will help promote their books, authors and websites. In turn, Sophia Institute Press will be able to [...]
One of the most disgusting things we are witnessing in the present political turmoil in the United States is how much xenophobic racism is still around. Not only does it disturb me that it's there, but it disturbs me even more that it's here. What I mean is that I am instinctively and naturally a conservative. [...]
My article for Imaginative Conservative this week is a report on my recent visit to Italy to see the Shroud of Turin. So what formed the image? The best description is that it is an extremely delicate singe marking. Italian physicist Paolo Di Lazzaro concedes in an article for National Geographic that every scientific attempt to replicate it [...]
Sodom and Gomorrah With the rise in violence, abortion, sexual immorality, the breakdown of family, abuse of children, extreme economic inequality, pollution, genocide, terrorism and war many people are saying, "Surely God can't allow this to continue." People ask if God is going to punish us. They remember what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. They [...]
John Allen reports here on the continued conversations about how to best deal with divorced and re married Catholics. Every pastor feels sympathy for the spouse who has been abandoned by a creep of a husband or a tramp of a wife. The innocent party in a marriage break up has to suffer? Why can't we have [...]
Women Priests? The other day some rumors started flying that one of the newly appointed bishops of LA--Fr David O'Connell, was on the record as being in favor of married priests and women priests. The comment was from a statement somebody, somewhere dug up about Fr O'Connell from 2002. I'm sure if it is [...]