Catholic World Report
Tue, January 26, 2021
Recent Articles
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Second man accuses Chicago’s Father Pfleger of sex abuse
on January 25, 2021 at 10:28 pm
CNA Staff, Jan 25, 2021 / 02:24 pm (CNA).- A second alleged victim has accused activist Chicago priest Fr. Michael Pfleger of sexually abusing him as a minor decades ago, the Chicago archdiocese has confirmed [...]
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Are changes coming to the Vatican Dicastery for Communications?
on January 25, 2021 at 9:56 pm
Vatican City, Jan 25, 2021 / 07:56 pm (CNA).- Increasing rumors from multiple Vatican sources say the Vatican communications department might experience a shakeup shortly, and that Pope Francis might try a new redesign of the dicastery that handles Vatican media. On Jan. 16, Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery of Communications, held a […]
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As Senate dynamic shifts, pro-lifers examine Manchin’s record
on January 25, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2021 / 04:30 pm (CNA).- As Democrats last week took effective control of the Senate, pro-life leaders turned their attention to the record of one senator who could cast pivotal votes in the next two years. Having gaine... [...]
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Filipino diocese mourns murdered priest
on January 25, 2021 at 5:43 pm
Malaybalay, Philippines, Jan 25, 2021 / 03:43 pm (CNA).- A Filipino diocese demanded justice and decried the murder of a priest who was shot and killed by an unknown perpetrator on Sunday. The Diocese of Malaybalay issued a statement Jan. 25 expressing sorrow for the death of Father Rene Bayang Regalado, 42. “The Diocese of Malaybalay with […]
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What translation of Augustine’s Confessions should I read?
on January 25, 2021 at 4:51 pm
Most scholars think that Augustine composed the Confessions in a four year period between 397 and 401, but the most compelling suggestion is that he wrote it in a two week period in 397 when [...]
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Appeals court rules on California churches that challenged Covid restrictions
on January 25, 2021 at 4:01 pm
CNA Staff, Jan 25, 2021 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- An appeals court last week ruled for a second time against a California church which challenged the state’s rules barring in-person worship services for much of the state, deciding that a total ban on in... [...]
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“What shall I do, sir?”: On the conversion of Saint Paul
on January 25, 2021 at 3:18 pm
Readings: • Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22 • Psa 117:1bc, 2 • Mk 16:15-18 Horse or no horse, it’s a powerful, moving story. My pastor and I have a running joke about the conversion of St. [...]
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Supreme Court rules favorably toward inmate requesting priest at execution
on January 25, 2021 at 2:55 pm
Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2021 / 12:55 pm (CNA).- The Supreme Court on Monday ruled favorably toward a Catholic death row inmate requesting the presence of a priest at his execution. In a set of orders released on Monday morning, the court vacated a ru... [...]
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Cardinals offer funeral Mass for homeless man in Rome
on January 25, 2021 at 2:19 pm
Rome, Italy, Jan 25, 2021 / 12:19 pm (CNA).- Papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski offered a funeral Mass Monday for a 64-year-old homeless man who died in Rome. Roberto Mantovani died in a homeless shelter near Rome’s Termini train station af... [...]
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Pro-lifers pleasantly surprised at Kentucky’s enactment of ‘Born-Alive’ bill
on January 25, 2021 at 1:45 pm
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 25, 2021 / 11:45 am (CNA).- A Kentucky bill requiring appropriate medical care for babies surviving attempted abortions became law on Friday. Gov. Andy Bashear (D) neither signed nor vetoed the “Born-Alive&... [...]
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Pope Francis: May the Holy Trinity make Christians grow in unity
on January 25, 2021 at 1:39 pm
Rome, Italy, Jan 25, 2021 / 11:39 am (CNA).- The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity concluded Monday with Vespers at the tomb of St. Paul. Pope Francis was unable to attend the evening prayer Jan. 25 at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls due t... [...]
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Biden reverses military ban on gender transitioning
on January 25, 2021 at 1:00 pm
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 25, 2021 / 11:00 am (CNA).- President Joe Biden on Monday revoked a ban on gender transitioning in the military, allowing troops to serve on the basis of their gender identity. The White House on Monday announced that Pr... [...]
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Biden has ‘developed’ approach to abortion, Sister Simone Campbell says
on January 25, 2021 at 12:35 pm
Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2021 / 10:35 am (CNA).- President Joe Biden has a “very developed approach” to abortion, Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, said during a recent panel discus... [...]
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Vatican Secretary of State calls for synergy in fight against poverty and climate change
on January 25, 2021 at 10:30 am
Vatican City, Jan 25, 2021 / 08:30 am (CNA).- The Vatican Secretary of State has called for a new model of development built on “the synergistic bond” between the fight against climate change and the struggle against poverty. In a video me... [...]
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Pope Francis tells Latin American Ecclesial Assembly not to be elitist
on January 25, 2021 at 7:30 am
Vatican City, Jan 25, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis sent a video message Sunday to Latin American Church leaders organizing a “synodal” regional assembly, in which he asked them not to be ideological elites, but to remain close to th... [...]
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Polish Catholic Church’s ‘Day of Islam’ seeks to ‘overcome prejudices’
on January 25, 2021 at 4:00 am
CNA Staff, Jan 25, 2021 / 02:00 am (CNA).- The Polish Catholic Church’s annual “Day of Islam” on Tuesday is an opportunity to overcome prejudices, a bishop who oversees Catholic-Muslim dialogue in the country has said. Bishop Henryk ... [...]
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Cooperation, appropriation, and vaccines relying on fetal stem cell research
on January 25, 2021 at 1:53 am
Introduction The question whether it is morally licit to produce stem cell lines from embryonic and fetal stem cells, to use these cell lines for the research on or the production of vaccines, and to [...]
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A didactic play at the service of literary art and the truth of Catholicism
on January 24, 2021 at 3:00 pm
The composition of didactic fiction is a risky undertaking. Plots, characters, and the setting of scenes can easily become tools with which a writer makes his points pure means rather than subordinate ends that in [...]
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Pope Francis prays for homeless man who died in freezing cold near St. Peter’s Square
on January 24, 2021 at 9:00 am
Vatican City, Jan 24, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed on Sunday for a homeless man who died near St. Peter’s Square amid freezing temperatures. Speaking after the Angelus on Jan. 24, the pope led prayers for the 46-year-old Nigerian ... [...]
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Bishops reiterate need for direct Israel-Palestine negotiations if there is to be peace
on January 24, 2021 at 8:01 am
CNA Staff, Jan 24, 2021 / 06:01 am (CNA).- A group of Christian leaders who advocate for the Holy Land this week reiterated a call for Israeli and Palestinian authorities to negotiate directly for the sake of peace in the region. They also encouraged Israel to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible to Palestinians. The Holy Land Coordination group, […]
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Vatican archbishop: Turn off your phone and open the Gospel
on January 24, 2021 at 6:00 am
Vatican City, Jan 24, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- A Vatican archbishop urged Catholics to turn off their cell phones and open the Gospel instead as he celebrated Mass marking the Sunday of the Word of God. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pont... [...]
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“Make everything count for eternity’: The story of Fr. Francis X. Lasance
on January 23, 2021 at 8:41 pm
St. Joseph Calasanctius, founder of the Piarist order and the patron saint of Catholic schools, once wrote, “All suffering is slight to gain Heaven.” St. Agapitus, a third-century martyr who was tortured with hot coals [...]
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Pope Francis: Witness to the truth by exposing ‘fake news’
on January 23, 2021 at 7:57 pm
Vatican City, Jan 23, 2021 / 04:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis issued a new warning about misinformation on Saturday, weeks after he was the subject of a viral “fake news” story. Writing in his World [...]
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Vatican gradually to defund some mission territories
on January 23, 2021 at 5:01 pm
Vatican City, Jan 23, 2021 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Earlier this month the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples sent a letter to the bishops of some 1,100 Catholic territories and announced the gradual reduction of the financial support they regula... [...]
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Pope Francis forced to miss more events due to recurrent nerve pain
on January 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm
Vatican City, Jan 23, 2021 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis has been forced to cancel three public appearances scheduled for Sunday and Monday due to a recurrence of the nerve pain that struck him at the end of 2020. The Holy See press office ann... [...]
Analysis
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Cooperation, appropriation, and vaccines relying on fetal stem cell research
on January 25, 2021 at 1:53 am
Introduction The question whether it is morally licit to produce stem cell lines from embryonic and fetal stem cells, to use these cell lines for the research on or the production of vaccines, and to [...]
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Confusion twice confounded: On the motu proprio Spiritus Domini
on January 11, 2021 at 2:01 pm
Pope Francis’s latest motu proprio, Spiritus Domini, opens up the minor ministries of lector and acolyte to women. On the surface, this can look like much-ado-about nothing since females have been functioning as lectors and [...]
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Learning to Sing “Catholic”
on January 3, 2021 at 11:23 pm
The Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops completed work on a document dealing with the doctrinal content (or lack thereof) in hymns used in the Sacred Liturgy in September 2020, [...]
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The logic and danger of Pope Francis’s approach to selecting cardinals
on December 1, 2020 at 4:34 pm
On Saturday, Pope Francis created thirteen cardinals in a consistory, nine of whom will be eligible to vote in a future conclave. Of these, two are officials of the Roman curia while just two others [...]
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The McCarrick Report: Four villains, one saint, and many unanswered questions
on November 20, 2020 at 2:05 am
Unconfirmed stories a couple of months ago indicated that the long-awaited “McCarrick Report” ran to 600 pages; as it turns out, the final count of the English text is 449. Some very thoughtful Vatican person [...]
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The McCarrick Report: No Smoking Gun, but Massive System Failure
on November 10, 2020 at 10:56 am
The long awaited McCarrick Report – or to give it its full, gloriously bureaucratic title, the Report of the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 – 2017) [...]
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Brothers without Borders: Pope Francis’s Quasi-Humanitarian Manifesto
on October 10, 2020 at 4:31 pm
Pope Francis has written an encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, on “fraternity and social friendship” that is unique in the history of the genre. It is not addressed to his brother bishops or the universal Church per [...]
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Culture, dialogue, religion, and truth in Fratelli Tutti
on October 9, 2020 at 10:18 pm
Pope Francis’ recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship, advances a plea to all men and women of good will that they “recover the shared passion to create a community of belonging and [...]
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Fratelli Tutti and its critics
on October 9, 2020 at 5:54 pm
The most recent encyclical from Pope Francis has triggered the usual suspects, many of whom have accused the document, in various ways, of pushing a “one world government” agenda, contradicting past infallible teaching on the [...]
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Fratelli Tutti is a familiar mixture of dubious claims, strawmen, genuine insights
on October 5, 2020 at 3:36 am
One of the first things that will strike readers of Pope Francis’s new social encyclical Fratelli Tutti is its sheer length. At about 43,000 words in English (including footnotes), that’s more than the Book of [...]
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Why pro-lifers shouldn’t give up on the Supreme Court
on October 5, 2020 at 1:55 am
In a September 23rd America magazine piece entitled “Electing Republicans has not reversed Roe v. Wade. It’s time to change our strategy” DePaul University professor William Cavanaugh claims pro-life advocates should abandon the goal of [...]
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The Fatuities of Professor Faggioli
on September 17, 2020 at 7:18 pm
The defense of the dubious by the ill-informed can lead to the preposterous – and that is precisely the slippery slope down which Villanova’s Massimo Faggioli careens in his critique of my recent Washington Post [...]
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Double standards for gatherings in San Francisco a source of growing frustration
on September 4, 2020 at 6:35 pm
Earlier this week, the Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, released a statement calling on the city’s Mayor London Breed; Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax; and San Francisco Health Officer Dr. [...]
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Peacocking, Loyola, and Flannery O’Connor
on August 5, 2020 at 7:00 am
“That a good many Christians today kneel before the world,” Jacques Maritain observed in The Peasant of the Garonne, “is a fact perfectly clear.” Taking aim at the “new philosophy” he detected weaving its way [...]
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School choice overcomes a major historical hurdle
on July 7, 2020 at 6:42 pm
The first term paper I ever wrote (in freshman year of high school) was on the Canadian system of funding faith-based schools. In the early 1980s (those halcyon days of the very pro-Catholic President Ronald [...]
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Is there “systemic racism” among police and in the criminal justice system?
on June 9, 2020 at 8:45 pm
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sounded a sobering note when he announced, on June 3rd, a new set of criminal charges in the death of George Floyd. (Governor Tim Walz appointed Ellison to handle the [...]
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The Anatomy of a Pathology
on May 25, 2020 at 1:52 pm
Those who imagined that the sliming of Cardinal George Pell would stop as of April 7, when a unanimous decision of the High Court of Australia acquitted him of “historical sexual abuse,” did not reckon [...]
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John Paul II: Diagnostician of Divisions, Doctor of Ecumenism
on May 25, 2020 at 12:23 am
Whatever you think about the papacy, it has an unmatched zeal for, and institutional commitment to, Christian unity over the long haul. And nobody was more committed to this for twenty-seven years than the late [...]
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What’s wrong with an Amazonian Rite?
on May 20, 2020 at 2:20 am
In Querida Amazonia, Pope Frances noted that fifty years had passed since the Second Vatican Council had called for an effort to be made “to inculturate [sic] the liturgy among indigenous peoples”.1 He comments that “we [...]
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Wanted: A COVID-19 vaccine that’s safe, effective, and moral
on May 4, 2020 at 11:37 pm
The biopharma sprint toward production of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine has everyone’s attention. Some experts predict one of two vaccine producers will be first to reach the finish line: Sanofi-GSK with its Sars-CoV [...]
Editorial
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Who are we, really, as Americans?
on January 6, 2021 at 9:13 pm
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), made the following remark as part of a longer statement about the violence in the United States Capitol: “I [...]
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The deeply flawed opportunism of Pope Francis
on October 21, 2020 at 9:21 pm
“Pope Blesses Gay Weddings”, declares the headline in Metro, one of Britain’s largest newspapers, over the subhead, “Homosexuals Are Children of God … They Have a Right To Civil Unions”. True? Accurate? Close enough? Not [...]
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Riots, Technocrats, and Normality
on May 30, 2020 at 5:33 pm
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, [...]
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Progressives and the problem of being more Francis than the pope
on February 20, 2020 at 9:30 pm
The highly anticipated and now much discussed post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia struck me as mostly workmanlike. That’s not to dismiss the importance of the text, or to overlook significant passages. Nor is it to [...]
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2009-2019: A decade spent exchanging the truth for a lie
on January 2, 2020 at 9:06 pm
“The Word took on our humanity and in exchange human nature was raised to the divine dignity. The second act of the exchange consists in our real and intimate participation in the divine nature of [...]
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Enough Nones-sense—let’s settle for nothing but Truth
on November 18, 2019 at 9:46 pm
There has been a fair amount of discussion and commentary among Catholics in recent years about “Nones,” notably the work of Bishop Robert Barron, who last week “outlined five paths Church leaders should take to [...]
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The passive-aggressive pontificate continues—and the Synod approaches
on September 10, 2019 at 11:26 pm
Update (Sept. 11, 2019): A full CNA transcript of the in-flight papal press conference from Madagascar is now available. Almost six years ago, in October 2013, I wrote my first piece critical of Pope Francis—a [...]
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How about Catholic defenses of slavery, Nazism, and pornography?
on July 26, 2019 at 7:50 pm
“At any given moment,” wrote the author, translator, and publisher Frank Sheed in The Church and I (1974), “one or other special problem looms to complicate things for the Church, looms and fades. But throughout [...]
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Editorial: Benedict XVI’s essay is both insightful and incomplete
on April 11, 2019 at 3:50 pm
Reaction to the unexpected release of a lengthy text—almost exactly 6,000 words in all—by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, titled “The Church and the scandal of sexual abuse”, has been both swift and polarized. Some have [...]
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Fidelity or Idolatry? The conflict behind us, the crisis among us, the choice before us
on January 7, 2019 at 5:38 pm
“Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113 “For the grace of God has [...]
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The Pope fiddles, the bishops fumble, and the laity fume
on November 14, 2018 at 8:28 pm
I haven’t written an editorial since late July, in part because of the heavy and unceasing flood of news—most of it bad and some of it terrible—within the Church. In my last editorial, posted on [...]
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Without truth there is no trust, and without trust…
on July 23, 2018 at 4:52 pm
This is not a time for silence, mediocrity, or fear for the laity or the bishops. The rot and corruption must be outed; the truth [...]
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Reuters’ misrepresentation of Francis’ remarks on Trump will fuel further distrust
on June 24, 2018 at 6:31 pm
We need essential media coverage that can be trusted, but it's increasingly hard to trust mainstream media outlets to do such basic journalistic work. [...]
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We have Met the problem—and it is ancient, secular, and us
on May 9, 2018 at 6:04 pm
The Gala at the Met was a sad attempt to pretend, to think (or feel, more likely) that colorful celebration and rampant symbolism can capture [...]
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Pope Francis “takes aim” in “Gaudete et Exsultate”—and misses?
on April 9, 2018 at 8:41 pm
The many good qualities and substantive passages in Gaudete et Exsultate are often overshadowed, or even undermined, by straw men, dubious arguments, and cheap shots. [...]
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Cardinal Marx promotes false news about blessings and “homosexual unions”
on February 3, 2018 at 8:19 pm
Will Pope Francis correct the German Cardinal, who has stated that Catholic priests can conduct blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples and says "we have no [...]
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Catholics aren’t obsessed with sex—they are obsessed with life
on January 9, 2018 at 7:48 pm
There seems little doubt, at this point, that 2018 is going to witness yet another great clash over Paul VI's encyclical—arguably the most contested and [...]
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Why does Fr. Martin persist in embarrassing, sleight-of-substance tactics?
on November 3, 2017 at 10:47 pm
The well-known Jesuit priest and author insists that Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy is a "dissenter". That would be funny if it wasn't so stupid. [...]
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In gratitude for the gift of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”
on October 12, 2017 at 1:33 am
How I learned that reading and studying the Catechism, Church doctrine and dogma, and theology are not ultimately about knowing things or facts but about knowing [...]
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Transcendent truth, not leftist hypocrisy, needed to overcome racism and other evils
on August 17, 2017 at 6:04 pm
The Left always seeks to claim and re-name the moral high ground, but has no objective foundations for its radical political project [...]
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Is Cardinal Pell “the quintessential scape-goat”? [Updated]
on July 6, 2017 at 7:53 pm
I’m not an expert—not even close—on Australian politics or Catholicism Down Under, but over the past few years I’ve carried on correspondence with a number of Catholics in Australia. And these folks, all of them [...]
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Pope Francis and the Doctrinal Ideologues
on May 22, 2017 at 12:38 am
There is a reason the Creed is recited every Sunday. And to defend and hold to doctrine is not only not ideological, it is part [...]
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Settle for nothing less than the infinite mystery and infinite delight
on April 27, 2017 at 11:09 am
Back in the early 1840s, John Henry Newman observed that physical philosophers—that is, scientists—”are ever inquiring whence things are, not why; referring them to nature, not to mind; and thus they tend to make a [...]
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The hysterical media attacks on Cardinal Burke
on February 9, 2017 at 10:09 pm
A couple of weeks ago I came across the following, written by Oscar Wilde some 125 years or so ago: In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. That is an [...]
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A Malta Laetitia
on January 14, 2017 at 7:18 am
Just yesterday I was lamenting to some colleagues about how weary I’ve become of the ongoing and escalating debate over Amoris Laetitia and its interpretation. “I would be happy,” I said, “to not write of [...]
Essay
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What translation of Augustine’s Confessions should I read?
on January 25, 2021 at 4:51 pm
Most scholars think that Augustine composed the Confessions in a four year period between 397 and 401, but the most compelling suggestion is that he wrote it in a two week period in 397 when [...]
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The Virus, Abortion, and the Ethic of Isolation
on January 17, 2021 at 1:31 am
As I pen these words tens of thousands of human beings have perished due to the worldwide pandemic of the Coronavirus—over 25,000 in Italy alone. Hardly a corner of the globe has been left unaffected, [...]
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Vistas & Valleys: The instructive paths, perspectives of Maritain and MacIntyre
on January 4, 2021 at 8:10 pm
Since the ancient Greeks, there have generally been two opposing impulses for political thought. The first is summed up in Plato’s Republic, the second in Aristotle’s polis. The republic is large and relies on the [...]
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Apocalypse 2020
on December 30, 2020 at 11:35 pm
It has been an apocalyptic year. As one who teaches theology and ethics, and writes biblical commentary too, permit me to explain that an “apocalypse,” properly speaking, is not a disaster, a scene of death [...]
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In defense of Hans Urs von Balthasar
on December 28, 2020 at 11:36 pm
When I was an undergraduate in minor seminary (1978-81) I was being fed a steady diet of neo-scholastic writers on my way to a philosophy degree. The seminary I attended was an anachronism for such [...]
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The Christmas Question: What Child is This?
on December 24, 2020 at 3:00 pm
Every person’s life involves a story and a mystery. One of the reasons Christmas is such a poignant holiday for all, young and old alike, is that Christmas involves both a story and a mystery. [...]
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Singing through Advent, Part Five: Gloria in excelsis Deo!
on December 23, 2020 at 6:33 pm
Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te, benedicimus te,adoramus te, glorificamus te, gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam, Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, [...]
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Ecumenism, triumphalism, and conscience
on December 21, 2020 at 1:00 am
In The Bishop and Christian Unity, the December 4, 2020 document from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the question addressed briefly regards the following issue: “Changing ecclesial affiliation as an ecumenical challenge and [...]
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Singing through Advent, Part Four: The Gloria and Nunc Dimittis
on December 17, 2020 at 9:13 pm
As our Advent journey draws to a close, we want to consider the last two canticles presented for our prayerful consideration by St. Luke, the Gloria1 and Nunc Dimittis. We now move into the second [...]
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Atheism: The core of modern Western culture in the thought of Augusto del Noce
on December 15, 2020 at 1:40 am
Augusto del Noce (1910-89) is among the least well known of the brilliant political philosophers of the twentieth century. Having the misfortune of composing very dense academic writings in Italian, and generally considered “conservative,” Del [...]
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Gaudete Sunday and finding “the joy of my soul”—even In 2020
on December 12, 2020 at 10:33 pm
“I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul.” —Isaiah 61:10 “Joy has come to me from the Holy One.” —Baruch 4:22 When someone tells me to “be happy,” [...]
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Singing through Advent, Part Three: Benedictus
on December 10, 2020 at 9:02 pm
In this installment, we shall consider the second of Luke’s canticles, the Benedictus. However, like St. Luke himself, we must set the stage. Luke, a very precise historian, informs us of the exact time and [...]
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Interior Monasticism
on December 5, 2020 at 9:52 pm
I am no monk. I think it wise to begin an essay with a remark that is both true and verifiable. The truth of this statement could be demonstrated in at least three ways. First, [...]
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Singing through Advent, Part Two: The Magnificat
on December 4, 2020 at 8:00 am
Some preliminary considerations The context for Our Lady’s canticle of praise, overall, is the Gospel according to St. Luke and, more specifically, within his Infancy Narrative. Only Matthew and Luke offer a “pre-history” to the [...]
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The story of the rise, triumph, and nightmare of the modern self
on November 29, 2020 at 9:08 pm
Anyone wondering if man is capable of reason need look no further than the self-evident fact that he desires to understand. Indeed, he is frustrated when understanding eludes him. In those moments, he experiences what [...]
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What kind of relationship with God?
on November 28, 2020 at 8:17 pm
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part essay. Read Part One here. One sometimes hears preachers exhort their congregations to enter into a “relationship” with God. I have no desire to diminish [...]
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Communion on the floor and the trinity of disorientation
on November 27, 2020 at 9:14 pm
In the fourth century, St. Cyril of Jerusalem asked of those receiving Communion: Tell me, if anyone gave you grains of gold, would you not hold them with all care taking heed lest you should [...]
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Singing through Advent: Part One
on November 26, 2020 at 6:00 pm
“Beauty will save the world,” says’s Dostoevsky’s Idiot. We need beauty. The preeminent theologian of beauty, we might say, was Hans Urs Von Balthasar, who rhapsodized on this notion thus: Beauty is the last thing which [...]
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What kind of relationship? On the “one”, the “many”, and things in the world
on November 24, 2020 at 12:12 am
Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a two-part essay. Read Part Two here. Should we consider “relation” a transcendental property of Being? That may seem an odd question. The transcendental properties of Being are [...]
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“Thy Kingdom Come!”: Christ the King reigns in consciences
on November 21, 2020 at 8:50 pm
That Jesus taught His disciples to pray for the coming of the kingdom (Mt 6:9–13; Lk 11:2–4) long before they could fully understand its true nature has long intrigued me. Clearly, Jesus intends to lead [...]
Opinion
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United States of America in 2021
on January 18, 2021 at 1:59 am
Author’s note: This essay is a response to Carl E. Olson’s January 6, 2021 CWR editorial titled “Who are we, really, as Americans?” New Tribalism There is much confusion in America today, and our citizens [...]
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On the Limits and Failures of Saints
on January 2, 2021 at 10:13 pm
The life and papacy of Saint John Paul II have had an immense impact on the Church after the Second Vatican Council and beyond. One only has to look at his contributions and personal witness [...]
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Apocalypse 2020
on December 30, 2020 at 11:35 pm
It has been an apocalyptic year. As one who teaches theology and ethics, and writes biblical commentary too, permit me to explain that an “apocalypse,” properly speaking, is not a disaster, a scene of death [...]
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Opinion: Covid-19 and the prevailing narrative
on December 28, 2020 at 1:51 am
The political philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre once observed that the surest obstacle preventing someone from seeing the “facts” in front of them is their particular theoretical vision of the world. In other words, if I am [...]
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Opinion: The Limits of Law and Obedience
on December 22, 2020 at 2:35 am
Obedience is not necessarily a virtue. It did not excuse the Nazis at Nuremberg, who were just ‘following orders’. Just as Serviam has its exceptions and nuances, so too Non Serviam can be firmly stated [...]
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Hubris or Bust: The blind march of racial reeducation
on December 7, 2020 at 10:23 pm
According to Christopher F. Rufo, the San Diego Unified School District is requiring teachers to attend “white privilege” trainings where they are taught that they are racists. The captive audience is also taught they are [...]
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Christmas at the Hotel California
on December 4, 2020 at 9:25 pm
“Stab, smite, slay!” roared Luther. Such was his advice to the German aristocracy during the notorious Peasants’ Revolt. Some of the latter doubtless had it coming, and Luther could justify his advice theologically with his [...]
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Critical race theory comes to church and my children’s Catholic schools
on November 19, 2020 at 1:13 am
In mid-August, I attended an online presentation by a Catholic nun on “Race and the Catholic Church.” The presenter—I’ll call her “Sister”—was a theology professor who had taught at a nearby Catholic university. I approached [...]
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The McCarrick Report and the need for new protocols (Part 1)
on November 11, 2020 at 9:09 pm
On June 5, 2019, I spoke to JL, who was working on the McCarrick Report, and who was referred to me by a priest friend. Father told him that I had made a report to [...]
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Faith, reason, and Catholic political engagement
on October 29, 2020 at 6:54 pm
Before I finish this article, it will be obvious how my family and I will vote on November 3, and why. But I’ll also speak of a man whose Catholic faith and public service I [...]
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Reading Fratelli Tutti on Mars Hill
on October 14, 2020 at 8:09 pm
The Abu Dhabi Declaration, last year’s ”Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” has been a notorious source of controversy in the Catholic Church. It is backed now by Pope Francis’s new [...]
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Why pro-lifers shouldn’t give up on the Supreme Court
on October 5, 2020 at 1:55 am
In a September 23rd America magazine piece entitled “Electing Republicans has not reversed Roe v. Wade. It’s time to change our strategy” DePaul University professor William Cavanaugh claims pro-life advocates should abandon the goal of [...]
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Civic life is not political life
on September 28, 2020 at 3:24 pm
Many thoughtful discussions about the difficult choice facing Catholics in the upcoming presidential election make reference to, and argue about the meaning of, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ teaching document, “Forming Consciences for [...]
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Amy Coney Barrett and our Regime of Stratagems
on September 25, 2020 at 12:41 pm
Much has been made of the religious faith of Amy Coney Barrett. And there are many people on the Right who are criticizing those folks in the Senate (and rightly so) who questioned her about [...]
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Making sense of Catholic rage
on September 8, 2020 at 10:04 pm
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. — Hos 4:6 Nature abhors a vacuum. —A Postulate of Aristotle Let no [...]
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Leftists, Islamists, and America’s weakened resolve
on September 7, 2020 at 1:40 am
Until three months ago, an attempted leftist takeover of American cities seemed a remote possibility. It seemed even less likely that, as the lawlessness spread, prominent voices in our society would join the radicals in [...]
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What if parish ministry never returns to ‘normal’…intentionally?
on August 20, 2020 at 7:53 pm
Today, the longing for “normal” is practically palpable. This virus, and all its social ramifications, taints all of life with the abnormal – from wearing a face covering to elbow bumping, and from contact tracing [...]
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A Response to Archbishop Viganò’s Letter about Vatican II
on August 13, 2020 at 5:46 pm
I very much appreciate Archbishop Viganò taking the time to respond to my article that appeared in Inside the Vatican on July 27, 2020. However, I found his response, posted on August 10th at Inside [...]
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Good Cop, Bad Cop
on August 11, 2020 at 4:25 pm
The aftermath of the wrongful death of George Floyd has unfortunately seen another wrong: the perception of too many police officers as villains. Police are feeling it, painfully. Many of them are blaming not just [...]
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The Health-First Heresy
on August 7, 2020 at 11:26 pm
“Of all the sad and surreal things to happen in the past few months,” writes Mary Wakefield in The Spectator, “the Catholic church’s decision to abandon the dying was, for me, the worst.” Wakefield goes [...]
Interview
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The life, faith, and struggle of Joseph Ratzinger: An interview with Peter Seewald
on January 13, 2021 at 10:58 pm
The veteran German journalist Peter Seewald first met Joseph Ratzinger nearly thirty years ago. Since then he has published two best-selling book length interviews with Cardinal Ratzinger—Salt of the Earth: An Exclusive Interview on the [...]
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Ad Memoriam Maximi Magistri Latinae Linguae: Fr. Reginald Foster (1939-2020)
on January 12, 2021 at 6:11 pm
For the past few years the best Latin lessons in the world were being offered in the unlikely setting of a nursing home basement in Milwaukee. After working in the Vatican for 40 years as [...]
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Norbertine nuns mark 900th anniversary of Order with biography of founder
on January 7, 2021 at 11:06 pm
The Norbertine Canonesses of the Bethlehem Priory of St Joseph of Tehachapi, California have released a new book about the founder of their community: The Life of St. Norbert: Founder of the Order of Prémontré. The [...]
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The significance of the Diocese of Brooklyn case in fighting restrictions
on December 20, 2020 at 1:21 am
In this interview with Catholic World Report, attorney Randy Mastro discusses the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the right to religious freedom in the case presented by the Diocese of Brooklyn, demonstrating religions were [...]
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Cardinal Pell: Prison Journal is “a historic record and daily spiritual discipline”
on December 16, 2020 at 8:58 pm
Australian Cardinal George Pell, 79, has released a new book through Ignatius Press: Prison Journal, Volume 1: The Cardinal Makes His Appeal. Composed of three volumes, the Cardinal offers daily reflections on his conviction and [...]
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Remembering Maurice Baring, literary convert and beloved friend of Chesterton
on December 13, 2020 at 8:33 pm
December 14 marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Maurice Baring, literary convert, bestselling novelist and beloved friend of G. K. Chesterton. To commemorate the anniversary and to celebrate the legacy of this great [...]
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“Axe-grinding and message spoil what you make”: An interview with Marly Youmans
on November 22, 2020 at 9:41 pm
Novelist, poet, and story-teller extraordinaire Marly Youmans, author of fifteen books, has been described as “the best-kept secret among contemporary American writers” and “a novelist and poet out of sync with the times but in [...]
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Understanding and surviving a culture dominated by expressive individualism
on November 16, 2020 at 1:01 am
Carl R. Trueman (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College. A church historian and prolific Evangelical author (he is a member of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church), Trueman [...]
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Robert Hugh Benson, literary converts, and the Church in a dystopian age
on November 14, 2020 at 2:26 am
In this interview with Jan Franczak for the Polish Journal, PCh24, biographer and literary critic Joseph Pearce discusses the importance of the convert writer, Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914), as well as other great literary converts. [...]
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“The arts are languages of the soul”: An interview with Michael O’Brien
on November 7, 2020 at 5:02 pm
Iconographer, painter, and writer Michael O’Brien has been a unique creative force for decades. He is the popular author of several best-selling novels, including Father Elijah, Elijah in Jerusalem, The Father’s Tale, Eclipse of the Sun, Sophia House, Theophilos, The Fool [...]
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“Liturgical mysticism is the crowning of the Christian life”
on October 31, 2020 at 12:34 am
David Fagerberg is Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, where he has been since 2003. His area of expertise is liturgical theology, and he has published several books in [...]
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Blues with friends, life with God: A conversation with Dion and Mike Aquilina
on October 13, 2020 at 3:24 pm
Dion DiMucci’s music is the soundtrack of the 1950s. Hits such as “The Wanderer,” “Runaround Sue,” “A Teenager in Love,” and “I Wonder Why” form part of the fabric of that decade in the popular [...]
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Cardinal Müller discusses Fratelli tutti, Trump and Biden, Corona-virus restrictions, German “Synodal Process”
on October 12, 2020 at 5:43 pm
Editor’s note: The following interview with Gerhard Cardinal Müller by Roland Noé was originally published at Kath.net on October 5, 2020. It is published here in English by permission of kath.net. Kath.net: On Sunday, [October [...]
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The true Christopher Columbus and the crisis of the West
on October 12, 2020 at 12:28 am
On October 12th, 1492, at about 2:00 in the morning, a man named Rodrigo de Triana, shouted from his ship the words “¡Tierra! ¡Tierra!” That moment marked one of the pivotal events in history. Europeans [...]
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The Beauty of the Liturgy
on September 27, 2020 at 11:39 pm
Editor’s note: This is an installment in our series on the evangelizing power of beauty. In this series, we are looking at how beauty can bring us to God, convey a sense of the sacred, point [...]
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Defending America’s Rule of Reason
on September 11, 2020 at 5:13 pm
America is in crisis. Beyond the trials and tribulations associated with COVID-19, there is rioting in the streets and calls for the “rebranding” of the United States in terms of identity politics. These are times [...]
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Atheist, racist, bigot, sexist: The truth about the demonic Karl Marx
on September 2, 2020 at 12:11 am
In 1999, Harvard University Press published The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, revealing a “tragedy of planetary dimensions.” It documented the untold atrocities of communism and all the people whose lives and livelihood [...]
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Director of Fatima film: “I think we achieved something believable.”
on August 22, 2020 at 10:01 pm
The new film Fátima (in theaters and on demand August 28), from filmmaker Marco Pontecorvo, is the first major screen adaptation of the story of the Fátima apparitions and the Miracle of the Sun in [...]
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Negotiating grace, nature, freedom, autonomy: A conversation with Douglas Farrow
on August 19, 2020 at 12:29 am
Douglas Farrow, PhD, is professor of theology and Christian thought at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. A noted lecturer and a prolific essayist, he is the author of several books, including Ascension and Ecclesia, Ascension Theology, [...]
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Classical music, beauty, and evangelization: An interview with Michael Kurek
on August 3, 2020 at 6:52 pm
Editor’s note: This is an installment in our series on the evangelizing power of beauty. In this series, we are looking at how beauty can bring us to God, convey a sense of the sacred, point [...]
Film and Music
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Film on Hopkins introduces 19th-century Jesuit priest and poet to wider audience
on December 6, 2020 at 1:28 pm
A new EWTN film about the Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89) seeks to introduce the unique nineteenth-century Victorian-era writer to a wider audience. The film was made by Dr. Andrew Nash, who [...]
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New Life in Catholic Theater: Catholic Young Adult and Lolek
on November 17, 2020 at 1:45 am
If it is true, as writer Ross Douthat would have it, that we live in an age of decadence characterized by sterile remakes, reboots, and revivals of earlier artistic works, it is also true that [...]
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The Cinema Paradiso of Ennio Morricone’s sacred compositions
on October 25, 2020 at 1:10 am
“When I am falling asleep, I still imagine that I am responding to my mother’s Ave Maria … I pray for an hour every day, sometimes even more. It is the first thing that I [...]
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Director of Fatima film: “I think we achieved something believable.”
on August 22, 2020 at 10:01 pm
The new film Fátima (in theaters and on demand August 28), from filmmaker Marco Pontecorvo, is the first major screen adaptation of the story of the Fátima apparitions and the Miracle of the Sun in [...]
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The Last Words of Norma
on May 26, 2020 at 2:36 pm
“The anti-choice movement will have a field-day with this and exploit it for all it’s worth.” These are words of Kate Michelman, former head of the National Abortion Rights Action League, spoken on the August [...]
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New film presents the story and message of Fr. Patrick Peyton, the “Rosary Priest”
on May 9, 2020 at 4:00 pm
Update (September 1, 2020): The film PRAY: The Story of Patrick Peyton will be released in theaters on October 9th. See the film’s website for further details. Family Theater Productions is preparing for the theatrical [...]
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The Good Place: It’s not nihilism, it’s purgatory
on April 20, 2020 at 2:26 pm
Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for season four of The Good Place. If you’ve watched the fourth and final season of NBC’s The Good Place, you already know that the show seems to end [...]
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Sight & Sound Theatre’s Jesus: An Evangelical Gospel Story
on April 10, 2020 at 1:33 pm
“Where the Bible comes to life” is the slogan of Sight & Sound Theatres, headquartered in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish country. Their growing repertoire of Biblical stage extravaganzas — among them [...]
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A disappointing take on a beloved classic
on December 31, 2019 at 10:28 pm
Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel Little Women has been adapted numerous times for the big and small screens; even those who have never cracked open the book know and love the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, [...]
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“Christ’s life is a demand”: The courage of endurance in A Hidden Life
on December 30, 2019 at 11:37 pm
In Thomas Aquinas’ treatment of the virtue of courage, he argues that endurance—“which is the capacity to stand immovable in the face of dangers”—rather than attack, is the chief mark of courage. Among the reasons [...]
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The Rise of Skywalker: Reduced expectations and damage control
on December 22, 2019 at 10:24 pm
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not a good movie. Its frenetic pace rushes us through a convoluted plot, any particular moment of which has its own problems. The plausibility of the plot and [...]
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The Two Popes is full of serious errors—and several surprises
on December 18, 2019 at 8:39 pm
I could write a pamphlet, perhaps even a short book, about all the factual errors and distortions in Brazilian director Fernando Mereilles’ film The Two Popes. However, despite the film’s numerous inaccuracies, a couple of [...]
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Star Wars: The Rise of Nostalgia
on December 17, 2019 at 3:48 pm
For those who grew up a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the final episode in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker, promises an emotional conclusion to what was a [...]
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Forgiveness and reconciliation in Mr. Rogers’ iconic “Neighborhood”
on November 26, 2019 at 4:25 pm
Everyone who grew up in America between 1968 and 2001 was likely touched by the classic children’s TV series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” starring a soft-spoken Presbyterian minister named Fred Rogers. Rogers was concerned about the [...]
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Docudrama about Saint Faustina seeks to lead people to Christ
on October 5, 2019 at 11:54 am
Love and Mercy – Faustina, a docudrama about the Divine Mercy and Saint Faustina Kowalska, will open for a single day only in more than 700 U.S. theaters nationwide on Monday, October 28th. The Divine [...]
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The End of the ’60s and the celebrity culture of evil
on August 30, 2019 at 6:47 pm
In her book The White Album (Simon & Schuster, 1979), Joan Didion writes that “the Sixties ended… at the exact moment when word” of the Manson murders circulated. In his current film Once Upon a [...]
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Tarantino’s bloody moralism and “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”
on August 9, 2019 at 8:59 pm
Quentin Tarantino has spent the last decade rewriting American history. His business is now poetic justice: the oppressed return in time, through Hollywood, to punish their historical oppressors. Inglorious Basterds (2009) had Jews kill Hitler, [...]
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Stranger Things 3: Plenty of thrills, but also loss of heart
on July 8, 2019 at 10:21 pm
[Editor’s note: Minor spoilers alert!] Season 3 of Stranger Things ends with an apology for itself. The closing soliloquy on change, growing up and moving on doubles as a self-conscious excuse for the show’s decline. [...]
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“The Office” and…Flannery O’Connor?
on July 6, 2019 at 5:42 pm
This week The Office, the Steve-Carrell-led TV satire, made headlines to the tune of fan outrage when it was announced that Netflix lost its long-held rights to the show when the streaming service was outbid [...]
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Stranger lessons from Stranger Things
on July 3, 2019 at 4:33 pm
With the premiere of Stranger Things 3 upon us—the new season will be released tomorrow—there are plenty of good reasons why Catholics might not tune in. You already well know the foremost of these: “the [...]
History
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“Make everything count for eternity’: The story of Fr. Francis X. Lasance
on January 23, 2021 at 8:41 pm
St. Joseph Calasanctius, founder of the Piarist order and the patron saint of Catholic schools, once wrote, “All suffering is slight to gain Heaven.” St. Agapitus, a third-century martyr who was tortured with hot coals [...]
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City of splendor and filth: A review of The Accursed Tower
on January 9, 2021 at 10:49 pm
In 1108 Tughtegin, the Turkic atabeg of Damascus, offered to trade Gervase of Bezoches, the captured crusader Prince of Galilee, for the city of Acre (and two smaller possessions). Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, refused. [...]
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Pius XII, the New Vatican Archives, and the “hypologists”
on January 8, 2021 at 10:42 pm
Church history is a very strange phenomenon. It does not matter whether your academic position classifies you as an historian. If you are a Christian you risk having the label “apologist” put on your work, [...]
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A World Alive: How Tolkien transformed England-as-Elfland into Middle-earth
on December 19, 2020 at 1:30 am
Middle-earth is almost as vivid a character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s work as any sentient being who walks upon it. Its finely detailed vistas read like descriptions of actual places. The believability of the setting invites [...]
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Film on Hopkins introduces 19th-century Jesuit priest and poet to wider audience
on December 6, 2020 at 1:28 pm
A new EWTN film about the Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89) seeks to introduce the unique nineteenth-century Victorian-era writer to a wider audience. The film was made by Dr. Andrew Nash, who [...]
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The little known and often-surprising history of Catholic Confederates
on December 3, 2020 at 8:02 pm
There exists a stereotypical image of the American South as a militantly Protestant and strongly anti-Catholic environment. Gracjan Kraszewski’s fascinating book Catholic Confederates: Faith and Duty in the Civil War South should do much to [...]
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New history of Catholics in the United States full of scholarship, insight, humor
on November 25, 2020 at 7:14 pm
Dr. Kevin Starr (1940-2017) was an amazingly prolific, talented, and innovative historian. His books on California, especially the five-volume California Dream series, which he completed while he was California State Historian, remain models of true [...]
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November 1920-2020: A Century of Abortion in Russia
on November 18, 2020 at 12:55 am
Kudos to Rachel’s Vineyard and the Sisters in Jesus the Lord (as well as Jennifer Roback Morse at the Ruth Institute) for marking the centennial of a tragic moment. It was 100 years ago, November [...]
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The Faith of Charles de Gaulle
on November 8, 2020 at 11:56 pm
2020 is a year of anniversaries for one of the most well-known statesmen in French history. Not only does it mark the eightieth anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s Appeal of June 18 which called on [...]
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The true Christopher Columbus and the crisis of the West
on October 12, 2020 at 12:28 am
On October 12th, 1492, at about 2:00 in the morning, a man named Rodrigo de Triana, shouted from his ship the words “¡Tierra! ¡Tierra!” That moment marked one of the pivotal events in history. Europeans [...]
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Some People Did See It Coming
on October 8, 2020 at 1:55 am
If only for the sake of accuracy and fairness, the first-person plural pronoun in the title of this book begs definition, since a good many people did see “it” coming over the last four decades. [...]
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The See of Peter in a dark and troubled age
on September 22, 2020 at 1:35 am
Anyone who has experienced the miracle of modern dentistry mourns little the passing of the Middle Ages. But Modernity (the period from the Renaissance to sometime in the twentieth-century), even with extraordinary advances in medicine [...]
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Accessible and imperfect, American Catholics is discomforting to left and right
on September 20, 2020 at 10:20 pm
Readers of this journal are no doubt aware of the recent traditionalist attacks on the theological orthodoxy of the Second Vatican Council. This theological critique generally carries with it some version of the following historical [...]
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The Constitution: An excerpt from America on Trial
on September 17, 2020 at 1:35 am
Editor’s note: On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Since 2005, September 17th has been celebrated in the United States as both Constitution Day and Citizenship [...]
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Celebrating the Centennial of “The Miracle on the Vistula”
on August 14, 2020 at 4:51 pm
August 15 marks the Feast of the Assumption as well as the centenary of the Battle of Warsaw, during which the Polish Army defeated the Red Army, which sought to not only to conquer Poland [...]
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Recalling the glory of St. Joan of Arc on the 100th anniversary of her canonization
on May 16, 2020 at 1:24 am
May 16, 2020, is the 100th anniversary of the canonization of St. Joan of Arc, one of the most inspiring and enigmatic figures in the history of the Church. The “Father of American Literature”, Mark [...]
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The Plague
on April 27, 2020 at 7:46 pm
“A furious plague . . . burst like a blast on the land, thinning the population and throwing the work of the world into ruin. There was a shortage of labour; a difficulty of getting [...]
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Lessons from History on the Coronavirus Pandemic
on April 8, 2020 at 10:18 pm
In a recent article for Catholic World Report I offered some “lessons from literature on the coronavirus”, focusing on the three chapters in Manzoni’s classic novel, The Betrothed, which are set during the plague that [...]
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Recourse made once again to Mary, Salus Populi Romani
on March 28, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Perhaps no man ascended to the throne of St. Peter in more difficult circumstances than Pope Gregory, who is most justly called “the Great”. When he became pope in 590, the city of Rome lay [...]
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The church that stands at the spot of Christ’s birth
on December 23, 2019 at 3:40 pm
The place rendered sacred by the birth of the Savior does not look like one would expect it to. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem looks more like a dilapidated fortress than a basilica. [...]
Special Report
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“We few, we happy few”: On Joe Scheidler’s joyful legacy
on January 22, 2021 at 8:44 pm
Over the next several days, pro-lifers across the country will gather to mourn the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Thousands will join peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics or march in state capitals. Although the [...]
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2021 Walk for Life West Coast goes forward despite other walk cancellations
on January 20, 2021 at 5:37 pm
While many major pro-life marches across the country typically held in January are being cancelled, the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco, according to organizer Eva Muntean, appears to be going ahead. The [...]
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Ad Memoriam Maximi Magistri Latinae Linguae: Fr. Reginald Foster (1939-2020)
on January 12, 2021 at 6:11 pm
For the past few years the best Latin lessons in the world were being offered in the unlikely setting of a nursing home basement in Milwaukee. After working in the Vatican for 40 years as [...]
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Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments in COVID-19 schools case
on December 8, 2020 at 9:25 pm
MADISON, Wisconsin — A county health officer’s emergency order that closed schools to in-person instruction for grades 3-12 faces a “pretty tall order” to overcome constitutional protections for religious liberty, a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice [...]
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Christ Child at the capitol
on November 24, 2020 at 8:52 pm
Nearly two-thirds of state capitol buildings in the United States will display a Nativity crèche this Christmas season, a nearly 50 percent increase in just two years under a partnership between American Nativity Scene and [...]
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New Life in Catholic Theater: Catholic Young Adult and Lolek
on November 17, 2020 at 1:45 am
If it is true, as writer Ross Douthat would have it, that we live in an age of decadence characterized by sterile remakes, reboots, and revivals of earlier artistic works, it is also true that [...]
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Dioceses offer free interment to encourage proper burial of cremated bodies
on November 1, 2020 at 12:11 pm
MADISON, Wisconsin — Bring them home to holy ground for All Souls Day. That is the message and the simple goal of “Lay Them to Rest,” a new program at two Diocese of Madison cemeteries. [...]
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“The Memorial of Unborn Children II” portrays regret, mercy, healing
on October 28, 2020 at 5:21 pm
MADISON, Wisconsin — Pain. Horror. Grief. Regret. Mercy. Forgiveness. Healing. The sculpture just installed at Resurrection Cemetery in the Diocese of Madison expresses the profound emotional impact of the many losses of those children killed [...]
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Abortion and Racism: Conversations with three black, pro-life leaders
on October 27, 2020 at 7:05 pm
As this past summer of protests and racial unrest was heating up, I began hearing increasing criticism directed at the American pro-life movement. An extreme, but telling example came from Rolling Stone Magazine’s Jamil Smith [...]
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Our Lady’s care for broken lives
on October 15, 2020 at 10:28 pm
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Grace Williams’ five-year-long drive to open a home for victims of child sex trafficking is a good argument for the reality—and beauty—of Divine Providence. Doing battle with a hostile California state [...]
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The National Centre for Padre Pio is a monument rooted in faith and gratitude
on September 22, 2020 at 6:08 pm
Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus delivered these parting remarks to His disciples: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; [...]
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In Chicago, shattered glass but also a vision of heaven
on September 9, 2020 at 5:30 pm
After all the bad news coming out of Chicago—the vandalism, looting, attacks against the police in the name of social justice, many homicides, depredations of the virus—it was good to finally get some good news [...]
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COVID-19 closing order causes “irreparable harm” to Catholic schools, lawsuit argues
on August 29, 2020 at 1:04 am
MADISON, Wisconsin — The last-minute COVID-19 school-closing order by the Dane County health authority tramples on constitutionally protected freedom of religion and has caused “irreparable harm” to local Catholic schools that spent hundreds of thousands [...]
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Three black Catholics reflect on faith, race, and the prevailing narrative
on August 19, 2020 at 5:27 pm
As the national conversation about race, prompted by the killing of George Floyd, dominated headlines and social media this summer, many Catholics turned their attention to racism in the Church and among believers, both throughout [...]
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Bishop Hying and Archbishop Listecki lead Eucharistic procession in Madison, WI
on August 15, 2020 at 9:02 pm
MADISON, Wisconsin — The Second Person of the Holy Trinity was given a police escort up riot-scarred State Street to the Wisconsin Capitol building on Saturday, followed in procession by 2,000 Catholics who proclaimed in [...]
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The Nantes Cathedral fire is a symptom of a growing problem across Europe
on July 23, 2020 at 11:21 am
This past Saturday morning, many awoke to images of another French cathedral on fire—this time in the heart of Nantes. In the early morning hours of July 18, a fire began in the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral. [...]
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Madison’s Days of Rage
on June 24, 2020 at 11:07 pm
MADISON, Wisconsin — A night of rioting by Black Lives Matter supporters upset over the arrest of one of the group’s activists started just hours after the bat-wielding man allegedly accosted a 40-year-old woman praying [...]
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In the shadow of an atheist superpower: Catholicism in Taiwan
on June 16, 2020 at 3:36 pm
On May 23, Pope Francis appointed Thomas Chung An-zu as the new archbishop of Taipei, Taiwan in a move that came just days after Taiwan’s devoutly Catholic vice president, Chen Chien-jen, stepped down from office [...]
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Nigerian Catholics providing COVID-19 relief to poor communities
on June 6, 2020 at 2:00 pm
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – In Nigeria, Catholic parishes and communities are providing relief materials and supplies to the poor and vulnerable people in the rural areas since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The Church in the [...]
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No shelter-in-place for the unborn
on June 4, 2020 at 12:03 pm
These past three months have often felt like wartime, complete with restrictions and rationing. And as often happens in wartime, a parallel struggle has played out under cover of the general chaos. Its battles have [...]