The Op-Ed religion writer for the NYT, Ross Douthat, is the able successor to Fr. Neuhaus in writing on the Faith in the  public  square, with one exception: as he writes for the Times and not Catholic print media, his analyses are noticeably devoid of his personal witness of the  Catholic faith-- understandably so. Thus I would like to comment upon  his piece for the Atlantic , having to do with the papacy of Pope Francis. With Francis'accession Douthat correctly notes " the attention-grabbing breaks with papal protocol, the interventions in global politics, the reopening of moral issues that his predecessors had deemed settled, (here he should reconsider whether or not these have been reopened) and the blend of public humility and skillful exploitation—including the cashiering of opponents—of the papal office and its powers." One reading Douthat can only appreciate his wonde...

Rachel Lu has written an insightful article on liturgy for Crisis , which prompted me to recall a childhood memory which is central to her thesis:     My memory is one I shall always remember. It is one of observing from my pew prior to the 6:30 am Mass in 1958 the Sisters entering St. Eugene’s from the front-side entrance of the Church, special to them for access from their one-room convent in the adjoining school. It was winter, and the church was dimly-lit. They entered with awe-inspiring reverence, processing in their full habits, the beads of their waist-draped rosaries colliding gently, genuflecting and kneeling in silent preparation for the soon to occur reenactment in a non-bloody manner of Our Lord’s eternal sacrifice first offered on Calvary for our salvation, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.   The latent aroma of incense and the sight of fresh beeswax candles flickering on the altar, together with the sisters’ silent reverence and obvious pra...

As a history teacher I am fond of pointing out to my classes examples of how the Evil One working with his compatriots have attempted to drive Catholicism from the public sphere and out of existence altogether. The Body of Christ is still here, but that doesn't mean that the historically ignorant will not continue trying. Catholics have Our Lord’s promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail over the Church. But the hellish gates always want another crack at the Church. Let’s start with the Roman Empire - not content with the crucifixion of Christ, they persecuted and killed his disciples for hundreds of years. Emperors came and went and all sorts of policies and goals changed but one thing they all had in common was that they all seemed to think killing and persecuting Catholics was a good thing. The more the Church was persecuted, the more people wanted to know what the Church was about. The blood of the martyrs was seed for the faith. As the saying goes, if y...

Due to a detached retina, I have been unable to blog for awhile-... should recover nicely, bit hard to see at present, so here is some food for thought!

Here is a great Piece by Austin Ruse on the effects of the sexual revolution, first predicted by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae . In it, Ruse cites Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse's new book, The Sexual Revolution and its Victims.   Short on Time? Read Aleteia's interview with Dr. Morse here .