E. Tyler Graham

About E. Tyler Graham

Dr. E. Tyler Graham has been teaching high school for 25 years and has a humanities B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. in religion from Syracuse, an M.T.S. from Ave Maria University, and a Doctorate in Theological Studies from Pontifex University. He currently lives in Ave Maria, Florida, with his wife and children. There, both spouses teach at, and all 6 children attend or have graduated from Donahue Academy, a Catholic classical school.

Resurrecting Catholic Schools

In his unforgettable book Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Anthony Esolen, with his typical elegance of prose, articulates the dissipation of American culture along with a clarion call to rebuild it. At a key moment in his … [Read more...]

Sacrificing Sacrifice

In the midst of the Eucharistic Revival, Dr. Lawrence Feingold, seminary professor at Kenrick-Glennon and author of (among many other things) The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice, and Communion, suggests that we may be missing … [Read more...]

Pope Benedict XVI Has Found What He’s Been Looking For

In a relatively recent children’s animated movie sequel, “Sing 2” (yes, the sequel to Sing!), the producers succeeded in getting the famous lead singer “Bono” (from the band U2) to be the voice for the main hero of the movie. Bono is voice-o … [Read more...]

Shepherding the Flock Out of the 1962 Missal

The time has come, says God to Moses. You must lead my people out of Egypt, out of captivity, toward the Promised Land.[1. Ex 3:10.] Unfortunately for the eager travelers, the journey lasts 40 years,[2. Deut 1:3.] and along the way the … [Read more...]

Liberating Catholic Adolescents

Freedom is a prominent theme of the Second Vatican Council and the teachings of the Church in the modern world; it thus plays a significant role in the contemporary Church’s reflection on education. The Church does not merely wish to r … [Read more...]

The Death Penalty Is a Failed Sacrifice

The final abolition of the death penalty in the 2018 revision of the Catechism[1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2267.] and follow-up confirmation in the latest Pope Francis encyclical, Fratelli tutti,[2. Pope Francis, Fratelli … [Read more...]

Pope Francis and the Girardian Moment

The promulgation of the Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exsultate constitutes a decisive moment in the Magisterial teaching of the Church. Perhaps its most obvious contribution is breathing the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola into the … [Read more...]

Homeschooling Is Not the Ideal

[N.B: Essays appearing on Homiletic & Pastoral Review have been deemed to be compatible with the teaching of the Church, but do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HPR. Fr. Meconi and his staff have always been grateful for the hard … [Read more...]

Online Education Is Not Fully Catholic Education

I am a Catholic high school teacher, and, by May 1st, I will have taught five weeks of online education. This is an act of obedience to various authorities so that, instead of having nothing available for my quarantined high school … [Read more...]

Pope Francis and the Purification of Heroic Desire

It is the duty of pastoral homiletics to call the faithful to heroic virtue. Virtue itself, to be sure, is a core fruit of receiving the Gospel, but, at times, we need to hear the call to heroic virtue; that is, we must know that the next … [Read more...]

Integrating Pope Francis

Introduction The Pontificate of Pope Francis has been full of surprises.[1. This essay was written over the summer as an exercise in synthetic theology with a goal of better understanding and interpreting the Mind of the Magisterium. Only … [Read more...]

Teaching Desire: Mimetic Pedagogy in Catholic Schools

Three important documents have emerged in the last decade of the American Catholic educational scene: Archbishop (now Cardinal) Dolan’s clarion cry to resurrect the dying “Catholic Schools We Need,” the Diocese of Lansing’s proclamation to m … [Read more...]

Catholic vs. Secular Classical Education: What’s the Difference?

Introduction The rise in classical education in America is not insignificant. It cuts across public and private school divisions; secular and religious commitments; Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic denominations; and even school … [Read more...]