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...]
Articles
Priests’ Perspectives on American Catholic School Identity
December 29, 2023 by Fr. Charez Gringco
Introduction Catholic education is one of the great contributions of the Catholic Church to the United States. From the early Franciscan missionaries who built faith communities in the new world to the new religious orders, Catholic … [Read more...]
Upbuild, Encourage, and Console: On Becoming a More Prophetic Church
December 29, 2023 by Peter McGregor
I have a personal motto, one that unfortunately I don’t always follow: don’t read the comments! I am referring to the comments that often accompany posts on Facebook, or blogs, or other social media. My reason for avoiding them is to avoid t … [Read more...]
Reading as an Act of Homage
December 29, 2023 by Dr. Donald Graham
Can reading be considered as “an act of homage”? At first blush, this seems a strange question. We regularly read for the sake of leisure and learning, but aside from overtly religious pursuits — such as Lectio Divina, proclamation of the Wo … [Read more...]
Military Zeal in the Priesthood
What Priests Can Learn from the Ukrainian Military
November 24, 2023 by Fr. Shane Deman
The United States military is not tactically nor morally perfect. Yet it is rightly known to be one of the strongest forces in the world. Its ability to respond to global threats within hours and display impressive power makes it ready to … [Read more...]
Russia and Peace
November 24, 2023 by Rev. Thomas G. Morrow
Russia has started a war against Ukraine. China appears to be posturing to attack Taiwan. North Korea is threatening South Korea and the United States with nuclear weapons. Iran is striving to attain nuclear weapons. And there is a war … [Read more...]
Theology of Suffering and the New Evangelization
November 24, 2023 by Cole DeSantis
In August of 2022, Bishop Robert Barron took part in an interview with the actor Shia LaBeouf to discuss his conversion to the Catholic faith. LaBeouf’s conversion was influenced in part by his being cast to portray Padre Pio in a movie by A … [Read more...]
The Ineffability of the Mystical Body of Christ
November 24, 2023 by Carolyn Humphreys, OCDS
The Church was established by Christ as an extension and continuation of his incarnation and his mission. Just as a natural body is formed of different organs and systems, each with their own function, so is the Church bound together by a … [Read more...]
Advent and Eschaton
November 24, 2023 by Philip Primeau
Advent is profoundly eschatological, a reality that grows more apparent as the season reaches its climax. In these days, Holy Mother Church considers Jesus Christ as the Approaching One, who brings into the middle of time not only the … [Read more...]
Toward Evangelization of Creators of the Christian Culture
October 27, 2023 by Fr. Zbigniew Tyburski, PhD
Saint John Paul II, during his pontificate of nearly twenty-seven years, had two main streams of thought. They can be characterized as the preservation of the Christian heritage and the transformation of contemporary secular culture through … [Read more...]
The Cantus Firmus: The Enduring Melody of Faith
October 27, 2023 by Rev. Michael Doyle
“For me to live is Christ” – Philippians 1:21 “Rely on the Cantus Firmus.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer All of us who have had the privilege of working as a priest in a parish have had to a greater or lesser extent the following pastoral exp … [Read more...]
The Very Stones Would Cry Out
Architecture and Evangelization
October 27, 2023 by Jason Honeycutt
In his 1998 work, Architecture in Communion, architect Steven Schloeder offers for consideration a twofold problem: first, the problem of how to design for contemporary, post-Vatican II liturgy, and second, what, if anything, should a … [Read more...]
Contemplation and Beauty: Reclaiming Sensuality for the New Evangelization
October 27, 2023 by Michael Gray
“The aesthetic value of creation cannot be overlooked. Our very contact with nature has a deep restorative power; contemplation of its magnificence imparts peace and serenity. The Bible speaks again and again of the goodness and beauty of c … [Read more...]
Give the Young the World of Good Music
October 27, 2023 by Elizabeth Altham
“[W]hen modes of music change, the fundamental mores of the state always change with them.” – Plato, Republic, 400b and 424c A few years ago, as preparation for a course in European history, I assigned the students in our high school di Lam … [Read more...]
Is the Universal Call to Holiness a New Teaching?
September 22, 2023 by Alessandro Cota
It is not uncommon to find the opinion that the Church has introduced a new understanding of what it means to be holy and who is called to it through Lumen Gentium’s teaching on the universal call to holiness. Oftentimes, this claim of n … [Read more...]
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