The Narthex

“Diversity” is a mantra very much in contemporary vogue, although arguably one whose end-goal is often unclear. Any group needs some principle of unity; even the poster children of diversity have to have something that unites one diverse group vis-à-vis others. Otherwise, they’d not be a group but simply a…

Once more, Ascension Thursday is upon us and once again we see the liturgical and theological incoherence the Catholic bishops of the United States caused, in the name of being “pastoral” while exercising canonical fiat, in the liturgical calendar. I have three major criticisms of what they have done --…

In a recent post I criticized the wave of parish closings and the overall mania for “downsizing” the Church in the United States. I argued, against the naysayers who cite “numbers” and “statistics,” that if bishops and priests acted like bishops and priests rather than statisticians and actuaries, they’d stop…

A subtle aspect of last Sunday’s First Reading has to do with ecclesiastical growth. The main thrust of the reading was the suspicion with which the Church in Jerusalem (i.e., Peter and the other Apostles) initially received Paul, former persecutor and now evangelist, who “spoke out boldly in the name…

Donald DeMarco, over at Crisis (linked below), asks whether Pope Francis has a “fixation” with ecological issues. A cursory look at environmentalism and climate fundamentalism suggests these "isms" have in many cases acquired all the attributes of a secular religion. To what degree have even sincerely religious people allowed environmental…

Most Sundays, the Church prescribes one Gospel to be read. This Sunday, the priest has a choice of two. That’s because, while the Sunday Gospels normally rotate over three years, there is an exception on the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent. Lent is the season during which catechumens…

On February 2, the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) issued the Note Gestis verbisque, reiterating that sacramental ministers, when celebrating the sacraments, must adhere to their matter and form. From February 6-9, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (DDWDS) is conducting a…

In 2013, Pope Francis suspended Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, Germany, a diocese which includes Frankfurt, who renovated his residence and other church-owned buildings to the tune of over $41 million. The projects included "luxuries like a $20,000 bathtub, a $1.1 million landscaped garden and plans for an 800-square-foot…

Catholics in Ukraine mark their second Christmas, and third winter, under Russian attack. Instead of awaiting the first star on Christmas Eve to mark the beginning of the Christmas supper, Ukrainian children will watch for incoming Russian missile fire. Instead of angels singing over the winter fields, the sound of…

In a recent post here, I reminisced about the “Committee of Ten Million,” Gil Durand’s 1973 lay initiative to amass ten million petition signatures to be delivered publicly to Congress demanding a Human Life Amendment. Ten million signatures in 1973 would have been about five percent of the U.S. population,…

October 16, 2023, marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the election of St. John Paul II as Pope. There are so many things about his 26-year pontificate for which we should be grateful, but I will focus on one I find particularly important: his Christian humanism. I am aware mention of…

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received” (Phil 4:9). St. Paul's sage advice, in last Sunday’s Second Reading, seems particularly apt for those gathered in Rome for the Synod on Synodality. In recent weeks, we’ve heard some interesting, some bizarre interpretations of how the Church’s Tradition relates to…

November 11 is Veterans Day -- about five weeks from now. On that day we honor those who have served, and especially those who have died, for their country. How do we honor those veterans? The typical American approach is to give speeches, pay tributes, and eventually to lay a…

I’ve been writing a lot about the upcoming Synod on Synodality and the obsession of some prelates with the Church’s “welcoming” attitude. The gist of my argument is that these folks are pushing a notion of “welcome” that is alien to Scripture and the Church’s Tradition, though it may resonate…

“Sex Work,” Trafficking, and Trucks Pamela Paul reports in the New York Times (Aug. 17) that some New York feminists are fighting to get editors to drop the euphemism “sex worker” from their style books. She explains that many have adopted this linguistic stand-in because they don’t want to appear…