The Narthex
Hearsay Evidence
Trust is the crucial factor in the vaccination decision, but we have lost trust
By Richard DellOrfano | September 17th 2021 2:18 PMIn our everyday decisions we use hearsay reputations to decide, say, for or against a dentist or doctor. Reliable references from former patients are helpful, and as social animals we are inclined to run with the herd to survive. Hearsay statements are used to prove truth or falsehood but are…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLimits of Transparency
God's grace, taken to heart, goes beyond words, signals, and images
By James Hanink | September 16th 2021 2:03 PMTransparency is important. Interested in the latest batch of election returns? In California, the Secretary of State posts them in real time. Concerned about what Rome’s doing with the yearly Peter’s Pence collection? An audit is in order, isn’t it? Wondering about what Corporate is concocting? Try lobbying for more…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNo Clocks in Heaven
Imagine no limit to our excursions into the vast frontiers of God’s space-time continuum!
By Richard DellOrfano | September 9th 2021 6:50 PMI looked at the wall clock in our kitchen and saw both a large and small hand pointing straight up at an odd symbol. At five years old, I had an idea it meant food when the hands overlapped there. Whenever that happened, Mom would tell me it’s lunchtime. Now,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWho's in Control?
Almighty God is ruler of countless wonders and marvels
By Richard DellOrfano | September 2nd 2021 2:18 PMYesterday I saw a black toy car about the size of a shoe box with 3-inch tires zip around the street, zigzagging, bucking, and avoiding curbs and bushes. Then I spotted a young boy remotely operating it, using an electronic device with his thumbs, signaling that plastic beast what to…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLife-Giving River
Beneath our desert of daily life is a rejuvenating life source
By Richard DellOrfano | August 23rd 2021 2:41 PMToday when someone says Amazon, most think of the gargantuan retailer with tributaries throughout the world. But of course it's named after the Amazon River in South America, the world’s second longest river with 1,000 tributaries fertilizing Earth’s largest drainage basin. During the dry season, the Amazon's width reaches a…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFinding a Way
John Paul II & John XXIII offer models of how to evangelize in a context of political upheaval
By James Hanink | August 19th 2021 2:17 PMIn the last week or so I’ve had two friends ask me the same hard question about evangelizing, though in different ways. What follows is how I answered them. If nothing else, I got some practice in answering questions that Catholics, as strangers in a strange land, need to address.…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSingular Devotion
Why did Jesus encourage chaste celibacy even for His married Apostles?
By Richard DellOrfano | August 9th 2021 8:00 PMIn Matthew 19:12 Christ suggests His male disciples may want to make themselves (figurative) eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. In Orthodox Jewish culture, men are expected to obey God’s directive to reproduce and sire offspring; Jewish women still judge barrenness a stigma. Why would Christ incur…
READ FULL BLOG POSTHope or Optimism?
True Christian hope reaches far beyond and soars above mere feel-good optimism
By David Daintree | August 3rd 2021 2:22 PMHope and optimism are often confused. An American wit, whose name I can’t recall, once defined a pessimist as “an optimist with the facts.” I must admit I love that kind of pithy, cynical humor that Americans do so well. Such cracks work well because there’s at least a grain…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Way Out
An advanced AI computer predicts a global catastrophe in the 2030s
By Richard DellOrfano | July 29th 2021 7:02 PMSelf-anointed prophets have often attempted to pinpoint doomsday. They were obviously wrong. But now, the prophets of scientism are speculating that Earth is due for its Seventh Mass Extinction. A controversial MIT study from 1972 claims we are right on track for a global collapse of civilization by 2040. Historical…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLatin Mass Survey
A look at beliefs held by Traditional Latin Mass attendees
By Barbara Rose | July 22nd 2021 2:31 PMIn order to appreciate what's at stake in the current Church-wide controversy surrounding restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass (TLM), data on Latin Mass attendees is key. A post at LitugyGuy.com, a blog by Fr. Donald Kloster of Norwalk, Connecticut, shows results of a unique national survey of Latin Mass-goers…
READ FULL BLOG POSTReading & Writing Obits
The most profound details of a loved one's life often don't make the papers
By James Hanink | July 9th 2021 1:55 PM“Going my way?” Well, not yet. Sooner or later, though. Our word obituary comes from the Latin obire, which means “to go toward.” Many of us read the “obit” when someone famous dies. In such cases the obit was written soon after that someone became famous. That’s standard for the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTGarden Parables
Effective pruning means a thorough removal of branches that once bore fruit
By Magdalena Moreno | July 6th 2021 2:47 PMEvery year we hear the same readings, the same parables, the same analogies: sheep & shepherds; seeds & sowers; vines, branches, weeds & farmers; coins, talents & those who don’t know what to do with them. As we slowly progress through life each parable takes on new meaning as we…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Kennedy Curse
Were the premature deaths, accidents, and tragedies caused by their patriarch's sins?
By Richard DellOrfano | July 2nd 2021 4:05 PMIn Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of the Seven Gables, Colonel Pyncheon, a Puritan, covets a piece of land that a poor farmer owns. He has him hanged as a wizard so he can seize the old man’s property and build his seven-gabled mansion. At the gallows, Matthew Maule casts a generational…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNo Compromise
Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world”
By David Daintree | June 21st 2021 1:20 PMThe early Church fathers were a tough and uncompromising lot. They had to be. Sharp-tongued St. Jerome wouldn’t have done well in the diplomatic service, or even made it past the interview; he bitterly attacked heretical enemies and wasn’t always very nice to his friends. St. Ignatius of Antioch was…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMy Father's Business
In appreciative wonder of God's handiwork we become like little children again
By Richard DellOrfano | June 7th 2021 2:11 PMIn 1944, my father worked as an apprentice electrician at Bethlehem Steel’s East Boston facility, one of eighteen American shipyards that built 2,710 Liberty Ships as supply transports for WWII. Between 1941 and 1945 the facility cranked out three ships every two days. By the next year my father was…
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