The Narthex

You may ask why we bother canonizing anyone. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and…

What if I happened to meet an old crone in the local park who could read my mind, flash heal my heart disease, and predict future events? Would I then accuse her of witchcraft? Strict Puritans would have done so in the year 1692, for that’s what spawned the Salem…

Engagement in the "culture wars," or striving to maintain the good name of Western and Christian civilization, runs the risk of pushing us over a line, forgetting our primary purpose and losing the plot. Someone once defined a fanatic as a person who, having once forgotten his original purpose, redoubles…

I would say the grace to cry out “Abba” to the Father, and the grace to recognize Jesus as Lord, is the same type of grace that fills bishops when they recognize that the men they will ordain are sufficiently holy and will grow in holiness, and the same type…

Grace from God is needed for us to recognize holiness in another. I am not speaking about recognizing the holiness of a deceased person whom the Universal Church declares a saint, but the holiness of a deceased person before the Church recognizes it. I respectfully suggest that it is akin…

Grace and holiness abound in the Body of Christ. Yet it seems that we – laity, bishops, priests, religious sisters and brothers – either do not know what holiness in laity looks like or do not know how to describe it to each other. Only two laypeople, who were holy…

A recent convert to Catholicism and I met to discuss my personal experience with monks, celibacy, and community life, as I have lived in monasteries, health resorts, and communes. Jim opened his Bible to Acts 2: 44-45: "All the believers were together and had everything in common.…

In liberal Western circles it has long been axiomatic that Christian missionaries were guilty of offenses against humanity. These include racial discrimination, genocide, the introduction of alcoholism and venereal diseases, the imposition of a sense of guilt onto innocent sexual relationships, and the heartless suppression of native cultures of great…

With the presidential election approaching, my brother and I were discussing the sad state of affairs in our beloved America: riots, conflict between liberals and conservatives, deteriorating infrastructure coast to coast, and excess national debt. My brother owns and operates several successful businesses, so he knows what it takes to…

My first desktop computer cost $3,500 in 1986. When I learned how to download international stock market data, it was exhilarating, as if contacting extraterrestrial sources. Not many had a desktop computer back then, so I thought it would give me a trading edge. I was disappointed. That computer was…

Reflecting on the West’s strategy of nuclear deterrence, Winston Churchill expressed the hope that “safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and survival the twin brother of annihilation.” Can such a hope be reasonable? Some argue that however odious it is, nuclear deterrence, in light of world realities, is…

In 1970, I arrived in San Marcos, California, on a donated bike -- the end of my ten years on the road in a cross-country penniless ministry. I found a minimum-wage job as an electrical construction estimator at a local company. After working three years, living frugally in a barn…

A portrait artist and I were strolling arm in arm at a farmers’ market, when she stopped us to view a display of landscape paintings in a shop window. She knew this local artist and wanted to say hello, so we entered to the tinkling sound of a door bell.…

I suppose if Christian civilization were to adopt a Mission Statement, as most modern enterprises do, none better could be found than the simple list of the three “theological virtues”: Faith, Hope and Love. These sum up all our duties and our aspirations. Every human on earth understands in some sense what they…

These are frightening times. Sizable numbers of our population, including apparently most of our political leaders, are clearly terrified of COVID. This is becoming increasingly obvious in public places, where the mood is subtly changing: people are afraid of each other and show their fear not only by their avoidance of contact…