The Narthex
Benedict XVI on Advent
The season is a period of joy invisibly present within us
By Barbara Rose | November 27th 2019 10:00 PMTen years ago the excellent teacher Pope Benedict XVI preached on Advent. At the homily's outset he explains that the meaning of the Latin adventus, from which the term Advent derives, can be rendered with presence, arrival, or coming. He continues, "In the language of the ancient world it was a…
READ FULL BLOG POSTVanishing Church?
Pew says decline of U.S. Christianity continues
By Barbara Rose | October 30th 2019 4:34 PMThe Pew Research Center has recently issued new data on the decline of Christianity in the U.S., a decline they say "continues at a rapid pace." Below is a link to the Pew survey results. A few highlights: - 65% of American adults now describe themselves as Christians, while those…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Odd Dilemma of a Celibate Catholic Gentleman
Practicing unyielding moral virtue in a decadent world
By Richard DellOrfano | October 24th 2019 11:10 PMDecades ago, to avoid social isolation, I took up ballroom dancing and within a month met an attractive woman who was my age. She could dance well and had a compatible personality, so we hit it off. We entered dance contests and won prizes. We dined out every week and…
READ FULL BLOG POSTIf You Could Be 30 Years Old Again
Suffering and travail lead to spiritual rebirth
By Richard DellOrfano | October 8th 2019 1:30 PMLate on a Sunday morning I walked into the nursing home to visit Della. I peeked into her double-occupancy room. Her bed was closest to the hall door, and she lay there with her eyes closed. But she somehow knew when to open them and look at me. Though her…
READ FULL BLOG POSTJudging Mindfulness
The connection of Mindfulness to New Age principles cannot be severed
By Rob Agnelli (Archive) | October 1st 2019 3:12 PMAs the spiritual influence of the Church has waned in the West, it has created a spiritual void in the lives of many people. Devoid of religion, the people still desire to be “spiritual but not religious.” Nature abhors a vacuum, so this void is being filled by a great…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA Militant Reform
Fasting, penance, and prayer are our weapons
By Rob Agnelli (Archive) | September 23rd 2019 3:41 PMPope Benedict XVI once famously remarked that the Church of the future "will become small." Rather than exercising some prophetic gift, the Pope was simply exercising an awareness of history. Each time the Church becomes comfortable, it falls into decline and dwindles to a remnant through which it will be…
READ FULL BLOG POSTGod and Man at Play
Creation is ongoing, spontaneous, and forever surprising
By James Hanink | September 17th 2019 3:06 PMHugo Rahner, SJ, is the author of a classic work Man at Play. The central and staggering insight of Man at Play is that God is at play! How so? Proverbs 8:27-31 gives us a starting point. From the beginning, Rahner points out, Divine Wisdom (Hochmah) has been “playing before…
READ FULL BLOG POSTVisit to an AA Meeting
Surrender to God and public confession are key
By Richard DellOrfano | September 13th 2019 4:15 PMOn my regular walks each evening, I pass by a public building where meetings are held almost every night. Two ladies stood outside chatting at 8:25 PM, and I approached them. “What is this meeting about, and is it open to the public?” I asked. “Come and see,” the younger…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNewman, Peel, & the Tamworth Reading Room
'To know is one thing, to do is another'
By James Hanink | September 3rd 2019 2:50 PMOn October 13th John Henry Newman will be canonized, the first English person in modern times to be raised to the altar. Newman comes to us as an eminent Victorian and a convert. Some say his canonization has been long in coming because he was prolific and polemical. Whether or…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLabor Day and the Flat Earth
Work is one of the ways we image God
By Rob Agnelli (Archive) | August 30th 2019 9:07 PMThe Earth is flat. Not actually flat, but flat in the sense that man no longer sees a horizon. Do you want proof of that? Look no further than Labor Day. Invented to “celebrate” American workers and their achievements, it is now little more than a bookend marking the end…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Catechism in Motion
Lack of belief in the Real Presence is a liturgical problem
By Rob Agnelli (Archive) | August 23rd 2019 5:16 PMA recent Pew Research Center survey shows that nearly seven out of 10 Catholics don't believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They see the Eucharist as "a symbol." Alarming numbers, perhaps, but not at all surprising. Anyone who attends Mass even semi-regularly would likely come to…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA Real Feast Day
Mary's destiny and glory is our destiny and glory
By Rob Agnelli (Archive) | August 14th 2019 3:07 PMOne is tempted to view feast days of the Church with a certain abstract detachment. The events they mark seem relegated to the past and thus lack a certain realness to them. But the Solemnity of the Assumption keeps us from succumbing to this temptation. Among the many Marian feast…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Valley of Tears & The Order of Charity
Whom are we to help, and when, and in what order
By James Hanink | August 8th 2019 4:45 PMDomestic terrorism. Religious persecution, both secular and professedly religious. The posturing of pro-abortion extremists. Assaults on democracy. Economic wars. Some weeks it’s crushingly obvious: we live in a valley of tears. Psalm 84:6-8 speaks of such a valley. So does the Marian anthem, “Hail, Holy Queen,” which so many recite…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Waiting Room
Thought and prayer can redeem our endless waiting
By James Hanink | July 29th 2019 9:31 PMThe philosopher Simone Weil’s Waiting on God (1950) is a haunting reflection on the distance between “the everyday” and the transcendent. A year earlier the playwright Samuel Beckett finished his Waiting for Godot. Beckett’s “Godot” is a fantasist’s inkblot: interpret him as you please. Not so the God to whom…
READ FULL BLOG POSTTrue Reparative Therapy
Vice brings disorder; virtue brings order
By Rob Agnelli (Archive) | July 27th 2019 5:43 PMEarlier this month, under pressure from LGBT groups, Amazon stopped selling books by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. Dr. Nicolosi was well known for reparative therapy that helped many people overcome the temptation to same-sex attraction. Of course, the fact that Dr. Nicolosi wanted to free people from both disordered inclinations and…
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