The Narthex

The Church along with her leadership has three munera, three offices and duties: teaching, governing, and sanctifying. These three responsibilities are prominent in last Sunday’s readings. The munus docendi (the office of teaching), on which I’ll focus, is prominent in the Gospel. The details of Jesus’ arrival on the other…

Sunday’s Gospel recounted Jesus dispatching His Apostles, two by two, on their first missionary internship. They are dispatched to the neighboring villages in Israel and Judea, a fairly circumscribed venue considering they will ultimately be sent “to all nations” (Mt 28:19). That Gospel is instructive as to how the Church…

Most Supreme Court cases go by their official names. Some get nicknames. The nickname for Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation is the “Seven Dirty Words Case.” It upheld the right of the FCC to regulate indecent language on the public airwaves. (Yes, in theory the FCC can turn off…

Good Question Bumper stickers are often great statements of truth, largely because they have to be short and pithy. A message to Catholic tailgaters seen on the rear of a car parked outside St. James in Falls Church, Virginia: “Do you follow Christ as closely as you do me?”  …

Six months ago, you were toasting the new year 2024. Six months from now, hopefully you will say goodbye to 2024 and welcome the new year 2025, the quarter century mark. We just celebrated Midsummer’s Night on June 21-22. We’re now at midyear. “Midsummer” you say? Wasn’t it just the…

What happens when you google “spiritual director near me”? You’ll instantly find an assortment of spiritualists and their handy contact information. Not what you are looking for? Better keep looking and look elsewhere. Take your time. A priest friend who is a spiritual director at a Benedictine Abbey says that…

Last Sunday’s readings had a lot to say about the waters. The primary focus was on the Gospel, in which Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Many Biblical commentators note that Jesus’ miracles can be grouped into two primary categories: miracles concerning nature (like this one) and…

Rumer Godden is perhaps best known for her 1969 bestseller In This House of Brede, the story of a woman who enters an English Benedictine convent. It was published a year after Godden converted to Catholicism. Religion, however, permeated Godden’s books from very early on, like Black Narcissus, her 1939…

Fidelity (in Hebrew, hesed) is one of the Lord’s great attributes. The history of salvation is the history of hesed. Because God's revelation to man is so anchored in fidelity, hesed is an extraordinarily rich Biblical concept. Adam sinned, yet “even when he lost Your friendship, You did not abandon…

“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…

"Diversity" is the mot du jour, celebrated in all sorts of circles. Alas, many of those celebrating “diversity” are unclear about whether or how it connects to “unity.” Perhaps the readings for Pentecost can help. The central truth of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit, who is the principle of unity.…

A feisty fellow I knew liked to ask Protestants just what they were protesting. A wise Protestant might answer in terms of a positive protestation, for example, the rule of sola scriptura. A bellicose Protestant, in contrast, might reply “No popery!” Note well: the word “protest” can have either 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 --…

This past Sunday, May 5, was Easter in various parts of the Orthodox Church which still use the Julian Calendar for liturgical purposes. To these Orthodox: Christos voskrese! Voistinnu voskrese! (Christ is risen! He is truly risen!) I mention Orthodox Easter because while this year (as is typical) it falls…

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…