The Narthex

Recently Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter on the French thinker Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). It comes on the Fourth Centenary of his birth. Francis chose a haunting title: On the Sublimity and Misery of Man (Sublimitas et Miseria Hominis). Most of Francis’s discussion centers on Pascal’s Pensées. Don’t expect to…

In the wake of the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, partisans of abortion-on-demand continue to assert their “right to privacy” and trot out numerous other bogeymen of what an “out-of-control Supreme Court” might yet do to “human rights.” In light of this obsession with protecting…

A recent documentary by cultural commentator Matt Walsh asks the question of the age in its title: “What Is a Woman?” In the documentary [link to trailer here], Walsh poses this question to a range of people, from gender activists and self-styled gender experts to average men and women.…

The significance of the outcome of the Fourth Global Anglican Future Convention (GAFCON IV) held last April in Kigali, Rwanda, is coming into ever sharper relief. That an overwhelming portion of Anglicanism, especially in the “Global South,” has been pushed to the point that it no longer recognizes its communion…

Once upon a time, not too long ago, June used to be associated with marriage. People spoke of “June weddings.” But while Stevie Wonder might have just been calling to say “I love you,” there was something prescient in his lyric about “no wedding Saturday within the month of June.”…

We moderns hear a lot about miracles. Modern medicine is a miracle, we’re told. Landing rovers on Mars, or on distant asteroids, requires a miraculous degree of technological sophistication. Marvels—miracles’ kid brothers—are a dime a dozen in 2023. Video phones, space telescopes, ChatGPT. Wow. Aren’t we human beings special. Miraculous,…

The Church is in the post-Ascension period, waiting for the promised Paraclete. Jesus instructed His Apostles to stay in Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is notoriously ambiguous on timing. The Spirit will come “in a few days.” Luckily, He set His departure date and was…

The parking lot was crammed, so I asked God to provide a car space. Sure enough, I spotted a car leaving and pulled in right after. Sometimes I forget to ask, but it happens anyway because my guardian angel is ever vigilant doing favorable things for me. After shopping, I…

My boys who live in the Village at Misericordia, in Chicago, are a sign to us all that not one of us has merited anything. How hard it is for us to accept the truth that we have not merited what we see every day and what we think (and…

Catholics have often been accused of a misguided relationship to the Blessed Virgin Mary, of “putting Mary on a pedestal.” That’s not just a Protestant canard, either. Catholics who claim the mantle of following Vatican II argue that traditional Mariology elevated Our Lady at the expense of showcasing her as…

Nine months ago I bought a new high-quality car battery because mine was ten years old and might give up the ghost any day. My auto mechanic honored the aged device as a ‘miracle battery’ for lasting so long. Since I’m now in my eighties and "on borrowed time," I…

In announcing that non-bishops would be able to vote in this fall’s Synod on Synodality, Rome tried simultaneously to hype and downplay the news. Channeling its inner Leslie Neilsen, the synodal website blandly headlined the change as “Some News for the October 2023 Assembly.” General Relator Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich gave…

When Jesus performed miraculous healings, those he cured -- along with their friends, relations, and all observers -- gave praise to God. Beginning the moment of their cure, these men, women and children would talk nonstop about it. The man with leprosy “started talking about it freely and telling the…

Pope Francis has on several occasions voiced support for an idea, percolating among the Vatican’s professional ecumenical and liturgical classes, to establish a “common” date for Easter between Catholics and Orthodox. The current driver seems to be wanting to “do something” to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council…

Let us first consider that Jesus was not always in the immediate presence of the people He cured, just like the prophet Elisha who directed Naaman to go to the River Jordan. Naaman was incensed with Elisha. “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and…