The Narthex

The press is repeating Bishop (and now Cardinal-elect) Robert McElroy’s charge that excluding Catholic politicians from Communion is wrongheaded. “It will bring tremendously destructive consequences” he writes, and politics is to blame. “The Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare.” McElroy also points to the…

Last summer I reviewed an important book about the eugenics movement of 100 years ago, and the subject bears repeating. The book is Mark H. Sutherland's Exterminating Poverty: The true story of the eugenic plan to get rid of the poor, and the Scottish doctor who fought against it. A link…

Election integrity has been in the news a lot these past few years. A cloud long hung over the 2016 presidential election, for example. Did the Russians throw the contest in favor of Trump? Did James Comey and the FBI do the same by opening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s…

John Bolton has a reputation as a fierce conservative. Fifteen years ago or so, I used to think he was, too. I would watch Bolton, who was President George W. Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations, appear on the television and lay into Washington liberals like a dog going at…

The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus dated to 1550 BC. The only evidence in ancient laws of a death penalty for abortion is found in Assyrian law: the Code of Assura, c. 1075 BC. The epic Ramayana, c. 750BC, has a description of…

In my gubernatorial campaign to challenge Gavin Newsom, I get lots of inquiries. Here’s one from the advocacy group Intact Political Action (IPA).

“Hello. If you are elected Governor of California, would you sign a bill banning non-therapeutic circumcision of boys if it came to your desk? Would…

June 7, 2022: Save the date! Truth be told, I don’t save most dates. This one’s different. It’s the date of the California Primary Election, and I’m running for Governor. Again. I was a candidate in last year’s Special Recall Election that induced Gavin Newsom, our (still) sitting governor, to…

When I was a 6th-grader walking home with friends from elementary school in the 50s, we would talk about all the interesting things heard in the news, like the Boston Braves leaving Boston or the first man to conquer Mt. Everest. We wondered what it was like to be Castro,…

As coverage of the March for Life 2022 winds down, I reflect that the mood in the pro-life movement seems very different now than ever before. I never attended the March for Life in Washington. But one year I did attend the smaller March for Life in Chicago. I remember…

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is admired by Americans for his ability to make money. But there's a dark side to all that cash. Hayden Ludwig's "The Big Money Behind Abortion Activism," in The American Conservative (Jan. 18), tells of Buffett's "charitable" foundation, which since 2000 has given $4.7 billion --…

Reporters at The New York Times have made public hundreds of confidential reports by the Pentagon on civilian casualties from U.S. air-strikes in Iraq and Syria, covering September 2014 through January 2018. The journalists describe the air-strikes as "marked by deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting, and the…

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which many hope will overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973. Such an outcome does not mean that abortion would automatically become illegal across the United States; rather, the power to make laws on abortion…

Ten days ago a student group, Women in Politics, hosted a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of America. Loyola Marymount University (LMU) provided the venue. The University did so despite a nationwide protest and Los Angeles Archbishop Gomez’s expression of deep disappointment. In the sponsoring group’s estimation, the event—a semi-formal party…

What’s wrong with the world? Chesterton famously asked this and also confessed that he himself was a major part of the problem. In light of his meeting with President Biden, I ask myself what’s wrong with Pope Francis? I’ve asked that question before with regard to his muddled treatment of…

Recently New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan, in discussing the synodal process, spoke of seven “non negotiables.” Jesus, he said, intends each of them. One is that "mercy, love, invitation, humility, joy, selfless generous service, and good example are our only tools, never harshness, condemnation, or pride.” Sadly, we sometimes obscure…