The Narthex

In medieval times, jokers -- also called court fools or jesters -- had the dangerous role of counseling a monarch, with the tacit understanding that the joker’s life was sacrosanct and would not be forfeited for honestly doing his job. He could say anything to belittle the king, who believed…

Do you have friends who claim to be against abortion but vote for pro-abortion politicians because abortion is “just one issue among many”? Perhaps solid teaching from our shepherds can help convince them otherwise. John Gerard Lewis, author of Catholic Voting and Mortal Sin: How You Vote Can Endanger Your…

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…

Joyce was seven when she experienced the Battle of Britain. After WWII ended, she won two swimming championships, then night-schooled for 140 words/min in shorthand. She quit working at sweatshop textile mills after she got a better paying job as a secretary in the Manchester police department. She had a…

Various analyses suggest that around 40% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have taken place at nursing homes. While the data will be refined over time, it’s clear that nursing home residents are an extremely vulnerable population in a pandemic. An article at The American Conservative (June 5) called “Continued Isolation Will…

Sometimes I feel like Rip van Winkle waking from a 20-year sleep to find drastic changes, not only social but technological as well. Our standard of living has improved more in the last 100 years than in all recorded history. Such rapid innovation is startling and wondrous. But it’s also…

I went alone for a long walk around my neighborhood after California’s self-quarantine advisory. A bit fatigued, I sat to rest on a bus-stop metal bench, the kind with handles between the seats. The traffic at this local intersection was now a tenth of the usual rush hour traffic. A…

Is the road to hell paved with good intentions? Yes and no. Yes, if we think that it’s enough to intend a “greater good” and overlook the means to achieve it. Why so? Because evil means distort the supposedly greater good. There’s a commonsense point at issue. To intend the…

New data from Italy’s national statistics agency (ISTAT) show the country’s population continued to shrink in 2019. ISTAT reports 435,000 births in 2019, down 5,000 from 2018 and the lowest level ever recorded in Italy. Deaths there totaled 647,000 last year. Reuters quotes the reaction of Italian president Sergio Mattarella.…

Back in the 1960s, the Church banned dirty movies, deeming them a threat to the functional norms of civilization. Sex scenes were few, if any, and relegated to cloaked suggestives in the golden era of Ben Hur, Exodus, and Magnificent Obsession. As Hollywood norms changed, I would fast-forward love-making scenes…

“No more war, never again war.” So said Pope Paul VI at the United Nations, so says Pope Francis today. Yet there continue to be wars and rumors of war. Often political leaders encourage us to add to the patriotic gore. Just a few weeks ago, I joined an international…

Slow-release pills are nothing new, but within a few years a once-a-month birth control pill will hit the market. An article at Wired magazine (Dec. 4) explains how it works. Birth control developers, pushers, and users have long recognized that user error is the Achilles heel of the reigning daily-pill…

Daniel Larison, over at The American Conservative, writes on the last 20 years of America’s wars of choice. In “The Costs Of Forever War: 335,000 Dead Civilians And $6.4 Trillion” he cites a recent study on post-9/11 wars and military action in the Middle East and Asia, published by the…

Portions of the U.S. have become like the “wild west,” and in many ways even worse than that. A CNN headline from earlier this year reads, “More US school-age children die from guns than on-duty US police or global military fatalities, study finds.” This blog post is not about being…

A few days ago the Democratic National Committee announced that Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) will be the venue for the sixth Democratic candidates’ debate. Get ready, it’s set for Dec. 19. Before I say more, it’s time for full disclosure: I practiced my trade, philosophy, at LMU for 40…