The Narthex

Trying to figure something out? Something really important? More often than not, Aristotle was doing just that. He usually began by noting the insights of the wise on the problem at hand. Noticing that they were often at odds, he next tried to figure out what was promising in each…

Ex ore infantium comes from Psalm 8:3, “from the mouths of babes and infants.” I was reminded of that phrase recently while watching a perhaps unfairly neglected movie from 1965, “The Battle of the Villa Fiorita.” The film, starring Maureen O’Hara and Rossano Brazzi, is based on a book by…

Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, became its ex-president through the confluence of two factors, neither one of which seemed sufficient to remove her from office but, together, generated sufficient public (and, apparently, internal private donor) criticism to render her continued incumbency untenable. As you may remember, Gay was criticized for her…

Modern western Christians often like to persuade themselves that there is no real and personal Devil, but wishful thinking of that kind wouldn't wash with our Church Fathers and doesn't square with Gospel accounts of the Gadarene swine or of Jesus's own temptations in the wilderness. C.S. Lewis in his…

I have noticed an Ash Wednesday phenomenon in recent years in Washington. It even preceded COVID. Various clergymen set up tables outside Metro subway stations, offering ashes-on-demand. Last Wednesday morning, for example, there was something of an ecumenical duel outside one station. On the north side of the entrance were…

Change is a constant, with mixed results. But so, too, is a grim stasis, a permanent condition in this Vale of Tears. With regard to change, the players surely change. In St. Augustine’s time, the Roman Empire still held sway, though invaders from the North stormed its borders and sought…

The Church offers two formulae as options to be used during imposition of ashes, the sign of penance. The older formula is “Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return.” The newer one is actually not new at all, because it repeats the first public words…

February 12 is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. It is not by coincidence that Lincoln’s Birthday falls within Black History Month. Since President Ford’s proclamation in 1976, every February has been proclaimed Black History Month. The Month evolved from Black History Week, which had been first promoted in 1926 by eminent scholar Dr.…

The First Reading and Gospel for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, focus on leprosy. The reading from Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46 (one of the few times that Old Testament book appears in the Lectionary) prescribes procedures for determining if one is a leper and how he was to…

On February 2, the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) issued the Note Gestis verbisque, reiterating that sacramental ministers, when celebrating the sacraments, must adhere to their matter and form. From February 6-9, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (DDWDS) is conducting a…

Gestis verbisque, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s recent "Note" on sacramental validity, raises questions about the spirituality of a sacramental minister. Occasioned by apparently growing concerns about the number of potentially invalid baptisms resulting from priests or deacons who tampered with the essential form of the sacrament…

February is observed as Black History Month. This year was also the 95th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Both events are relevant to renewing our commitment to a colorblind society, especially after last summer’s Supreme Court decisions on discrimination in college admissions. The man who spoke at the Lincoln…

Of giving interviews, as with making books, there is no end. But interviews, whether in the air or on earth, are easier on trees. Even so, provocatively important interviews can lead to books. Here’s an example. Vatican News recently excerpted an interview that Pope Francis gave to Italian newspaper La…

“Celebrate Catholic Schools Week,” an initiative of the National Catholic Educational Association, is observed January 28-February 3. Parishes with schools traditionally have a special student Mass on Sunday and at least one open house during the week. In that sense, “Celebrate Catholic Schools Week” seems a kind of recruitment tool…

I recently argued that “National School Choice Week” should be renamed “National Parental Choice Week” (link below). I did so because I want to recast the educational debate. School choice is not primarily about schools but about students. Schools are secondary. They are the tools by which students are educated.…