The Narthex

We’re used to “in your face” demonstrations, and so are Swedes. But now Sweden is dealing with something more, the public burning of the Quran. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is furious: “The insult to the Holy Quran in Sweden is a bitter, conspiratorial, dangerous event. It is the opinion of…

Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical on human life (not “birth control”), Humanae vitae, marks its 55th anniversary Tuesday, July 25. Yes, you can be pardoned if you -- like most people -- didn’t notice. Arguably one of the most important encyclicals of the 20th century, not just in terms of…

In May 1949, Shanghai surrendered to the Communists. By the end of that year, the Communists imprisoned and tortured Chinese bishops, priests, brothers and sisters. The Communists started a church independent of the Pope. In response, Bishop Walsh and the Bureau distributed a pamphlet explaining the difference between the Catholic…

Your Catholic SAT Although many colleges have moved away from standardized tests like the SAT, in the name of “equity” and abandonment of academic standards, I believe they have value. One of the components of the SAT used to be a reading comprehension test. It tests for how closely one…

Cremation is a practice against which I regularly rail. I maintain that the Vatican’s 1963 relaxation of the ban on cremation by Catholics, as long as they didn’t resort to it to deny the resurrection of the body, was wrongheaded. Today’s Catholic cremator may not even think about “the resurrection…

There's a trope out there that orthodox Catholics write out of anger. That's unfair. I offer a short apologia for what usually motivates me to write. Take a piece I just published, on the murder of a 20-something Kentucky school teacher in Washington. The killing took place in broad daylight…

In mid-May 1944, still in the midst of World War II, Bishop Walsh undertook a 10-week journey on a Liberty ship, arriving in Calcutta on August 2. A couple of weeks later, after dealing with colic and diarrhea, he took a transport plane for 9.5 hours to Chungking (now Chongqing).…

Arizona Governor Undermines Law Enforcement  The New York Times reports that Arizona Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs apparently doesn’t feel any obligation to abide by her constitutional oath faithfully to execute Arizona’s laws. In the wake of Dobbs, Arizona’s legislature enacted protective pro-life legislation that mirrors the Mississippi law upheld in…

Jesus once asked His Apostles whether any of them would hand a stone to a child seeking bread (Mt 7:9). I’m worried some of their successors might hand the child neither stone nor bread. In a July 6 interview on Portuguese State Television, cardinal-designate Americo Aguiar, organizer of World Youth…

Endless print and online controversy can be a bit much. News from inside the Vatican, for example, can yield TMI—too much information. Beware the perils of second-hand theological controversy. Still, there are times when one might offer a comment or three. Consider some recent remarks of the Argentine theologian and…

When the Maryknoll Superior General and co-founder died in 1936, the election for his successor was held in Hong Kong for the convenience of the many Maryknollers in China. Under Vatican rules, in order for a religious society of men to elect a bishop to be their superior, a supermajority…

“You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” -- Romans 8:9 Before we forget Sunday’s readings, some reflections on the Second. A reform and, arguably, achievement of Vatican II was an expanded Lectionary, including the…

Once upon a time, people distinguished between morals and manners. One shouldn’t offend either, but violating the former is a lot more serious than infringing on the latter. People instinctively recognize sleeping with your neighbor’s wife is in a qualitatively different ethical league than eating your main course with a…

Just a few days after James Walsh’s consecration as a bishop, Father Daniel McShane, the first man ordained by Maryknoll (in November 1914) died at age 39 of smallpox contracted when he picked up a baby abandoned on the roadside. During his seven years in Loting (Luodong), he had cared…

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…