The Narthex

The Church annually celebrates the feast days of St. Basil of Caesarea and St. Gregory of Nazianzus on January 1 in the East and January 2 in the West. Their story of great affection, and estrangement, follows below. But first let me say that Pope St. John Paul II often…

Felix, my youngest grandson, has aged out of Sesame Street. Since leaving, though, he calls himself “The Count.” Of late he’s busy counting his Legos. Trump, keen to remain POTUS, wanted more votes to count. No luck. Of late he’s counting the legal actions he faces. For better or worse,…

Perhaps you have read of the James Webb Space Telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021, and the kinds of images it has given us, like those of the “Stephan’s Quintet” (google "James Webb Space Telescope Stephan’s Quintet" to see it). And perhaps you have read of the findings of the…

Esteemed statesman Henry Kissinger makes an important point in his essay "How to avoid another world war" (The Spectator, Dec. 17). He describes how Europe's leaders "sleepwalked" into the first world war. With hindsight we see the effect of the "new" technology of the early 20th century, but men of…

The “Common Era” system has been adopted in history texts and museum exhibits. This reflects a movement to modify the Anno Domini system by using “CE” (for “Common Era”) in place of AD, and using “BCE” (for “Before Common Era”) in place of BC (Before Christ) as a religiously neutral…

If a school child asks, “Why will next year be given the number 2023?” the easy answer by a teacher or parent would be mathematical: “Because we add a one to this year’s number 2022. 2022 plus 1=2023.” As the pupil progresses in school, he or she learns of other…

Last month the L.A. Times ran a piece titled "New law targets crisis pregnancy centers in L.A." (Nov. 3, B3). It served up a noxious mix: a bloated press release for Mike Feuer, the city attorney, and more lousy journalism from the Times. To wit: the writers don't bother to cite any crisis…

What we Christians think of as spiritual realities have never been harder to grasp by ordinary people, in a world so richly endowed by thrilling material blessings yet also plagued by all kinds of miseries. The comforts and the dangers of our lives often almost overwhelm us. A wise friend…

My last post introduced the novel Mr. Blue. Here I'll look at author Myles Connolly's life. Connolly was born in 1897 in Roxbury, outside Boston. He attended Boston Latin School. At Boston College he edited the literary magazine The Stylus (founded in 1882 and still extant). After his 1918 graduation,…

Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh (Eccl. xii.12).   There was a time when “opinion pieces” occasionally changed readers' minds, but those days may have passed. If you finish reading a piece, you probably by and large agreed with it. If not, you…

In 1928 Myles Connolly published his 120-page debut novel, Mr. Blue. This book and author come to mind at this time of year because the protagonist, J. Blue, was in awe of the Incarnation, and also because Connolly was an adviser to film director Frank Capra for the Christmas-time favorite…

Under the direction of the United Auto Workers, 48,000 “academic workers,” chiefly researchers and graduate students, at the University of California are on strike—the largest such job action in history. It even includes the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose task is to “mind” and “develop” the country’s nuclear arsenal. The…

In 1967, 55 years ago, a referendum was held in Australia to allow a change to the Constitution that would remove the last impediment to the recognition of our aboriginal people as full citizens. Australians are slow to accept constitutional changes: we have held 44 referenda since federation, but only…

Before my class of one hundred graduated from grade school -- from Mary, Seat of Wisdom School in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1964 -- we had a Day of Recollection at our church conducted by one of the priests who belonged to the Mission Band of the Archdiocese of Chicago.…

Make way for the memes! How many have you seen today? In an election season, they’re more plentiful than autumn leaves. Just what are they and where are they from? Are they friend or foe? Broadly considered, a meme is an idea or behavior that is widely imitated; it spreads…