The Narthex

Church and State in Paris If you followed the news, you’d have the impression that the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was primarily a backdrop for a political event at which President-Elect Donald Trump reconnected with world leaders. And you might not be wrong. The Archdiocese of Paris…

The Second Sunday of Advent’s Second Reading makes an observation all too often lost (since homilists rarely preach on the Second Reading) about the Divine-human dynamic in the good men do. In the text, St. Paul expresses confidence “that the one who began a good work in you will continue…

My recent attendance at a rodeo led me to consider the rodeo experience of a relative who was called “America’s Greatest Horsewoman.” For four days in November, the 14th through the 17th, the sold-out, 4,800-seat Amarillo (Texas) Civic Center hosted the 29th annual World Championship Ranch Rodeo of the Working…

As I've recently noted, Advent Preface I speaks of Christ’s Second Coming -- the first focus of Advent -- as a time “when all at last is made manifest.” I'll add another reason why the Second Coming involves full disclosure: because it is the end of faith. Faith is “the…

Making our list? Yes, and checking it twice! This year we splurged on an extra-postage Christmas card, and our working list is from 2021. What a difference three years makes. As expected, some folks have just moved. Some, sadly, have died. We mark RIP on the list and say a…

Last week, the Opening Prayer for the First Sunday of Advent told us to “run forth to meet Your Christ with righteous deeds!” Our focus should be on running forth "to meet Your Christ” -- not expressing interest, not thinking about it, not even strolling over, but running forth --…

From October 19, 2020, to April 14, 2021, this blog featured my essay -- split into a 35-part series -- on the recognition of holiness in laypeople (Part I is linked below). At the end of Part V, I made three recommendations that would aid "all of us -- bishops,…

During Advent, the Church uses two different Prefaces at Mass: one for most of Advent, the other for Advent’s last nine days. We have two because their foci are different: Advent Preface I looks forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of history, while Advent Preface II shifts back,…

On November 5, the American people decisively elected Donald Trump as president. They put the Senate in Republican control and left the House of Representatives in Republican hands. The message of the election was an end to “business as usual.” Did that message reach Congressional Democrats? No. In the past…

The Opening Prayer/Collect for Mass on the First Sunday of Advent abounds with powerful words: “resolve,” “run forth,” “righteous,” “worthy.” It reads: “Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right…

General Lafayette made a second visit to Jefferson at Monticello. He arrived from Fredericksburg on August 15, 1825. On August 20 he visited Charlottesville and was feted again over dinner at the University which had opened the previous March. He left the next day for Montpelier.[1] Lafayette was…

The Human Shield Dilemma I’ve long argued that the Church, and particularly the current pontificate, are derelict in not conducting serious discussions about just war theory and contemporary warfare (including the use of human shields and urban warfare). Failure to address these issues suggests what George Weigel has highlighted: a…

Have you ever been to a Town Hall gathering? Not I. City Hall, yes, and there to fight its folly. But now, lo and behold, I’ve been invited to a Town Hall event and even asked to contribute. Here on the Left Coast, where California Dreamin’ is always in play,…

There is little record of the conversations that occurred at Monticello for the next nine days, November 6-14, 1824, either between Lafayette and Jefferson, or with the other temporary or permanent residents who included Madison, the Wright sisters (more about them below), Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Levasseur, George Washington Lafayette, Jane…

Things sometimes appear in social media seemingly out of nowhere, though one suspects they surface as “click-bait” created to generate readers’ reactions. That’s what I thought on Sunday when my X.com feed resurfaced a talk by National Public Radio chief executive Katherine Maher (her talk is linked below). The video…