The Narthex

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…

Fr. Richard Perozich of Hawaii sent comments on Richard Dell'Orfano's blog post "The Grindstone" (March 24), which touched on boring homilies and overworked priests. Perozich writes:

As a priest I could be insulted that a lay Catholic said the homilies are dull, that he has to go to…

On May 4, 1940, my father embarked on the first voyage of the Queen Mary, since her conversion to a troop ship, to sail to the Middle East to fight the Axis powers. On board were 5,000 other members of the AIF – the Australian Imperial Force. My mother, like…

During a homily, the priest lifted our bored faces by boldly declaring, "So not everyone’s going to heaven.” A matronly woman sitting next to me looked up for a moment from thumbing her cell phone. Somehow assured that her Judgment Day was not imminent, she then returned to marking the…

Of late we’ve heard much about caution—indeed, an abundance of caution, and rightly so. My caveat about caution is this: that we keep it in context. The context is the virtue of prudence. And what is prudence? Above all it is right reason in acting. We shouldn’t confuse it with…

A young boy in my neighborhood walked up to me, spotting something in my hand. “What’s that?” he asked. William was a mixed-race child with handsome features. He was fatherless, so I once helped him fix his trainer bike. “It’s a chrysalis, I told him. “Soon the shell will split…

The Roman Empire lasted a long time despite its many emperors who were egomaniacs or just plain crazy. Nero may be the foremost example. What caused Rome's decline and fall was not only incompetent emperors, barbarian border enemies, or mass dementia from lead water pipes. The underlying reasons were more…

There are home truths that few politicians acknowledge. Occasionally, though, a politician throws caution to the wind. In his “American malaise speech” broadcast on national television in the summer of 1979, Jimmy Carter told the country that “All the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America.” That’s…

The ancient use of herbs for medicinal purposes is well known. Coca leaves are still chewed by Peruvian natives in the High Andes to prevent altitude sickness. Poppy flowers yield opiates for pain relief. Curcumin research has shown it can shrink cancerous tumors even in the brain. Coca-cola capitalized on…

Anyone who has ever been a teacher will recall conversations with students that went something like this: “Do you believe in God?” “No, not really. I believe in Science, so I haven’t got much time for religion.” Once young people have got it into their heads that there is a…

Chinese parents impose excessive scholastic demands on their children, who become obsessed to the point of suicide if they fail to pass a course of study. In China, suicide is the fifth leading cause of death and accounts for over 25% of all suicides worldwide. Christians are only 2% of…

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…

They say Ken died of a heart attack working hard at what he loved, construction management. I had attended his Catholic marriage and recall the happy couple leaving the wedding reception, then standing together waiting in the hotel lobby to take the elevator to a honeymoon suite. But back then…

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…