Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
The Catholic parish geographically closest to our home is huge, with more than 13,000 parishioners, according to the diocesan website. It has confession once a week for half an hour. Let’s say (very generously) that because of age or other reasons only 3,000 of those parishioners are able to participate in the sacrament of penance … Read more
On the menu today: President Trump issues another pardon that is just about impossible to defend on the merits; the New York Times belatedly discovers fraud and mismanagement in the Minnesota state government; and an offer you won’t want to miss. Also, for the first time in a long time, it’s a lot of fun … Read more
The ancient rot at the heart of anti-Israel activism. . . . The surge of anti-Jewish hostility is particularly concerning in light of what sparked it: meticulously planned pogroms in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023, followed by the abduction of hundreds of innocents. The hostages were condemned to terrorist captivity, where they endured physical … Read more
AT A wedding reception I attended recently, the mother of the bride, tired but happy, rose to offer a toast. I was struck by one point she went out of her way to emphasize — namely, how overjoyed she was that the guests who had flown in from out of town included not just her … Read more
Over the weekend, The Lepanto Institute received a tip that the Joseph and Mary Home, a project of the Sisters of Charity Health System, hired an “abortion rights” activist to be the new executive director of the organization. The person who submitted the tip also emailed the Sisters of Charity, Marisa Rohn (the interim executive … Read more
Senator Ted Cruz is trying to wake people up to what he sees as a growing crisis on the right. He has taken to saying that if he were to post “Good morning” on the social media platform X, within minutes he would be deluged by hundreds of blatantly antisemitic replies. It’s not much of … Read more
On college campuses and on the liberal side of the political nexus, support for non-violent opposition to Israel gave way to support for Oct 7 and the violent mass murder of Jews. After being initially greeted with polite revulsion, the terrorist side, including Zohran Mamdani, won the argument with the moral pragmatism of genocide lies. … Read more
… you rarely (if ever) hear the following phrases. “Party like it’s A.D. 1570!” “We should sing more plainchant at this parish.” “I’d like to thank the choir for their sublime rendition of the Mass For Five Voices by William Byrd.” “I just love the way the four torchbearers process in with such dignity.” “People … Read more
I Left Catholicism Because of Church Scandals… Also see “Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis,” by Bishop Robert Barron (161-page PDF) Related PostsSt. Francis de Sales Why Does Anyone Go to Mass? Forgiveness and Love Suffering Christians will be persecuted
Let’s look at the bishops’ statement on US immigration policy from a completely different angle. Forget the arguments for and against unrestricted immigration, for and against the Trump administration’s crackdown. Instead ask this question: Why are the bishops making any statement at all? We can all agree, regardless of our political perspectives, that the immigration … Read more
If only they had been illegal aliens in Mexico. Pope Leo has no problem speaking forthrightly when it’s an issue that he really cares about, like global warming or illegal aliens. “We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring … Read more
There I was last week, standing on the rooftop of the AISH Institute for Women’s Education, flour dusting my blue apron, watching dozens of young women with their hands kneading dough. The Jerusalem skyline stretched out behind us like God’s own backdrop for our first-ever challah bake at the new seminary in the heart of … Read more
It wasn’t 1985 anymore, and he wasn’t in Bedford Falls. It was 2016: Barack Obama sat in the White House as the most pro-abortion president in history, and same-sex marriage had become legal in every state. In just three years as pontiff, Pope Francis had unsettled the hearts of millions of faithful Catholics with a … Read more
A gold bar and a Rolex—where have I heard that story before? Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey accepted bribes in the form of gold bars and received photos of watches he might fancy from his benefactors: “How about one of those?” one message read. Subtle! Rolex watches are a particularly popular currency of bribery: … Read more
The much-discussed Tucker Carlson interview of the Holocaust-denying, Hitler-admiring, white-nationalist, anti-liberal MAGA influencer Nick Fuentes has brought some of the online cesspool into mainstream discussion, exposing a potential fault line in the project to build the political right’s post-Trump future. For the right, the only way out of the awful ugliness in some of its … Read more
Giving to a charity can be a rewarding experience for all involved. But before you open your wallet, you need to do your due diligence on the charity you plan to support. One thing the best charities all have in common is that they make it easy for you to see where your contributions are … Read more
Various departments and programs at UCLA are sponsoring a talk by Rutgers professor Noura Erakat styled Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination. And given Erakat’s record, “Revisiting” means “Endorsing the Notion that Zionism is a Form of Racism.” There are two commentators on her talk. There is no pretense of academic … Read more
Undoubtedly, it often happens that you try to correct certain depraved and dishonest people who are under your care, but every effort and concern is in vain. They are incorrigible, so they have to be put up with. Such incorrigibles are already in the Church. How then will you separate yourself from them so that … Read more
Steubenville, Ohio — In this industrial, Rust Belt city in northeastern Ohio, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia and mere miles from the Pennsylvania border, something special is happening. No, it isn’t the idyllic Nutcracker Village displays that adorn downtown at Christmastime. Nor is it the latest tribute to the town’s most famous … Read more
The Heritage Foundation task force that President Kevin Roberts is citing as evidence of his commitment to fighting antisemitism is rapidly coming undone. The co-chairs of the Heritage Foundation’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism sent an email to members on Tuesday afternoon listing the demands they have made of Roberts, including that he delete … Read more
Tucker Carlson’s embrace of Nick Fuentes might perhaps be what finally divides the base between those who want to remain on Carlson’s sinking ship and those who would return to constitutional conservatism. I have never been a fan of Tucker Carlson. Fifteen years ago, however, I could forgive conservatives for enjoying his brand of political … Read more
The conventional career track of high school, to the glorified credentialing programs we now call colleges, to a narrow sector of the workforce that one has ostensibly been prepared for has never seemed like a good one for all people. It raises a barrier to entry for many jobs, forces life-altering choices on people without … Read more
Tucker Carlson, knee-deep already, has taken another step into the muck with a friendly interview with Nick Fuentes. The issue isn’t merely that Carlson “platformed” a white-nationalist influencer. This framing allows Carlson and his defenders to portray the interview and others like it as an effort at open debate, as a good-faith attempt at engagement … Read more
Six months ago, I wrote a speculative column that the pandemic had a lot to do with killing the power of taboos in our society, including the taboo against antisemitism. The pandemic drove conversation online, and it saw one authority after another discredit itself. It was a period of time when people were “canceled” or … Read more
Every day millions of parents put their children under the care of public school teachers, administrators, and support staff. Their trust, however, is frequently broken by predators in authority in what appears to be the largest ongoing sexual abuse scandal in our nation’s history. Given the roughly 50 million students in U.S. K-12 schools each … Read more