Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
“The devil always sends errors into the world in pairs—pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one.” C.S. Lewis The Philosophers … Read more
If Bishop Robert Prevost personally participated in a rite explicitly identified as Pachamama in 1995, then the Pope Francis’ 2019 Vatican Gardens spectacle begins to look less like an anomaly and more like an eruption. What broke on March 18 landed like a second Amazon Synod, except this time the issue was not whether Leo … Read more
14 days after a Muslim terrorist shot up a bar in Austin, 8 days after two Muslim terrorists threw IEDs at an anti-Islamization rally in New York City, 7 days after Muslim terrorists bombed the U.S. embassy in Sweden, 3 days after Muslim terrorists attacked a college in Virginia and a Jewish preschool in Michigan, … Read more
My father arrived in America from Germany in 1939, 75 years ago. It was March 17, St. Patrick’s Day—a holiday my father had never heard of—and New York City’s marching bands and colorful parade amazed him. If this was how America welcomed immigrants, it was truly fantastic. St. Patrick’s Day would become my family’s special … Read more
So what happens when you live in a country where people take potshots at you every other day or so? Well, unless something like October 7th happens, or Islamists blow themselves up, you get pretty used to dealing with the peril and get on with your life. Hamas and Hezbollah have been lobbing rockets at … Read more
Professor Muhammad Abdou, who until recently taught students at Columbia University, appeared online this week to spread calls for religious-based violence and glorify the murder of Jews. He did so as part of an event at the Union Theological Seminary, an institution associated with Columbia. While the university recently ended Abdou’s teaching, it is important … Read more
The United Nations is having a budget crisis. It might have to lay off part of its staff. No one should be brokenhearted over this. It should instead be cause for celebration. The U.N. is nothing more than a parasite leeching off the American taxpayer while propping up dictators, terrorists, and every left-wing crackpot scheme … Read more
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has released propaganda footage of an underground complex it calls “Missile City,” a vast network of tunnels packed with suicide drones and ballistic missiles. The video, complete with a ticking clock and endless rows of Shahed drones and rockets, was released days after the US-Israeli strike that eliminated Supreme … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s decision to launch joint military strikes on Iran with Israel has provoked an epic fury of opposition from parts of his so-called “America First” base, whose talking points have now apparently inspired Iranian officials to echo them. “Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: US has entered a war of choice … Read more
The Islamic Republic and its ‘Axis of Resistance’ are victims of their own suicidal lunacy. Not even three years ago, paid goons of the Islamic Republic murdered a 13-year-old British girl. They bashed their way into the room in which she had scrabbled for sanctuary with her mother and sister and shot her to death. … Read more
Tonight the celebration of the holiday of Purim begins. Purim is a Jewish holiday often neglected outside the more religious communities in America and Israel because it commemorates an attempt to exterminate the Jews. If Purim had concluded with a lesson on tolerance, liberal Jews might be more inclined to celebrate it. Unfortunately it ends … Read more
Notre Dame’s abortion-activist debacle exposes a leadership untethered from the Church it claims to serve. The University of Notre Dame came under fire over the course of the past month for promoting an associate professor known nationally for her radical abortion activism, which, needless to say, is in direct conflict with one of the most … Read more
The internet, that great distorter of information, tells me that Cardinal Robert Sarah is “a member of the right wing of the Catholic Church.” An outsider might look at this and wonder if the Catholic Church is a hockey team with right and left wings. If it were, Cardinal Sarah would be the center, harboring … Read more
Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ. Commentary on the Catholic Church Also see – “A timeline of abuse allegations against deceased former cardinal Theodore McCarrick” – “The Mighty Pen of Father Paul Mankowski, S.J.” – “Viganò on Scandalous Rumored Appointment of Peña Parra” Related PostsThe disorder of succession Why Men Need the Sacraments | Into … Read more
Wikipedia describes itself as “a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” guided by a “neutral point of view” and built on “verifiable, reliable sources.” It aspires to collect and disseminate “the sum of all human knowledge.” That promise — open, collaborative, neutral — is what gives it authority. It is also what makes the … Read more
In the eighteen months I have been writing a near-weekly column for Catholic Culture, I have not been shy on the topic of Catholic-Jewish relations in the shadow of the Israel-Gaza War. You can read my previous work on the topic here, here, here, here, here, here and here. My emphasis has been that Catholics … Read more
Every Mother’s Day, several enterprising young thought-leaders try to include plant moms and dog moms in the celebration. Thankfully, they’re roundly ridiculed for comparing their pets to human children, or their caretaking experience to the challenges of motherhood. The selfishness of many (although certainly not all) deliberately childless women flares up at the sight of … Read more
This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the martyrdom of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old French priest who was brutally murdered on July 26, 2016, by two Muslim men inspired by the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL. During the Prayers of Petition, the two men, … Read more
These first four days of the holy season of Lent serve as a preface, indicating the preparation that we ought to make in order to spend Lent well and to dispose ourselves to fast well. That is why I have thought to speak to you, in this exhortation, of the conditions which render fasting good … Read more
The Iranian regime used Chinese and Russian technology to silence dissent during recent nationwide anti-government protests, imposing near-total internet shutdowns and disrupting satellite communications to suppress public scrutiny, according to a new study. On Monday, the international human rights organization Article 19 released a new report examining digital cooperation between China and Iran, detailing Beijing’s … Read more
A weird tic appears in certain critics whenever the president does something particularly loathsome, like dancing on the grave of a critic who was just stabbed to death by his son. They’ll hop onto social media and declare, with great solemnity, that our children and grandchildren will struggle to fathom how we put this man … Read more
For the leader. A psalm of David, 2when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba.a I 3Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love; in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions. 4Thoroughly wash away my guilt; and from my sin cleanse me. 5For I know … Read more
A psalm of thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; 2serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song. 3*Know that the LORD is God, he made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the flock he shepherds.a 4Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks … Read more
There’s a famous skit from the Irish sitcom Father Ted where, after hearing that his priest was caught making comedic caricatures of Asians, a parishioner greets him over a dry stone wall. “I hear you’re a racist now, Father,” he yells. “Should we all be racists now? What’s the official line the Church’s taking on … Read more
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche joined ABC’s This Week on Sunday to defend or explain a lot of controversies for the Trump administration: the Epstein files release, the events in Minneapolis, etc. He was also asked about possible conflicts of interest between President Donald Trump’s family business and his job. Specifically, Blanche was asked … Read more