Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
America’s birth rate has fallen again, extending a decadeslong decline that has reshaped the country’s demographic future. The latest data confirm what has been evident for years: People are having fewer children and, if they have them at all, later. Analysts have pointed to a familiar list of explanations — the rising cost of housing, … Read more
In an interview given to the program Le Club Le Figaro Idées , Cardinal Robert Sarah has offered an uncompromising diagnosis of the situation of the Church and the West. The African cardinal warns of a deep crisis of faith in Europe, denounces the reduction of the Church to a social organization, and emphasizes that … 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
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
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
A leading cardinal and former secretary of the Roman Curia has spoken to the Catholic Herald about the state of the Church, the role of the papacy, and how Catholics should approach authority. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, described the veneration of the private and … Read more
At the dawn of the 1950s, as atheistic communism was seeping into the West from the Soviet Union and as godless secularism and hedonism were on the rise in America, achieving the disastrous watershed known as the Sexual Revolution some years later, a Catholic bishop stood before a camera, a chalkboard over his shoulder, ready … Read more
There’s a very short and very brutal poem by the Scottish poet Hollie McNish, written in 2019 and titled “Conversation with an archaeologist”: he said they’d found a brothel on the dig he did last night I asked him how they know he sighed: a pit of babies’ bones a pit of newborn babies’ bones … 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
… 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
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
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
COMMENTARY: Reconciliation must never sacrifice the timeless truths of the Church, but sadly that appears to be the case in China. Cardinal Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, defended the state of religious freedom in Hong Kong in a public dialogue in Parramatta, Australia, on Sept. 15. If what he said were true — … Read more
When I tell people I go to Christendom College, the reaction is almost always the same: a raised eyebrow, a polite smile, and then, “Wait, that super strict Catholic school?” Yep. That’s the one. To be honest, I kind of thought the same thing before I enrolled. I wasn’t raised Catholic. I’m a convert who … Read more
Some two weeks before the 2nd anniversary of October 7, the UN, the UK, France, Australia, Canada and other failed radical governments rallied to commemorate the massacres, kidnappings and rapes by giving the Islamic terrorists responsible for it their own ‘state’. Along with a High Holidays gift to the Jews celebrating their new year. The … Read more
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A prominent cardinal has raised sharp concerns over the Vatican’s staging of a drone display above St Peter’s Basilica that included the projection of the face of Pope Francis onto the night sky during the “Grace for the World” concert earlier this month. Speaking to journalist Diane Montagna in Rome, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former … Read more
There is a phrase I have always disliked, which is often found in obituaries or profiles of prominent people: “he didn’t/doesn’t suffer fools gladly”. Sometimes, I am sure, it is used to convey the idea that an individual is or was impatient with humbug, excuses or persistent incompetence, which can be a useful and admirable … Read more
Last night, after writing a piece in which I quoted the late Father Paul Mankowski, I realized that the day was the 5th anniversary of his sudden death from a brain aneurysm. Veteran CatholicCulture readers knew Father Mankowski primarily as “Diogenes,” the pseudonymous writer who contributed hundreds of witty comments to this site. Other faithful … Read more
On Wednesday morning, the students at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis were attending a Mass in the church next to the school when, suddenly, the stained-glass windows were shattered by a hail of gunfire. The fusillade didn’t stop immediately. Witnesses said that between 50 and 100 bullets were pumped into the church, injuring at least … Read more
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. Note that the kingdom of heaven is likened in the first place not to a location but to the king himself and his activity. For the Christian life is essentially a relationship with a … Read more
The intense focus on the dailly minutia of the Holy Father can veer into unhealthy voyeurism. Not long ago, Rich Raho, a high school teacher with a not insignificant audience on 𝕏, posted a picture of Pope Leo along with this: “Every pontificate has a defining moment, and Leo’s ‘moonlight speech’ tonight was one of … Read more
God is doing something incredible with Gen Z, and secular media is noticing. The same outlets that once confidently proclaimed, “Religion is dying! Young people are leaving churches in droves! Christians to be a minority by 2050!” now seem to be changing their tune. Lately, the headlines from mainstream media read more like, “Catholicism sees … Read more
Have we ever considered why female volleyball players wear the equivalent of underwear while males wear long shorts? Why, when my son’s soccer team played a co-ed team, the girls wore very short shorts while the boys wore long ones? Pope Pius XI spoke strongly about athletic uniforms with insufficient fabric, stating: Let parents keep … Read more
Nothing less than virtue must be the guiding principle of our love for tradition, and this must be especially true for men. I did not discover the Latin Mass until seven years ago, so my Catholic upbringing as an adult convert for the past twenty-plus years was in the New Mass. The hymns were embarrassing … Read more