Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
The God of our Brokenness – Fr. Mike Schmitz Finding Beauty in Suffering Related PostsMore Than a Slab of Meat: The Worth of the Soul Fewer Priests Reflect Lack of Masculine Role Models Is the Pope Catholic? “Put not your faith in princes” Peace of Heart
The latest self-inflicted blow to the Vatican’s China policy came in mid-July, when the Holy See announced that Pope Francis had “recognized” Bishop Joseph Shen Bin as Bishop of Shanghai—despite the fact that the bishop had been “transferred” to China’s most important and prestigious diocese by the Xi Jinping regime, not by the pope. A … Read more
The judiciary of the United States has two main factions: those who read English (originalists) and those who redefine the words of the Constitution to their liking. During her Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Ketanji Brown Jackson famously refused to define what a woman is, demurring, “I’m not a biologist.” We find the same confusion in … Read more
“We cannot save the world by playing by the rules,” thunders Greta Thunberg, voicing the sentiment of practically every violent radical, terrorist, and concentration-camp builder throughout modern history. Here is a 21st-century question: Is the 20-year-old environmental campaigner old enough to know better? There was a time, not that long ago, when this would have … Read more
Once again, National NFP Awareness Week is here, and our feeds will all be bombarded by the joys, hardships, medical benefits, and new technologies available to aid our journeys with Natural Family Planning (NFP). At the risk of stepping on a few internet toes, I would like to posit that NFP is a valuable tool, … Read more
Saint or Ain’t 16a 2023, Msgr. Charles Pope Related PostsOur Lady of Guadalupe Cities Lead the Way in (Another) Massive Fall Exodus from US Public Schools Criminal-Justice Reformers Have a Murder Problem Peace of Heart The Pope Who Foresaw the Horrors of Communism
Smartphones, handguns, and the destructive use of freedom The word “freedom” comes from vridom, which means “beloved” in medieval German. In that grim era, only people of one’s own heritage were thought to deserve basic human rights; outsiders, on the other hand, could be killed, tortured, and enslaved at will. This was true throughout the … Read more
Does Jesus Love You Just the Way You Are? No. Against such absurd claims, only sharp replies will do. Like ice water splashed onto the face of a hallucinating man, the sharp reply brings a man back to his senses. Indeed, such ubiquitous sloganeering is built upon decades of theological dissent, very much the way … Read more
Parents and society must be vigilant as the next stage of the sexual revolution emerges Donald Trump once boasted at a rally that “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Well, we learned recently that drag queens can march through New York City chanting “We’re … Read more
To help those who are looking for Catholic communities, Crisis Magazine has compiled a list of 10 of the best cities to raise a Catholic family. In an era in which America is becoming an increasingly anti-Catholic place to live, Catholics desperately need to be supported by a strong Catholic community in order to live … Read more
Have you heard about the scandalous writings by the new head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office? No, no: I don’t mean Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing, the 1995 pamphlet that has occasioned so much comment since Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández was elevated to Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of … Read more
Biden’s first campaign ad attacked conservatives for keeping ‘Lawn Boy’, a book featuring a 10-year-old performing sex acts, in schools. The Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation of a Georgia school district for pulling books containing graphic sexual content from middle school shelves. At a Pride Month event at the White House, it … Read more
Cash-strapped Americans are panic-searching “pawn shop near me.” The search trend spiked to a record high at the start of July and is an ominous sign the consumer might be pawning items or selling things that were possibly bought during the Covid boom to raise quick money amid the worst inflation storm in a generation. … Read more
As this “pride” month comes to a close, it is high time we discuss the infamous Fr. James Martin, S.J. There are so many instances wherein we find Martin promoting the rainbow lifestyle to Catholics that I am sure we can all think of a few. One extremely egregious example comes to mind: namely, when … Read more
[H]istory is full of inspiring stories involving huge, positive changes made possible by people both illustrious and ordinary. One of the best examples comes from Great Britain between 1787 and 1833. It is a story of long odds and daunting obstacles, a tale of courage, perseverance, and moral vision. It’s about much more than changing … Read more
In 2021, 62% of Americans opposed men in dresses playing on female teams while 34% supported it. In 2023, a sizable 69% majority is opposed and only 26% are in favor. Within two years, support for ‘transgender female athletes’ fell from a third to a quarter. While those numbers are important, the real turnaround in … Read more
The predominance of homosexuality within the ranks of Catholic clergy is a chief cause of the clerical sex abuse crisis and it fundamentally undermines the Church’s core mission. The Catholic bishops of Spain released a clerical sex abuse report at the beginning of the month, based on testimony from nearly a thousand abuse victims and … Read more
I received my master’s degree in the field of Mental Health Counseling in the mid-1990s and was licensed by my state board just a few years later. In graduate school, I took a course in Child Development that addressed what was then referred to in the DSM-IV—the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental … Read more
There are many complicated and confusing theological issues in the Christian life—issues that require deep intellectual research and sophisticated analysis, issues that call for multidisciplinary scholarship and expertise, issues that cannot be meaningfully addressed in an opinion column of several hundred words. Thankfully, modesty is not one of those issues. It seems that at least … Read more
Long before the left invented “pride month,” the Catholic Church dedicated June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a tradition originating from the 17th-century visions of Christ received by French nun St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Enter Ross McKnight, a Louisiana Catholic father of five and owner of Backwater Foie Gras, whose business is now under … Read more
Porn and dating apps are not a substitute for relationship Gregory of Nyssa, contemplating the Christian horror of concupiscence, once theorized that had not Adam and Eve sinned, the two of them would have remained virgins and reproduced in whatever way angels did. Alas, we have not sinless men and women today, but many more … Read more
LISA DAMOUR: Well, I, of course, operate at the level of the individual kid in the individual family. So the way I think about things like that is that I don’t disagree that social media can be incredibly hard on kids and their mental health. Social isolation is also incredibly hard on kids and their … Read more
Public school teachers and other culture warriors on the Left will insist that the symbols of their ascendant movement, such as the rainbow flag, pronouns in bios and introductions, and “HATE HAS NO PLACE” signs, are just simple, unobjectionable statements of tolerance and love. Wearing the rainbow flag ought not to be controversial, they argue. … Read more
When debating trans activists, it’s best not to use preferred pronouns or defensively emphasize one’s heartfelt sympathy for “trans people.” Doing so is playing into a trap. Much of what is intended as courtesy is interpreted as concession. And much of what is intended as a show of good faith is interpreted as weakness. Consider … Read more
Identity politics is best understood as a moral caste system. Buying into variants such as critical race theory means accepting that your actions matter less than your race, gender or sexuality. The promised liberation of identity politics imposes the collectivist understanding that nothing you do truly matters outside the constraints of your caste. Who you … Read more