“The United Nations estimated that 683 Christians fled Mosul between February 20 and February 27. Chaldean Catholic Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona of Mosul estimated that ‘about 400 families’ had left the city’s community of 4,000 Christians.”

This disheartening data comes from an article in Catholic World News. The Iraqi Catholic bishops themselves are bemoaning the situation. But that’s not all they are doing; they are also praying, fasting, and organizing their people to protest peacefully. The facts are not to be denied, and they are not the “spin” of liberal news pundits trying to make a Republican effort look bad. Read More »

Despite the strident and personal tone of this open letter to Dr. Thomas Woods, the substance of Chris Ferrara’s article, “Ludwig von Mises versus Christ, the Gospel and the Church,” makes it a compact resume of the Catholic response to laissez faire economics. Liberalism — political, economic, and religious — has ever been opposed to, and opposed by, the Church’s dogmatic and social teaching. Read More »

Patrick J Buchanan shows how those itching to spread “our way of life” throughout the world, instead of forming a pro-American network across the globe, are forging the alliances that will ultimately destroy us. It’s a form of geo-political suicide that seems inherent in democracy. Let’s dump the phony pieties; democracy is “the god that failed.”  Read More »

Tomorrow is the feast of Christ the King according the the Novus Ordo calendar. For this occasion, Jack Kenny has written a witty piece published by the New American. Excerpt:

Yet many Christians today seem reluctant to see Christ as King. Oh, they may think they will accept him as King when he comes at the end of the age. But they gladly put off any recognition of his kingship until then, imagining that in the meantime, the Lord Jesus Christ is staying out of the way and scrupulously observing the constitutional “separation of church and state.” Read More »

I didn’t watch last night’s game against with the New England Patriots going against the undefeated Indianapolis Colts. We do not have a TV and neither does the family who invited my wife and me to a turkey dinner. I’m glad I didn’t watch the game as it would have given me heartburn and deprived me of more worthy conversation about the Faith and the best way to cook a turkey. Thanksgiving, I’m afraid, will be anti-climactic after that delicious meal. But wait, they didn’t have dressing. Yes, I can still look forward to that. Dressing (a la mashed potatoes and peppercorn gravy in the mix) is, or it certainly ought to be, a once-a-year only experience. Read More »

With the invention of movable type, the Catholic, Johann Gutenburg printed a Latin Bible (and a Papal Indulgence), thus inaugurating the age of modern publishing in a very Catholic way. But his invention came in time for certain anti-Catholic forces to use it as a weapon against the Church and Catholic Spain. The “black legend” would not have been so widely diffused without Gutenburg’s achievement. Read More »

Our late October conference just behind us, I would now like to consider its theme in light of our doctrinal Crusade. The coalescence is a wholesome one; “two great tastes that taste great together,” so to speak. Our conference speakers considered, “Toward an Integral Catholic Culture: Variations on a Theme of Father Feeney.” A connection between this and doctrine might not be immediately apparent to many. So, during my opening comments, I addressed a potential objection: “How is it that you’re putting all this emphasis on culture when dogma is your crusade?” In reply, I borrowed a thought from Monsignor Brunero Gherardini, who calls liturgy, “prayed dogma.” Attempting to imitate his gift for conciseness and aptness, I called culture — Christian Culture, anyway — “lived dogma.” Read More »

This code of conduct was extant at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), circa 1839–1997:

Without a strict observance of the fundamental Code of Honor [cf., that a gentleman does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do], no man, no matter how ‘polished’, can be considered a gentleman. The honor of a gentleman demands the inviolability of his word, and the incorruptibility of his principles. He is the descendant of the knight, the crusader; he is the defender of the defenseless and the champion of justice… or he is not a Gentleman. Read More »

“It had great thinkers, great rulers, great teachers, great poets, great artists, great moralists and great workmen. It could not be called the material age in any special degree. It was equally poetic, political, industrial, artistic, practical, intellectual, and devotional. There was one common creed, one ritual, one worship, one sacred language, one Church, a single code of manners, a uniform scheme of society, a common system of education, an ac­cepted type of beauty, a universal art, one common order of ideas — including intellect, moral duty, action and the soul. It may be doubted if that has happened in Europe ever since.” Read More »

Consider for a moment a large barn housing hundreds of head of cattle. The industrious, scientifically advanced farmer sees to it that the bovine fecal matter is collected and stored in vats. The resultant methane is gathered and used for fuel, then the spent raw materials become fertilizer for cash crops. There is, of course, much unpleasantness associated with the process — mostly the horrible smell — but the financial gain and low environmental impact are worth it. One man’s waste is another man’s profit. Read More »