The last time I did jury duty I was outside on the courthouse plaza smoking during a break when a young man, a millennial, approached me and asked for a cigarette. I was surprised. Sixty years ago, when I was … Continue reading
Category: Articles
May/June 2018 Mancipia
The May/June 2018 Mancipia is now posted (scroll down for PDF). Back issues of this newsletter are linked from our downloads page. If you would like to receive our bi-monthly newsletter via U.S. mail, please sign up to get it … Continue reading
Maurice Baring’s 1927 Novel on Russia and Wartime Manchuria: Tinker’s Leave
Ten years after the sacred events at Fatima, Portugal, as well as a full decade after the 1917 Bolshevik revolutionary takeover in Russia, Maurice Baring — who knew the Russian language very well — wrote another book on Russia (and … Continue reading
Saint John Eudes and the Middle Age Controversy Over the Immaculate Conception
I am reading Part One (of three parts) of The Wondrous Childhood of the Most Holy Mother of God by Saint John Eudes. It is a masterpiece of filial devotion to the Mother of God, reflecting on her holy childhood, … Continue reading
The Myth and Reality of Charles de Gaulle, Part II
(Part one is found here.) In the first part of this article I made the point that myth surrounds the figures of all men recognized as leaders and that the leaders who loom largest in history textbooks are those most … Continue reading
The Evil That We Are
Little Alfie Evans is dead. The poor mite had little hope, humanly speaking, in any case; but the determination of the British medical, bureaucratic, and judicial establishment to kill him — in the face of an Italian government that was … Continue reading
The Myth and Reality of Charles de Gaulle
Myth often usurps reality with men clinging to the former and ignoring the latter. For instance, most persons seem to persist in thinking of Ireland as still a Catholic country even though Mass is now celebrated in largely empty churches, … Continue reading
Two Valorous Officers and Their Integrity and Eccentric Ways: Evelyn Waugh and Randolph Churchill
Having recently read much of Captain Evelyn Waugh’s Diaries and Letters and Essays written during World War II, I knew that I could not briefly summarize their content and their manifold importance. But, as a result, I have come even … Continue reading
The Heresy of Americanism and the Spanish-American War
The heresy of Americanism, condemned in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII in his apostolic letter Testem benevolentiae, arose in France but got its name on account of it finding in the U.S. soil in which to take root and bishops … Continue reading
Holy Man of Russia: Blessed Leonid Feodorov
Blessed Leonid Feodorov, First Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church; Bridgebuilder Between Rome and Moscow, by Paul Mailleux, S.J. A Review by Eleonore Villarrubia Do you know the meaning of the title “Exarch?” I did not until I read this … Continue reading
Evelyn Waugh’s Comic Muse in Scoop
Two years before he was to die in early April of 1966 on Easter Sunday after Mass, Evelyn Waugh wrote a new Preface to his pre-War 1938 novel, Scoop.1 In that brief 1964 Preface and retrospect, he recalls the atmosphere … Continue reading
The ‘Splendid Little War’
Exactly 120 years ago this month, the United States was gearing up to go to war. In April Congress would declare it, government in those days still adhering to the constitutional requirement that Congress declare the nation’s wars instead of … Continue reading
Enough With the Monkey Business
Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man’s body developed from previous biological forms, under God’s guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. Pope Pius XII declared … Continue reading
Presumption: The ‘I Am a Good Person’ Sin
The Way We Were Presumption is a sin that has become increasingly more common over the past fifty years. Before Vatican II, Catholics were taught to have a healthy fear of God and being judged by Him. Whether we were … Continue reading
The Modern Quest for Enchantment II
Last month we looked at the attempts of believers and non-believers alike to escape the terror and boredom of modern life via quest for enchantment launched through time — the annual observances, secular and religious, of the year. In this … Continue reading
