[I wrote the story of Frances Allen for our website here] National Catholic Register, Stephanie Mann: In describing the conversion of Sister Frances Margaret Allen I concluded: “Like all converts, Fanny Allen had to overcome many obstacles, including the almost inbred fear and … Continue reading
Category: Catholic America
Miracles Still Happen at Wisconsin Marian Shrine
“Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation” (Our Lady’s words to Adele Brise in 1859) You can find the whole story of this marvelous apparition of Our Lady and her message … Continue reading
Out of the Ashes: a Book Review
A Catholic Blueprint for Change – Review of Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture by Dr. Anthony Esolen. Regnery Publishing, 2017 Within the past few weeks, I have had three encounters with Dr. Anthony Esolen. The first was Reconquest … Continue reading
Venerable Solanus Casey To Be Beatified in November
There are three saints who were actually born in what would be, or later became, the United States: Mother Seton, Catherine Drexel, and Kateri Tekakwitha, the Iroquois virgin. And one Blessed, Sister Miriam Theresa Demjanovich from Bayonne, New Jersey. Father … Continue reading
Feminism’s Goal
It was obvious to all with eyes to see that when feminism arose as a social and political force in the 1960s it was only tangentially about equal pay for equal work or anything like that. Of course seeking equality … Continue reading
The Knights of Columbus: Compromise Weakens the Witness
I was given the last two issues of the Knights of Columbus magazine, Columbia, by a friend of mine. And it is an inspiring publication in many ways. The editor, Alton J. Pelowski, does a commendable job in making the … Continue reading
Catholic Confederate General Beauregard’s Statue Removed in New Orleans
The AP report is here. Sometime before this, the city took down the statue of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis, who was (as you will see in the article below) a Catholic in heart. Another Catholic Southern General who converted shortly … Continue reading
How ‘Father Hurricane’ Could Have Prevented the Terrible Loss of Life in the Hurricane of 1900
Anyone who has lived in the Gulf South knows to become wary as the end of June approaches. That is when the tropical “waves” coming into the Atlantic off the western coast of Africa begin. In fact, June 30 is … Continue reading
Easter — The “Other” Holiday
Easter is soon to be upon us, after the emotional roller coaster ride of tragedy and triumph that is Holy Week. As with Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hallowe’en, and the Fourth of July, after a certain age the glimmer of nostalgia leads … Continue reading
Saint John of Capistrano and the Swallows
Here’s a little Catholic Americana for you. Today’s saint is Saint John of Capistrano, who gives his name to the old Franciscan Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California — associated with the memory of the “Father of California,” … Continue reading
Making the Church More Visible
Editor’s Introduction: This is a brief excerpt from pages 148 to 152 of Hamish Fraser’s 1954 book, Fatal Star, which is sadly out of print. The name we’ve given it on our website is of our own making, but the text itself … Continue reading
Gallantry
In his most important book, Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, the great nineteenth-century Spanish Catholic political thinker Juan Donoso Cortes wrote: “Man cannot aspire to an impossible felicity in this obscure valley of our dark pilgrimage without losing the little happiness … Continue reading
Buffalo Bill, 27 Years After Greeting Leo XIII With Catholic Indians, Baptized Day Before His Death
Aleteia, Daniel Esparza: One hundred years ago, on January 10, 1917, William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, died in Denver, Colorado. The celebrated Chief of Scouts of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, who had also served as a guide … Continue reading
Confessions of a ‘Gladtrad’
Christmas, New Year’s, and Epiphany always, I think, make us meditative over our past, present, and future. We are tempted to look at the events and challenges of our lives in isolation — not merely from those of others, but … Continue reading
The “Threat” of Populism
Following the Brexit vote in the U.K. in June and Donald Trump’s unexpected election victory mainstream media have been filled with reports about a wave of populism that supposedly threatens to wash right across the formerly Christian and now liberal … Continue reading