I have a distinct memory, from my Catholic high school days back in the 1950s, of a black and white photograph in a history textbook. It was of a soldier in a funny-looking uniform; he had an even funnier-sounding name. … Continue reading
Category: Columns
Let’s Hear It for the Sisters!
For the unaware, it should be made known that our sisters have a web site that is frequently updated with pieces of “educational philosophy and cultural miscellany from a classical Catholic viewpoint.” Their brief and frequent postings do not disappoint. … Continue reading
A Brief Metaphysical Excursus on the Words “First” and “Second”
If you have survived the magniloquent name of this little piece, you should easily get though the rest, for the grandiose title heads a subject matter well within reach. It occurred to me while I was deep in thought — … Continue reading
U.S. Bishop the Son of a Slave
Yes, there was a Catholic bishop in the United States whose mother had been a Negro slave. He was James Augustine Healy (1830-1900), second bishop of Portland Maine. He was born in Macon, Georgia, to Michael Healy, an Irish immigrant … Continue reading
Vatican’s Worship Chief Promotes Kneeling for Communion
Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, confirmed last week as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has advocated reception of Holy Communion according to the Church’s ancient tradition, kneeling and on the tongue. When asked … Continue reading
Saint Joseph: The Hero of Christmas
(The following meditation on Saint Joseph was recently sent out as our Christmas Letter. I hope you enjoy it.) Contemplating a Nativity scene, we behold a divine Infant, an immaculately conceived Mother, and a foster father who somehow remains the … Continue reading
Two Blesseds in the Capitol?
When I read Sister Maria Philomena’s article on Junipero Serra, it reminded me of a piece I wrote a couple of years ago, which I am sure our website’s readers would appreciate. It’s a bit of Catholic trivia that is … Continue reading
Jewish Lawyer Exposes Rank Bigotry of Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian author, journalist and attorney, Ezra Levant, has done something unusually heroic. He has made himself a civil-rights guinea pig to test the system, that system being Canada’s Orwellian “Human Rights Commission.” The commission is a neo-Stalinist enforcer of liberal … Continue reading
Give the Gift that Keeps Killing
The marketing department at Planned Parenthood has become positively tasteless. Abortion, the killing of an unborn human, has been made the subject of a gift certificate at Christmas time. “What do you get for the girl who has everything — … Continue reading
A Letter Home
This is the only complete letter from the first thirty-five years of Blessed Junípero Serra’s life. Today it is kept in the Capuchin Convent (monastery) in Barcelona. “Most Dear Friend in Jesus Christ, Father Francisco Serra, “Words cannot express the … Continue reading
The Jesuit Suppression
“For seventy years, more than six hundred Jesuits had toiled in Baja California, moving steadily northward, never abandoning a mission.” (De Nevi and Moholy) Now, with no regard for age or illness, they were ousted from their Indians and herded … Continue reading
West Virginia in Heaven’s Eye
There are several interesting facts in the history of West Virgina that highlight the footprints of the Catholic Church in the most mountainous state east of the MIssissippi. The first is a tradition handed down from the eighteenth century that … Continue reading
Our Lady of the Pillar
Perhaps the oldest devotion to Our Lady in Europe is the devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar. In Spain, Pilar is a popular girl’s name, as is Mercedes for Our Lady of Mercy. (In fact, General Franco named one … Continue reading
Santiago de Compostela
When the Apostles divided the earth and drew lots for their portions, Spain fell to Saint James the Greater. The seeds he sowed grew well, and the roots of the Faith in Spain go deep. Upon his return to Jerusalem … Continue reading
Founder of Italian Communist Party Converted Before Death
This is a very interesting article, not only because it authenticates Antonio Gramsci’s conversion, but because it highlights his strategy for Communizing all Europe. In order to do that, Gramsci insisted that the Church, the new order’s main enemy, would … Continue reading
