Blog
March 11, 2019
In his 1942 memoir, Austrian writer Stephan Zweig tells of hearing Hitler’s voice on the radio while riding a train in Texas, of hearing in real time about bombings and atrocities from all over the world, an experience which was new in human history and not altogether welcome. “Thanks to our new methods of spreading news […]
March 3, 2019
“What is most contrary to salvation is not sin but habit.” These are the words of Charles Péguy, instigator, poet, soldier, Catholic. And they’re words which, for me, come to mind as we begin our Lent again. He was talking about those habits which control us, shape us, which although small by themselves, together can define […]
February 28, 2019
My wife and I, we have four children, all younger than 7. Ours is not a quiet house. A house of screaming and a house of endless snot, it’s also a house of love, grown and multiplied every few years. In a house of little sleep, my hobby these days is simply to sit down; fellow […]
February 19, 2019
What passes for Christianity, what people see and mistake for Christianity, that’s what’s wrong with it. That Christianity — the phenomena, not the faith — has been eclipsed by parody; it’s why so many dismiss it. Because what’s laughable and incredible isn’t genuine Christianity, but rather a counterfeit too often misconstrued for the real thing.
January 25, 2019
It was the hat, you see, that smile, that smirk. Julie Irwin Zimmerman, writing for The Atlantic, called it a Rorschach test, which is the best way to think of that viral scene involving students from Covington Catholic High School and Nathan Phillips. Proving true what C.S. Lewis wrote: What you see and hear depends upon your point […]
June 15, 2019
Today we celebrate the most Holy Trinity, the Catholic dogma of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must admit, though, it’s something of a troublesome dogma, difficult if not embarrassing for some. It’s always been so.
June 21, 2019
Of course, the faith we share is not merely a collection of concepts. The faith we share is a person—Christ himself. We don’t merely talk about Jesus; we live in him. He is truly in us, and we are truly in him. This is the deep abiding truth of Catholicism, that Christ is not absent but […]
June 28, 2019
“Discipleship is not an offer man makes to Christ,” said Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And it’s the point of this Sunday’s passage from Luke, about being “fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62).
June 30, 2019
Simone Weil, that eccentric and brilliant woman, said once, rather famously, that it was “more useful to contemplate our stupidity than our sin.” Contemplating sin risked pride, she said; admitting failure due to “sheer stupidity,” on the other hand, the bad results of our plain mediocrity: “No knowledge is more to be desired,” she wrote. Because […]
July 5, 2019
Our mission is to advance the kingdom of God by making disciples of Jesus.
July 12, 2019
Who is my neighbor? It is our culture’s most fundamental question.