This blog, NOR’s “Narthex,” has just featured its one thousandth post. As we celebrate this milestone — 1,000 posts in only six and a half years! — we remind readers that blog posts treat topics currently in the news and offer explainers of unexplored ideas behind the news.

So, what’s being discussed in The Narthex lately?

John Grondelski, a theologian and reliable giver of the Catholic perspective on current events, covers: our new Pope; the state of motherhood in the U.S.; ins and outs of the conclave; oral arguments in the Mahmoud v. Taylor parents’ rights case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court; the civil and ecumenical problems with proposals for a “common Easter” with the Orthodox; what’s wrong with IVF; and, drawing on Catholic social teaching, the havoc in the current American economy wreaked by 50+ years of globalist economic policies. John has also posted 25 installments of his Random Ruminations series, offering food for thought on even more topics.

James Hanink, our resident philosopher, offers the teaching of Aquinas, Augustine, Maritain, and others to assist readers in thinking clearly about what’s behind current trends and troubles. With a new pope that’s an Augustinian, Jim is sure to be a good guide to forthcoming papal teaching. Lately Jim has looked into the questions “Where Is the Church?” “Who Is God?” and “What Is Time?” He also occasionally reads, responds to, and reports back on errors in publications like the Los Angeles Times — so we don’t have to.

James Thunder, a retired lawyer and longtime writer, recently has offered an extensive list of pro-marriage pop music, a meditation on the kingdom of Heaven, and a litany for lawyers and government officials. He has also covered the supposed cost of raising a child, attacks on parenthood and having children, and our purification in Purgatory. He has a special interest in the beatification of laymen and laywomen.

All this, plus the work of eight more bloggers — searchable by topic and author name — are only a click away. Welcome in!