The Narthex

As the pandemic crisis wanes for wealthy nations, the unintended consequences of worldwide economic shutdowns will continue to unfold for years in poorer parts of the globe. Two examples of this are found in two Church-affiliated news outlets. The first is a LiCAS News article, "Child labor rises to 160…

Nineteen Sixty-four is a research blog for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The blog periodically posts research findings which are often accompanied by helpful graphs and charts. A pre-COVID post at Nineteen Sixty-four offers data on U.S. Catholic parish closures and openings, and…

The Vatican has again stepped into the affairs of the USCCB in order to delay action with which Rome may not agree. Trusted Vatican watchers such as Edward Pentin and John Allen Jr over the years have portrayed Vatican officials as wary of what is seen as the American bishops'…

The mainstream media are overwhelmingly liberal; this is well known. Their all-out effort to portray Joe Biden as simply a good-natured older man -- the nation's Uncle Joe -- is obvious and predictable. Still, there are corners of the liberal media where one can find solid reporting that rejects simple…

When the FDA recently paused rollout of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, several articles in the mainstream press compared the risk of blood clots from the J&J shot to the clot risk from taking birth-control pills. The comparison was driven by the fact that all six vaccine clotting cases,…

The U.S. Census Bureau has released data from what it calls an "experimental" Household Pulse Survey on the impact of COVID-19 on homeschooling rates. The survey shows a "substantial increase" from spring of 2020 to the start of the current school year. The survey-makers made sure their questioning was clear…

An interesting New York Times op-ed (Feb. 24) by Stephen Wertheim titled "America Is Not ‘Back.’ And Americans Should Not Want It to Be" actually relates some generally unspoken facts of recent U.S. foreign policy. Wertheim says that despite Trump's description of himself as "militaristic," he didn't start any new…

Daniel Larison, over at The American Conservative, writes on one significant change to U.S. foreign policy in the first few weeks of the new president's term. In “Joe Biden’s Good Start On Yemen” Larison explains a first step taken toward ending our involvement in Saudi Arabia's war. A link to…

The Swedish government's approach to coronavirus has been criticized all along by the media of other Western nations hell-bent on justifying their own economy- and job-killing overreactions. Although we need to wait and see what winter brings in the northern hemisphere, we can at least give an update on Sweden's…

Do you have friends who claim to be against abortion but vote for pro-abortion politicians because abortion is “just one issue among many”? Perhaps solid teaching from our shepherds can help convince them otherwise. John Gerard Lewis, author of Catholic Voting and Mortal Sin: How You Vote Can Endanger Your…

Many Catholics have pondered whether the Church benefits from the work of public intellectual and author Jordan B. Peterson (who has recently been quieted by a prolonged health crisis). Peterson’s book 12 Rules for Life, which counsels the young on living a meaningful life, had sold three million copies by…

Negative portrayals of the Church by the mainstream media are a given, but lately the Associated Press and The New York Times have dealt a few dirty blows. New York’s Cardinal Dolan recently responded to a story in the Associated Press about Catholic organizations and entities receiving relief funds from…

Various analyses suggest that around 40% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have taken place at nursing homes. While the data will be refined over time, it’s clear that nursing home residents are an extremely vulnerable population in a pandemic. An article at The American Conservative (June 5) called “Continued Isolation Will…

Fr. Richard Perozich of Hawaii sent comments on Richard Dell'Orfano's blog post "The Grindstone" (March 24), which touched on boring homilies and overworked priests. Perozich writes:

As a priest I could be insulted that a lay Catholic said the homilies are dull, that he has to go to…

New data from Italy’s national statistics agency (ISTAT) show the country’s population continued to shrink in 2019. ISTAT reports 435,000 births in 2019, down 5,000 from 2018 and the lowest level ever recorded in Italy. Deaths there totaled 647,000 last year. Reuters quotes the reaction of Italian president Sergio Mattarella.…