The Narthex
‘It Can’t Happen Here’
How can we point the accusing finger when we ourselves are so compromised by evil?
By David Daintree | April 12th 2024 2:22 PMOn several occasions at the end of WWII, army commanders who liberated German concentration camps forced local people to file through, under guard, meet some of the prisoners, and witness for themselves the horror of it all. For most of those people the experience must have been deeply traumatic, and…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFrance and Ireland
Bad news, grounds for hope, and good news in formerly Catholic countries
By David Daintree | March 19th 2024 9:19 PMThe mainstream media have had much to say about the recent constitutional change in France, and they have done so for the most part with little detail, but much euphoric delight. My thanks to Fr. Pius Noonan for finding the actual words for me, which are as follows: “La loi…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLenten Thoughts
Our Fathers in Faith, without exception, believed that Satan is real and is to be overcome
By David Daintree | February 20th 2024 12:39 PMModern western Christians often like to persuade themselves that there is no real and personal Devil, but wishful thinking of that kind wouldn't wash with our Church Fathers and doesn't square with Gospel accounts of the Gadarene swine or of Jesus's own temptations in the wilderness. C.S. Lewis in his…
READ FULL BLOG POSTChrist’s Leap
Prose hardly conveys the majesty of Christ's 'leap' from his Father's throne to earth
By David Daintree | December 7th 2023 1:23 PM“When all things were in quiet silence and night was in the midst of her swift course, thine almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne” (Wisdom 18, 14-15). Of all the images of Christmas, this is the one that has always thrilled me the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Dawson Centre at Ten
Promoting the Catholic intellectual tradition
By David Daintree | November 20th 2023 4:47 PMIt all started in mid-2013 when the archbishop-elect of Hobart, Julian Porteous, asked me if I would help him “raise the profile of the Catholic intellectual tradition” in his new diocese. The cynic might say that raising the profile of something that was below the radar of public awareness wasn’t…
READ FULL BLOG POSTTime, Eternity, and Australia’s Referendum
All our victories and all our setbacks are merely temporary
By David Daintree | October 17th 2023 2:06 PMConsider the following reflection on the true purpose and goal of human civilization: "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). This stunning statement assures us, with crystal clarity, that God's dwelling place is beyond and outside time. It's true that Scripture often tries to explain eternity by analogy with time…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNanny-State Protection
The left has never really trusted the people even to think for themselves
By David Daintree | October 2nd 2023 12:13 PMThe words disinformation and misinformation have been around for many years but have recently risen to prominence as the Australian parliament debates a bill which would ban false or misleading information in the media. The two terms are not interchangeable. The proposed law defines misinformation as “online content that is…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Free Speech
Many claim to believe in it, but few understand or tolerate it in practice
By David Daintree | August 31st 2023 12:26 PMThe Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies is tasked with “advancing the good name of the Catholic intellectual tradition.” At the outset it was made clear that it was to operate at arm's length from the Church and enjoy a high degree of independence, for its brief was not so…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMarxism, Alive and Well
Communism's anthropology, as described by Engels, currently threatens traditional values
By David Daintree | August 15th 2023 11:18 AMConservative defenders of traditional Christian values often claim that many of the things they perceive as current threats to society -- radical sex education in primary schools, for example, or the notion of gender fluidity -- share a common origin. That they are in fact inspired by Marxism, which is…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhat the COVID Era Did
Ordinary people were no longer to be trusted to manage their own lives
By David Daintree | June 26th 2023 12:35 PMEvery nation cherishes an image of itself. We are often told that Australia’s was formed on the beaches of Gallipoli, but it’s older and more complex than that. Long before the Australian union, the people of the Australian colonies developed self-images of their own, in great variety. Few directly referred…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWar with the Left
Bigots, bullies, liars & haters are all the same regardless of which 'side' they're on
By David Daintree | May 24th 2023 11:31 AMWords from Ecclesiastes -- “Be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (xii.12) -- must occasionally spring to the mind of those who inflict “opinion pieces” upon innocent readers! But we are engaged in a mostly cold war against those who…
READ FULL BLOG POSTConstitutional Change
Beware unforeseen and unintended consequences
By David Daintree | May 10th 2023 3:49 PMAustralia faces a possible constitutional change later this year when we shall be asked to approve The Voice, a modification to our foundational document that will not only formally recognize the first occupiers of our continent but establish a special body to represent their interests. Regardless of what position one…
READ FULL BLOG POSTEaster Wings
We may hope with the poets that the further we fall, the higher we can rise
By David Daintree | April 17th 2023 2:03 PMGeorge Herbert (1593-1633) wrote the following pretty lines in the shape of a pair of wings to signify our final aspiration to soar heavenwards in Christ's triumphant Easter train:
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till…
READ FULL BLOG POSTCancelled, Again
We must go bravely to the barricades in defense of our beliefs
By David Daintree | April 3rd 2023 12:28 PMThe Dawson Centre’s call for Colloquium papers includes the following statement: “School children are taught to believe that girls can be boys, that boys can be girls, and that grown-ups should be punished for denying it.” Someone subsequently asked me for evidence that any “grown-up” is ever actually penalized for…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhither Liberty?
Communication of unwelcome ideas is increasingly restricted
By David Daintree | March 20th 2023 12:00 PMGeorge Orwell wrote, “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” It is a fine thing, in a 21st-century Western democracy, to be reminded that writers and journalists once thought like that, and acted accordingly. Now, by contrast,…
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