The Narthex

I continue my discussion of Pugin’s Contrasts. The operative word in the full title of Contrasts is noble. Pugin showed his readers illustrations of medieval buildings designed to comport with the nobility, the dignity, of the human beings who resided in them and worked in them. But he did not…

In Part 1, I described the evidence of the importance of the Sacred Heart to the University of Notre Dame from its founding in 1842. Turning to recent times: What was the situation on campus in 2021 and what was the situation this year regarding the commemoration of the Solemnity…

In February and March I wrote at length about the University of Notre Dame and the shockingly bad and shockingly good news from that campus on the subject of its Catholic identity (see the link below). This essay continues in this vein with a narrow focus: the university’s treatment of…

This essay is the latest of several I have written on what I call “faith-based land use planning,”[i] planning that integrates love of God and love of neighbor by including places of worship and places of service. My focus here is on the Victorian Gothic Revivalist Augustus Welby…

Previously I described pairs or groups of people who experienced simultaneous mystical flights to God. Here I look at some saintly people about whom I hoped there might be evidence of simultaneous flight. Although the evidence does not support that, there's no doubt these holy men and women were devoted to…

The St. Augustine reading club to which I belong is reading the Confessions and we noted the mystical event he had with his mother, St. Monica. Perhaps you have seen the 1854 (or the 1845 original) painting held by the National Gallery, London, by Ary Scheffer of Saint Augustine and…

On August 9, 1943, Franz Jaegerstaetter was beheaded for refusing to serve in the German army. The March 2009 edition of New Oxford Review contains my article “Pope Benedict’s Surprise” -- the surprise being that Franz had been declared a martyr (on June 1, 2007) when the Nazis were not…

No doubt we know from the life, suffering (sometimes called “passion”), and death of Jesus Christ that God is a God of unbelievable love and mercy. Recall also that in March 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed 2016 an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, and that Pope St. John Paul II, during…

How ancient is the Great Easter Vigil liturgy? We have evidence of a severe fast undertaken during Holy Week as early as 329 A.D. With regard to the Easter Vigil itself, we have descriptions of Jerusalem Easter Vigils, which include the twelve Old Testament readings, also from the 4th century.…

I write this short biographical essay for folks who haven’t seen biographical films such as Patrick: The Patron Saint of Ireland (2020), St. Patrick: Apostle of Ireland (2004), and St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (2000), or haven't read books such as Roy Flechner's Saint Patrick Retold (2019) and Thomas O’Loughlin's…

Part 3 provided one piece of shockingly good news coming out of Notre Dame. The second piece of shockingly good news is the number of Notre Dame students studying theology. When I was researching the state of the Catholic Faith at Notre Dame, I ran across the following article stating…

In Parts 1 and 2, I promised to describe the shockingly good news coming out of Notre Dame. Before I get to the shockingly good news, let me describe the simply good news for those readers not familiar with the campus or with its history (aside from football). For those…

In Part 1, linked below, I described the shockingly bad news coming out of Notre Dame. I promised that in Part 2 I would describe the shockingly good news. Instead, in this Part 2, I provide an update on the bad news described in Part 1. The good news will…

Folks, the good news out of the University of Notre Dame is shockingly good. The bad news out of Notre Dame is shockingly bad. I’ll start with the bad. On January 8, 2026, Notre Dame announced that a professor, Susan Ostermann, is being appointed, effective July 1, as director of…

I concluded Part 2 with a description of the nine languages in which Pope St. John Paul II was fluent. Here, I begin with a description of the languages in which he communicated although he was not fluent in them. I will conclude this series with lessons for priests and…