The Narthex
Due Diligence Dereliction
Every employer is obliged to file an I-9 form for every worker. What happened in Des Moines?
By John M. Grondelski | October 9th 2025 12:08 PM“Due diligence” is an expectation that someone responsible for making an important decision research all relevant facts, risks, and legal obligations prior to making that decision. It is routine in the economic and legal fields, where exercising due diligence before committing to a contract or financial obligation is a normal…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #29
Conversion Therapy on SCOTUS Docket... Truckers against Trafficking... and more
By John M. Grondelski | October 7th 2025 11:36 AMSarah Mullally’s New Role King Charles III through UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (or maybe vice versa) has appointed Sarah Mullally to be the next “Archbishop of Canterbury.” Thoughts? Well, in one sense the question is moot. There hasn’t been a real Archbishop of Canterbury for over 400 years. Changes…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPoverty Must Be Addressed
Deciding how to alleviate poverty & promote the common good is the domain of lay persons
By John M. Grondelski | October 6th 2025 10:43 AMPope Leo XIV’s premier apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, on the poor, is due for release Thursday, though it was signed October 4. I have no insight into what it may contain and look forward to reading the Pope’s document. I do not prejudge what it might say. That said, I…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSignificance of Guardian Angels for Adults
God has given you a spiritual person to walk with you and point you where you need to go
By John M. Grondelski | October 3rd 2025 2:01 PMMany of this journal's readers likely grew up saying the poetic prayer, "Angel of God, my guardian dear." And not a few Catholic homes likely had some version of early 20th century German artist Fridolin Leiber's prints of Schutzengel -- the "guardian angel" -- usually supporting two children in some perilous…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Target' or Man?
Even in war, the enemy combatant is not a thing to be processed by a machine, but a person
By John M. Grondelski | October 1st 2025 11:36 AMWhat happens when the decision to kill is no longer made by a soldier, but by a machine? Yesterday I attended an excellent pair of expert talks on Artificial Intelligence and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), organized by students in the Politics Department at The Catholic University of America. LAWS…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhy Do We Still Baptize Outside of Mass?
Are mere utilitarian considerations short-circuiting good theology?
By John M. Grondelski | September 30th 2025 11:44 AMSixty years have passed since Vatican II. Sixty-one years have passed since Lumen gentium, which reminded us that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life around which all the sacraments revolve (no. 11). Sixty-two years have passed since Sacrosanctum Concilium taught that "the liturgy is the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDivine Omnipotence and Forgiveness of Sins
God pardons evil when man truly takes responsibility for it
By John M. Grondelski | September 29th 2025 12:40 PMOne of God’s attributes -- omnipotence -- generates all sorts of ideas, many of them mistaken. That’s why the Collect from last Sunday’s Mass (26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C) provides an eye-opening perspective: O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy... God’s…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA Line, Not a Cycle
Fall is a time of hope, rooted in responsibility to make good use of one's days
By John M. Grondelski | September 26th 2025 11:55 AMFall arrived this week, precisely on Monday at 2:19 p.m. Another year is slowly bending towards its end. I’ll admit fall is my favorite season. For me, the year goes downhill from May until about early October. (I used to say September in my native New Jersey, but I'm currently…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPricey Farmers' Markets
What does food gentrification as seen at outdoor markets say about food and social justice?
By John M. Grondelski | September 25th 2025 1:05 PMRecently I wrote about what I call “food gentrification,” the displacement by grocers of staples for “foodie” treats, and its adverse impact on prices. My comments centered on a New York Times story lauding the “comeback” of bakeries offering niche (and premium-priced) novelties, one baker touting the fact that he…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFood Gentrification and Food Substitution
On living to eat rather than eating to live, and eating bugs for the sake of 'the planet'
By John M. Grondelski | September 24th 2025 12:21 PMI recently wrote about how what were once considered food waste products have increasingly hit the grocery market. My inspiration was last Sunday’s First Reading, in which the prophet Amos excoriated the commercial cheats of ancient Israel, specifically, his comment about selling “the refuse of the wheat” as food. But…
READ FULL BLOG POSTProphet on the Profit Margin
The minor prophet Amos has much to say about maximizing profits
By John M. Grondelski | September 22nd 2025 9:34 PMLast Sunday’s First Reading was the prophet Amos decrying the religious hypocrisy and wage injustice rife in the Israel of his day. His indictment reads:
“When will the new moon be over," you ask, "that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMetallic Sacrilege
Civic infrastructure and sacred symbols have become mere objects for plunder
By John M. Grondelski | September 18th 2025 11:12 AMA peculiar subset of modern moral corrosion is metal theft: the stealing of objects ranging from manhole covers to fire hydrants to be sold as scrap metal. Copper currently sells in the $4.60–$4.70 per pound range, making it a tempting target. What might look like petty crime is, in fact,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Need to Stop Grasping
Christ shows man the path by not 'grasping' himself but taking the form of obedient servant
By John M. Grondelski | September 16th 2025 11:56 AMLast Sunday’s Second Reading -- for the Exaltation of the Cross, which preempted the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time -- was St. Paul’s great hymn of Jesus’ self-emptying, his kenosis (Phil 2:6-11). One of the key texts in that hymn is verse 6, where Jesus is presented as treating divinity…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #28
Back-to-School Guide for Parents... ERA is Dead... Tim Kaine on the Origins of Human Rights... more
By John M. Grondelski | September 12th 2025 6:47 AMBack-to-School Guide for Parents Family Policy Alliance (FPA) is the brainchild of the recently deceased James Dobson. It monitors legislative and regulatory developments with a direct impact on parental rights which, in many ways, is ground zero in the contemporary assault on the family. Make no mistake about it: When…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Right to Self-Defense in Canada
Legitimate self-defense can be not just a right but, indeed, a duty
By John M. Grondelski | September 11th 2025 11:22 AMCatholic moral theology, including just war theory, always included the concept of self-defense. A victim of aggression has the right to repel that aggression, whether it be a thief breaking into your home or a king marching with his 20,000 troops against your kingdom with 10,000. Nobody questioned that right.…
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