The Narthex
Mahmoud, Pierce, and Parental Primacy
On mandatory curricula, ideological indoctrination, and abridging religious free exercise
By John M. Grondelski | April 28th 2025 11:20 AMThe U.S. Supreme Court April 22 heard oral arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor. The case comes from just down the road from the Court -- Montgomery County, Maryland -- where the local school board has imposed a family life curriculum throughout elementary and secondary (even pre-) schools. The curriculum is…
READ FULL BLOG POSTCivil Problems with a 'Common Easter'
The ecumenical proposal could result in further erasure of Easter from U.S. civil life
By John M. Grondelski | April 24th 2025 11:48 AMWe recently considered the less-than-pretty side of the “ecumenical” push to impose a common Easter. (See my post from two days ago.) That essay notes that most discussion focuses on three possible approaches: have the East adopt the Catholic approach; have the West adopt the Orthodox approach; or have both…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #24
The Erasure of Easter... Money in Higher Education... Nine Brief Ruminations...
By John M. Grondelski | April 16th 2025 12:13 PMThe Erasure of Easter Easter is less than a week away. Among non-believers it’s easier to ignore than Christmas, as it always falls on a Sunday. You can say “goodbye” to a co-worker on Friday and return on Monday and Easter weekend will not be noticeably different to the broader…
READ FULL BLOG POSTShould Trenton Still Make?
Why shouldn't America have a robust manufacturing sector?
By John M. Grondelski | April 7th 2025 12:09 PMA tweet got me thinking about manufacturing jobs. The poster asked, “Do we really want manufacturing jobs back?” He seemed incredulous and saw an attempt to re-shore manufacturing as “turning back the clock.” My answer: Yes. As the post-COVID “recovery” showed us, America and many Western countries are extremely vulnerable…
READ FULL BLOG POSTTheo-Economic Assumptions
Why do some think largesse, not thrift, is the only proper Catholic response?
By John M. Grondelski | April 4th 2025 2:07 PMWriting in the National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters criticizes the economic thinking of the Trump Administration, particularly the priorities of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought (the article is linked below). This paragraph particularly caught me:
The marriage of fiscal austerity with Christian values strikes…
READ FULL BLOG POSTBritain's Religious Double Standard
King Charles and the nation's elite appear to defend only faiths other than Christianity
By John M. Grondelski | March 27th 2025 1:55 PMAnyone observing the UK this month will be struck by the absolute supineness with which Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other politicians have fallen over themselves to salute Ramadan and accentuate the “contributions” Islam has made to British society. One thing is for certain: they show themselves apt candidates for…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #22
Get Ready... Confused Catholicity... Permanent Foreigners... Liturgy Research... more
By John M. Grondelski | March 25th 2025 12:15 PMGet Ready Today is the Solemnity of the Annunciation. From today until Christmas is exactly nine months (for those of you who like to get "holiday" preparations underway early!). Today Jesus' Life began. Over the next several months, I'd like to remind readers on the 25th of just how Our…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLitany for Lawyers and Government Officials
Ecclesiastically approved for private devotion
By James Thunder | March 21st 2025 11:42 AMBelow is the Catholic Church’s first litany for lawyers and government officials. It has been ecclesiastically approved for private devotion. (Seven approved litanies exist for public devotion and dozens for private devotion.) I composed it for those who work, as I did, in the field of law as lawyers, legislators,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #21
Let’s Get the Calendar... Unaccompanied Minors... Heaping Helping of Synodality... and more
By John M. Grondelski | March 20th 2025 11:33 AMLet’s Get the Calendar Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar was on social media March 19, proclaiming it as “Medicaid Day of Action.” I expected that shortly thereafter, 46 other blue Senators would repeat the same talking points. Can I ask some mole to please get us the calendar of Democratic…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFrancis's Immigration Letter
The Pope's missive to U.S. bishops raises some ecclesiological questions
By John M. Grondelski | February 17th 2025 1:06 PMMuch of Pope Francis’s February 10 letter to the Catholic bishops in the United States centered on its subject: immigration. I focused on that in my first take, which addressed how to define “dignity,” what were the letter’s potential long-term implications, and how ordo amoris could be understood in ways…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMaking America Healthy
The MAHA vision of health may very well usher in a 'Catholic moment'
By John M. Grondelski | February 13th 2025 7:47 PMThe Senate’s confirmation of Robert Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) concludes a particularly contentious nomination. He will be the Secretary of HHS, whether one likes it or not. So, I’d like to do something somewhat out-of-character in today’s Washington: call a truce. Perhaps we Catholics…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #19
Pohutsky’s Pregnancy Problem... Sex and Babies... Resisting Dialogue... and more
By John M. Grondelski | February 11th 2025 12:00 PMPohutsky’s Pregnancy Problem Laurie Pohutsky is a “bisexual” Michigan Democratic State Representative from northern Wayne County (the county where Detroit sits). You’d probably never hear about a member of the Wolverine State’s legislature -- even the chair of the “Progressive Women’s Caucus" -- except for the fact that Pohutsky took…
READ FULL BLOG POSTCommon-Home Confusion
Do we have a 'moral duty' to accept all refugees and immigrants legal and illegal?
By John M. Grondelski | January 23rd 2025 10:01 PMIf you own a home, how many guests do you have to welcome? Most normal people would say, “As many or as few a I want. There is no obligation to have guests.” If you asked those people, “And how many of those guests should be allowed to move in…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPrivileged Lectors
Contra their self-satisfied delusions, leftist religious activists don't 'speak truth to power'
By John M. Grondelski | January 22nd 2025 1:45 PMYesterday Washington Episcopal “Bishop” Mariann Edgar Budde’s "lectored" a captive Donald Trump and J.D. Vance during her National Cathedral sermon ("lectored" is my neologism: "lecture" plus "hector"). Budde pressed the President and Vice President to show “mercy” to “LGBT” children and immigrants who “pick our crops and clean our buildings.”…
READ FULL BLOG POSTBehavior at Funerals
At Jimmy Carter's state funeral, much attention was focused on the living presidents
By John M. Grondelski | January 15th 2025 12:00 PMWatching the Carter state funeral at National Cathedral, I couldn’t help but notice how much attention was focused on the five Presidents. One of the few times Americans see all their living former, current, and -- at Carter’s funeral -- future presidents in one place is when one of them…
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