The Narthex
Random 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 POSTDurbin Scandal Follow-Up
Ratzinger clarified, 'Abortion cannot be compared to the death penalty, as if they were the same'
By Sabino Paciolla | October 6th 2025 8:45 PMIllinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, known for his radically pro-abortion and pro-LGBT positions, was originally scheduled to receive a "lifetime achievement award" from Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, this November. This news sparked controversy among Catholics. Fierce criticism has come from U.S. bishops, first from Springfield, Illinois, bishop Thomas Paprocki,…
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 POSTDurbin-Cupich: When Politics Meets Catholic Teaching
Pope Leo XIV found himself having to address thorny issues extemporaneously
By Sabino Paciolla | October 1st 2025 6:22 PMIn the landscape of the Catholic Church in the United States, marked by tensions between social commitment and fidelity to moral doctrine, a development has emerged that has shaken the foundations of ecclesial dialogue. Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, announced his intention to award a "Lifetime Achievement Award" to…
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 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 POSTOn Saving God’s People
'Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within you' (1 Peter 3:15)
By James Hanink | September 23rd 2025 12:25 PM“Please, I don’t want to listen to any arguments.” Heard it before? I have. But maybe it’s high time to “listen up” and hear some arguments. Especially sound arguments, that is, the ones that are valid in form and have only true premises. After all, the glory of such arguments…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNot 'Our' Democracy
The majority does not treat the minority with magnanimity, but with contempt
By Jason Morgan | September 22nd 2025 12:07 PM“Our democracy” is in peril, we are told, endlessly, by pundits and politicians. A Supreme Court justice, talking heads, politicians, and academics have come out as worriers about the state of democratic politics. Even a former pope did so. In the United States, histrionics about “our democracy” have reached a pitch…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Assassination of Charlie Kirk
Woke culture demonizes anyone who dares challenge it, particularly a professed Christian
By Sabino Paciolla | September 15th 2025 11:50 AMThe assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 12 on a college campus in Utah, supposedly by a 22-year-old named Tyler Robinson who shot him in a single shot with a sniper rifle from approximately 200 meters, is not just the tragic end of a 31-year-old conservative activist, husband, and father…
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.…
READ FULL BLOG POSTIntersections Should Not Be Rainbows
Black-and-white clarity -- not culture war graffiti -- is what a crosswalk demands
By John M. Grondelski | September 4th 2025 11:35 AMA recent tempest in the social-media teapot concerns intersections. Not the kind that over-credentialed academics spin dissertations about in the name of “critical racial theory,” but the literal ones you walk across: crosswalks. Some jurisdictions decided to “celebrate Pride” by painting pedestrian crossings in rainbow colors. The Trump Transportation Department…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPope Leo Calls 'Lesser Evil' Catholics to Order
"They must have courage: the courage to say at times 'no, I can't!' when the truth is at stake"
By Sabino Paciolla | September 2nd 2025 1:39 PMThe timing couldn't have been more perfect. Pope Leo XIV took advantage of his August 28 audience with a delegation of politicians from the Diocese of Créteil, France, to reaffirm the principles of the Church's sound doctrine, unchanged over time. Pope Leo XIV's speech, extraordinarily beautiful, is disarmingly clear. He…
READ FULL BLOG POSTEnglish Should Be the USA’s Official Language
Language is the most basic element of assimilation and culture
By John M. Grondelski | September 2nd 2025 12:18 PMPresident Trump issued an Executive Order declaring the U.S. Government should conduct its business in English. That order elicited the usual complaints from the secular accompaniment chorus, who thought it exclusionary and impeding peoples’ access to services. As we’ve seen in pictures from a deportation, it’s not infrequent that family…
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