The Narthex
New Oxford Blog

How Many Catholics Are in the World? In the U.S.?
A close look at various attempts to count Catholics reveals a large range of figures
By James Thunder | June 28th 2025 11:59 AMCount me skeptical about reports on the number of Catholics in the world and in the United States. When Pope Francis died, Reuters and Al Jazeera both reported there were 1.4 billion Catholics world-wide. CBS News reported 1.3 billion. The World Christian Database reported 1.272 billion. The Italian-language Vatican…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSlapping a Bishop, No, Three Bishops
Lawmakers who hold themselves out as Catholic and who harm the Church must face penalties
By James Thunder | June 25th 2025 5:54 PMUnder canon law, a person "who uses physical force…against a Bishop incurs a latae sententiae interdict” (Canon 1370, sec. 2), that is, the penalty is incurred at the moment of the violation and requires no episcopal or judicial declaration. The three bishops of the State of Washington, of the Archdiocese…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPerplexing Phenomena
Legislators and President Trump must craft immigration regulations that benefit families
By James Hanink | June 24th 2025 8:50 PMHere in Inglewood, and in many areas of greater Los Angeles, we deal with a perplexing urban phenomenon: coyotes, sometimes in packs, prowl about at night and in the early morning. They’re hunting small animals, often rodents and cats. Nobody knows why the coyotes are on the increase, though there’s…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Defining Religion Too Narrowly
Secularists have long argued for the state’s right to control hospitals and schools
By John M. Grondelski | June 20th 2025 11:40 AMOn June 16, the U.S. Supreme Court kicked back Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Harris to the New York Court of Appeals (the state’s real supreme court). SCOTUS told the New York court to reconsider its earlier decision in light of last week’s ruling in Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin…
READ FULL BLOG POSTCatholics Need to Speak Out for Kids
We must not be complicit in political 'discourse' driven by emotions
By John M. Grondelski | June 19th 2025 11:29 AMThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 18 in United States v. Skrmetti that Tennessee’s ban on gender mutilation for minors is constitutional. In 2023, Tennessee adopted SB1, a law prohibiting gender surgery and use of puberty blockers/hormones on “gender dysphoric” minors. The usual suspects sought to block the law, and…
READ FULL BLOG POST'No Kings'
The slogan is the DNA of the USA. If only the rioters in the streets knew the half of it
By Jason Morgan | June 18th 2025 10:51 AMPolitics and hypocrisy are rarely, if ever, parted. Godliness and politics, by contrast, are rarely, if ever, joined, especially not in the country of my birth. These two truisms have perhaps never been on dual display as glaringly as during the first half of June. At the level of political…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Sunday Commute
New urban planning eschews suburban sprawl. Parish consolidations push parochial sprawl
By John M. Grondelski | June 17th 2025 11:40 AMWhile post-pandemic Sunday Mass attendance in the United States has increased, it has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Adoremus asked me to write about whether, post-COVID, parish Masses should still be televised or made available online. My judgment was that, while broadcast Masses help the sick and shut-ins, they have…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMedicine Man
What our doctors see is very different from how we see ourselves, or how God sees us
By Jason Morgan | June 15th 2025 8:31 PMA family friend died last year. It fell, in part, to me to sort through his belongings. While helping his widow clean out his desk we found several shoeboxes filled with pills, ointments, powders, and other medications. We also found reams of prescription notes, guidelines for medicine use, doctor’s appointment…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDouble Standards for 'Protests'
On applying FACE Act criteria of injury, intimidation, and interference to today's leftist protestors
By John M. Grondelski | June 12th 2025 12:23 PMThe House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday, June 10, to clear a bill (HR 589; linked below) repealing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The FACE Act is a 1994 law (PL 103-259), introduced by then-Senator Ted Kennedy and then-Rep. Chuck Schumer and signed by President Bill Clinton, that…
READ FULL BLOG POSTIn Support of 'Standers'
Catholics supposedly oppose divorce, but do we really stand with abandoned spouses?
By John M. Grondelski | June 11th 2025 11:52 AMDo you know what a “stander” is? A “stander” is apparently the left-behind spouse after a divorce who, nevertheless, remains faithful to his or her marriage vows despite abandonment by the other party. I had never heard that term until I read Leila Miller’s great essay, “Six Uncomfortable Facts about…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhat to Make of the One Big Beautiful Bill
The bill helps defund Planned Parenthood, but it contains formidable negatives
By James Hanink | June 10th 2025 2:20 PMIt’s hard to miss the buzz about the Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Not so long ago, we heard about financial institutions that were too big to fail. Now, it seems, we’re looking at a bill that’s too big to succeed. If only there were a line-item veto process! For…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLaw & Order in Los Angeles
Collusion in tolerated anarchy to nullify federal law is much more than 'passive resistance'
By John M. Grondelski | June 10th 2025 11:50 AMPresident Trump is facing an intense and organized opposition PR campaign, attacking him for federalizing the California National Guard to restore law and order in the "City of Angels.” I offer a few thoughts to provide perspective: California governor Newsom, 22 other Democratic governors, and the chorus of Democratic Senators…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Good' People
What would I become, in my pride, if there were only a swarm of yesses surrounding me?
By Jason Morgan | June 8th 2025 10:08 PMIn March of 2023, notorious transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney gushed to talk show host Drew Barrymore about the importance of surrounding oneself with good people. Barrymore clearly fit the description, in his view, because she spent much of the interview kneeling before him in worshipful adulation. Who would not want…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFr. Martin's Shell Game
He uses 'respect' to smuggle in not respect for persons but for actions and lifestyles
By John M. Grondelski | June 6th 2025 6:26 PMA “shell game” is a sleight-of-hand where, ostensibly, something is put under one of three shells that are then rapidly rotated, the player having to guess under which shell that thing is now located. This game is akin to the real-world confidence game named by the idiom “bait-and-switch.” Which brings…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMarital Lessons from Clotilde and Clovis
Learning to love each other in marriage takes a lifetime, not simply a moment
By John M. Grondelski | June 4th 2025 12:09 PMJune third is observed in France as the feast of St. Clotilde. She was the 5th-century wife of Clovis, pagan king of the Franks. Clotilde was a Catholic, an orthodox one at a time Arianism still had some following in what we now call France. The Franks were a Germanic…
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