The Narthex

“My Three Sons” was a 1960s hit sitcom about a widower raising three boys. I suspect many Catholics who heard Sunday’s Gospel would have preferred a parable about the man’s three sons. But Jesus gave us only two. In Christ’s parable, the first son is told to go work in…

"Joe Biden is perhaps on par with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as one of the most pro-abortion presidents in U.S. history," writes LifeNews. Biden's radical abortion agenda apparently met with approval from Planned Parenthood, as America's largest abortion organization presented Biden with an award at a luxury gala in…

I recently penned an essay on the threats imperiling the existence of Catholic colleges. I identified four: demographics, costs, people’s perceptions of the need for college degrees, and AI. Not all of them carry the same weight. For example, how AI may affect college graduates (especially in terms of entry-level…

The trigger for the latest wave of AI-related alarm is Jacob Coxon, a researcher who moved from OpenAI to Anthropic, the company developing Claude. In resigning, Coxon accused both companies of rushing toward a self-improving superintelligence without, in his view, behaving responsibly enough. "They are gambling with our lives," was…

Two weeks ago, I shared a heartfelt lament with my editor: “Woe to me if I do not philosophize.” Feeling my pain, she replied, “Just do it,” or words to that effect. And so, gentle reader, you now find me still contending with “the great chain of being.” It’s the…

Saturday, September 19, is the feast of Our Lady of LaSalette. The Blessed Mother appeared 180 years ago, in 1846, to two children in the French Alps. Her message was simple, which is perhaps what I find most attractive about it. She lamented three things: that people didn’t pray, that…

A recent New York Times article was one of those pieces that make you think -- not necessarily because its conclusions are profound but because its questions are. The author of “The Most Promising Worlds Beyond Our Solar System” writes about research documenting the existence of planets orbiting other stars…

Faced with the escalating public debate on end-of-life care, the Catholic Church in Italy is undergoing one of the most dramatic theological and political reversals in its recent history. This is no longer a silent retreat or passive tolerance in the face of secularization, but a veritable genetic mutation. Led…

Here we wrap up my four-part series on suggestions for improving the pastoral letter on immigration by the Archbishop of San Antonio, the Most Rev. Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS. The Archbishop cites St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (2:19) in support of his statement that “by Baptism we are incorporated into…

Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, discussed the law on assisted suicide approved last Wednesday by the Veneto Regional Council in an interview published in Avvenire on September 6. A native of Padua, Pegoraro follows the matter with particular personal engagement, offering an analysis that intertwines…

In last Sunday’s First Reading, God tells the prophet Ezekiel that he is to be “watchman” of Israel. He is to watch and warn Israel of moral dangers: “If I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked one, you shall surely die’ and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked…

I continue with my suggestions for improving the pastoral letter on immigration by the Archbishop of San Antonio, the Most Rev. Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS. The Archbishop paints another picture, namely, that of the desperation of the undocumented/illegal immigrant. He writes, “Our immigration system has failed the people it was meant…

In a recent Gospel, Our Lord tells St. Peter, “You will be catching men” (Luke 5:10). The homilist told us we must all be catchers of men. It’s the start of a new school year and I praise teachers and parents of young children who pass on the Faith, who…

“Oh, well, that’s life.” So judged, and often, a colleague of mine. Was he voicing a resigned stoicism? Or plain pessimism? Perhaps he himself was unsure. Still, I’d like to contest any incipient pessimism, even if cloaked in optimism. In doing so, I’ll limit myself to exposing a single wrongheaded…

I continue with my suggestions for improving the recent pastoral letter on immigration by the Archbishop of San Antonio, the Most Rev. Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS. Racism of Enforcement? The Archbishop maintains that there are “patterns of racial disparity in [immigration] enforcement against Hispanics, Latinos, and other people of color” (Para.…