The Narthex

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.…

On August 3, the archbishop of San Antonio, the Most Rev. Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS (Missionaries of the Holy Spirit), marked the centennial of the elevation of San Antonio to a metropolitan archdiocese by publishing a pastoral letter on immigration. I thank the archbishop for his thoughtful, prayerful, and emotionally powerful…

Here’s what I propose: Let’s no longer take the name of John the Baptist in vain. Please, hear me out. We English-speaking Christians must refrain from using the word john for toilet or, worse, for a customer of a prostitute. Why? Because God gave the name John to St. John…

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham was laid to rest with a funeral July 28 at the Washington National Cathedral. Recently, some Catholic bishops have issued new regulations for funerals in their dioceses. This post isn’t a critique of Graham's funeral. Rather, it affords some interesting insights into the theology of…

When I was a boy, I sometimes had to fight for the privilege of carrying a grown man’s golf clubs. That was before caddy carts. Caddy jobs were scarce enough that fists could settle who got one. Once hired, bloody-nosed, I shouldered a heavy leather bag and followed grown men…

“The world is so full of a number of things, / I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” So wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in his poem “Happy Thought.” It’s a little gem in his A Child’s Garden of Verses, written in 1885 and never out of print.…

Della was in her eighties, couldn’t drive, and rode the city bus every week to a writing group she had facilitated for ten years. Now I sit beside her learning the ropes, smelling the faint scent of peppermint oil she dabbed on her wrists. It is fun but hard work.…

On June 29, 2026, Pope Leo XIV addressed a letter to Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on the occasion of a liturgical conference held at Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon. The text, as reported by AdVaticanum, recalls Pope Francis's Desiderio…

A sociologist named Jason Arday died August 14, 2026, in his London home. It appears that the cause of his death was suicide. But to any event there are circumstances, and those surrounding Dr. Arday’s death seem to shift much of the responsibility for his untimely passing onto those who…