The Narthex

Readers will recall that in Part 1 of this series I quoted from Msgr. Breslin’s funeral eulogy for Father Gilligan, telling two short stories about this wily priest-diplomat. His first story concerned foreign missionaries, as related in Part 2. His second story concerned native Chinese. During the Communist takeover of…

Thanksgiving is, for most Americans, a long weekend. Almost all children get out of school on Wednesday and don't return until Monday. Most institutions other than stores and commercial enterprises all take the long weekend. At some point Thanksgiving became something of a segue into the "Christmas season" and --…

It all started in mid-2013 when the archbishop-elect of Hobart, Julian Porteous, asked me if I would help him “raise the profile of the Catholic intellectual tradition” in his new diocese. The cynic might say that raising the profile of something that was below the radar of public awareness wasn’t…

Stage One: The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in Plymouth Colony in 1621. The Pilgrims set out for North America in September 1620. Storms put them off-course during their Atlantic crossing, to land farther north -- off present-day Massachusetts -- than they planned. Finding themselves in a wilderness at the start…

Ms. Wong disparages the credibility of Msgr. Breslin’s accounts in his funeral eulogy for Father Gilligan since Breslin did not hear of these events from Gilligan himself when he was living with him.[1] But Msgr. Breslin stated that, for both stories, he relied on multiple sources, “a stream”…

Even in her nineties Rena Poulos, Inglewood’s restauranteur of renown, would ask paper-reading patrons, “Any good news yet?” These days would she even bother to ask? For my part, as a mid-septuagenarian, I’m attuned to the folly of youth. My own daughter hasn’t registered to vote, even though she could…

In 2017, I published online a comprehensive biographical essay of an American priest, in which I highlighted his time as a Vatican diplomat in Hong Kong, entitled “Martin T. Gilligan: An American Hero Neglected—Until Today: Saving Lives During the Communist Takeover in China, 1946-1952.” That essay is no longer accessible,…

This morning I left for work a little after the sun had risen -- not unusual with days shorter and clocks turned back one hour. As I walked across my parking lot, a couple of squirrels were busy on the old oak tree, about whose acorns pelting my window pane…

As Buckeyes head to the polls Tuesday to vote on Issue 1, an extreme amendment to the State Constitution that would -- among other things like surrogacy, artificial reproduction, and state subsidy of abortion -- ensconce abortion-on-demand through birth, they might want to remember Kermit Gosnell. Kermit Gosnell is somebody…

David Hackney is a Cleveland medical professor who is pushing Issue 1, the proposed Ohio state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion through birth, on the ballot tomorrow, November 7. He penned an article in the November 5 New York Times defending the amendment. He claims the State of Ohio is promoting…

Nat King Cole sang about “the falling leaves [that] drift by the window/the autumn leaves of red and gold.” Drifting autumn leaves suggest a quiet, peaceful sweep outside one’s casement. Last weekend was anything but. Fall was at its peak in Virginia and Saturday was a gloriously sunny day. As…

Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7).   One hundred and sixty years ago this November 19, Abraham Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg about hallowed ground.…

Many Americans were rightfully repulsed when they watched students on American college campuses openly declaring their support for Hamas terrorists that killed over 1,400 people and took and still hold hundreds of hostages. It’s ongoing: On October 24, somebody projected pro-Hamas slogans -- including “Glory to Our Martyrs!” -- onto…

Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky recently captured a headline in the Los Angeles Times. “Humans lack free will, says Stanford scientist” (10-22-2023, B1). The subtitle drives home the point: “Decades of study lead to claim that virtually all behavior is beyond our conscious control.” So contends Sapolsky, the winner of a MacArthur…

Saturday, October 28 is the second full moon of autumn which, by tradition, has in the United States been called “Hunter’s Moon.” (The first full moon is called “Harvest Moon”). The name comes from the fact that, in earlier times when food was found in field and forest, hunters would…