The Narthex

"Listen to Him" In both last Sunday's Second Reading (from II Peter) and Gospel, we are exhorted (in the Gospel by no less than God the Father) to "listen to" Jesus. Peter, James, and John "listen" to that message from the bright cloud that overshines Mount Tabor; it would be…

California is a mixed bag, and here’s an example of just how mixed. We have a new Employee Ownership office, a government hub to help companies explore worker-owned models. The American Solidarity Party would applaud this effort. Indeed, its new party platform says: “We support regulatory and tax support to…

"Les extremes se touchent" means the extremes touch each other, they overlap. People say the Church’s teachings about sex and life are extreme, but the truly extreme, truly contradictory response comes from its opponents. That sex can give life and foster a unique spousal relationship is not some esoteric Catholic…

The day will come when the lands of China (and Muslim lands) will open to evangelism. China has been closed since 1949, 74 years. Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe collapsed in 1989 after 72 years. The Roman Empire legalized Christianity under the Edict of Milan in 313…

Treasures and Pearls Last Sunday's Gospel wrapped up three weeks of Matthew 13, the chapter replete with various parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. It's only natural, therefore, that most preaching focused on the Kingdom as the buried treasure or the pearl of great price. So when my pastor, Fr.…

Pro-abortionists in Ohio are pulling all stops to pass a state constitutional amendment by ballot referendum this November to ensconce abortion in the Buckeye State. The amendment is particularly aggressive because, in addition to wiping out all prenatal protections through birth (notwithstanding window-dressing language about "viability" that is promptly eviscerated…

On August 31, 1970, Bishop Walsh arrived at Kennedy Airport, New York City. He had last been in the United States in 1948. Greeting him were 200 people, including Terence Cardinal (now Servant of God) Cooke of New York, Lawrence Cardinal Shehan of Baltimore, seven more bishops, members of his…

Ukraine’s ongoing attack from Russia is now entering its seventeenth month. Russia continues its aggression, in part because it knows Western attention spans can be short and eager to “move on.” There’s nothing Moscow would like better. As a Polish American, let me tell you: the Central European perspective is…

Eyes (and Minds) Voting with Feet Most mornings I have a 20 minute wait at my bus stop. The shelter has one of those electronic ad boards, so I get to see a limited loop of what advertisers want to sell. It’s often a telling commentary on the world today,…

I call the imprisoned portion of Bishop Walsh’s life his contemplative ministry because of how he later described his activities in prison. He could not celebrate Mass and had neither breviary (the Church’s prayerbook) nor Bible, rosary, crucifix, or any image of Jesus or one of His saints. After he…

We’re used to “in your face” demonstrations, and so are Swedes. But now Sweden is dealing with something more, the public burning of the Quran. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is furious: “The insult to the Holy Quran in Sweden is a bitter, conspiratorial, dangerous event. It is the opinion of…

Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical on human life (not “birth control”), Humanae vitae, marks its 55th anniversary Tuesday, July 25. Yes, you can be pardoned if you -- like most people -- didn’t notice. Arguably one of the most important encyclicals of the 20th century, not just in terms of…

In May 1949, Shanghai surrendered to the Communists. By the end of that year, the Communists imprisoned and tortured Chinese bishops, priests, brothers and sisters. The Communists started a church independent of the Pope. In response, Bishop Walsh and the Bureau distributed a pamphlet explaining the difference between the Catholic…

Your Catholic SAT Although many colleges have moved away from standardized tests like the SAT, in the name of “equity” and abandonment of academic standards, I believe they have value. One of the components of the SAT used to be a reading comprehension test. It tests for how closely one…

Cremation is a practice against which I regularly rail. I maintain that the Vatican’s 1963 relaxation of the ban on cremation by Catholics, as long as they didn’t resort to it to deny the resurrection of the body, was wrongheaded. Today’s Catholic cremator may not even think about “the resurrection…