The Narthex

At the NOR, few times are as exciting as when responses from a direct mail campaign start rolling in. It takes a while for the responses to start coming, but when they do the office staff knows we’re in for a wild ride. As most readers know, print magazines are…

The pet industry is reaping billions from modern man's spiritual desolation -- that sense of emptiness and disquiet that aches for remedy. As workaholism and an ever-higher cost of living moves people to delay or forego marriage and children, pets fill the void in their lives. It’s a sign of…

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is admired by Americans for his ability to make money. But there's a dark side to all that cash. Hayden Ludwig's "The Big Money Behind Abortion Activism," in The American Conservative (Jan. 18), tells of Buffett's "charitable" foundation, which since 2000 has given $4.7 billion --…

I was a candidate for the Trappist monastery, back in 1968. Personal pets were not allowed—an ancient discipline to enhance the inner companionship of God. Though written rules about pets were unlikely before the 13th century, Ancrene Wisse (Rule for Anchoresses) made it clear that a religious recluse should avoid…

In my last post Alasdair MacIntyre, a Marxist turned Thomist, had my full attention. Of late he’s argued that anything human dignity can do, justice can do better. I’m not persuaded, since it’s dignity that decides membership in the moral community, that is, the community of all those to whom…

The kingdom of heaven is like diving for sunken treasure and risking your life to find it. A coworker catalogued and filed "As Built" plans for us engineers after we’d finished our construction projects. I was intrigued by Sandy’s hobby of deep-sea diving, often done at great risk to life…

Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) missionaries run a news website called AsiaNews, which provides news briefs from Asia and around the world. A recent article called "Asia in 2022" (Jan. 1) offers a round-up of important events on the horizon for the enormous continent and its dominant player, China.…

In the year’s most discussed philosophical lecture, Alasdair MacIntyre—at Notre Dame, no less—argued that appeals to dignity don’t work very well and can even be dangerous. On MacIntyre’s view, dignity can be lost. Hitler shows us just how. Moreover, recognizing that dignity is incompatible with slavery is of little worth…

A few weeks ago I was completing the online registration forms for our local Little League. I grabbed my laptop, had my calendar, insurance information, doctor’s address, and a cup of coffee. Despite my preparation, I didn’t get far before being totally shocked. They wanted my child’s name, date…

Reporters at The New York Times have made public hundreds of confidential reports by the Pentagon on civilian casualties from U.S. air-strikes in Iraq and Syria, covering September 2014 through January 2018. The journalists describe the air-strikes as "marked by deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting, and the…

Misguided "opinion leaders" have induced such panic in our youth that one in five British children reported having nightmares about climate change (Reuters, March 2, 2020). Certain "green" spokesmen and non-profit groups have admitted to their overheated rhetoric but justify it on grounds that only a widespread sense of panic…

In my last post, gentle readers, I introduced my former mentor, Karl Meyer. Long associated with the Catholic Worker and now an octogenarian, Meyer was and is both a peace activist of renown and a prescient environmentalist. Yet some time ago, this convert put aside his faith. Karl has now…

Mt. Everest is the highest mountain in the Himalayan system, located near the common border of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China. Everest, at 29,032 feet, has drawn climbers from every nation. Even the blind have risked their lives to climb it. Sir Edmund Hillary famously did so on May 23, 1953.…

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which many hope will overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973. Such an outcome does not mean that abortion would automatically become illegal across the United States; rather, the power to make laws on abortion…

Inadequate nutrition afflicted many children in the WWII years, due to food rationing. At an early age I developed myopia, and I suspect poor nutrition partly caused it. Evidence is mounting that this vision problem is growing around the world, with recent estimates at 30% and forecasts that by 2050…