The Narthex
New Oxford Blog

My Muddled Mentor
A past convert to Catholicism lost his faith many decades ago
By James Hanink | December 1st 2021 3:33 PM“Karl Meyer On the Road Again” read a recent ad in The Catholic Worker. At 84 he was planning a cross country peace mission. I first met Karl in 1966 when he ran St. Stephen House of Hospitality in Chicago. I was an undergraduate, for a semester, at Loyola University…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Sand Palace
Self-discipline and sacrifice far in excess of society’s moral code will keep us strong
By Richard DellOrfano | November 29th 2021 5:24 PMIn the late 1980s, a friend and I rode a trolley south from San Diego to the Imperial Beach sandcastle contest. After a short walk from the station, we stood before a packed crowd assembled around various castle projects. Some were 10-feet square and upwards of seven feet high, with…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA Cyborg’s Lament
With tech we no longer rely on ourselves, we are no longer the authorities
By Magdalena Moreno | November 24th 2021 3:54 PMWhat is the point of all this technology? What purpose does a Bluetooth refrigerator serve? How many apps can one person possibly need? Can you really taste the difference when burgers are grilled on a WIFI-enabled grill? On a recent trip with my mother to a new office building, I…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNuts for Winter
It is not enough to educate boys and girls for a job alone
By David Daintree | November 24th 2021 3:38 PM“The Liberal Arts” is a term we hear a lot which perhaps calls for some explanation. We are not talking about precious and “arty” school subjects that students do when they can’t quite manage math and science! Though that is a common enough impression: I recall as classics master in…
READ FULL BLOG POSTUnder Watchful Eyes
Even a mere photograph of a pair of eyes influences our decisions
By Richard DellOrfano | November 18th 2021 7:09 PMQuantum physicists have learned that subatomic particles change their conduct when being observed. That proven fact raises the question whether the particles respond to being watched, as we do. Psychologists call that response, in humans, the Hawthorne Effect. For who can resist presenting the best version of himself under the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNo Reply, Here’s Why
Questions for a Jesuit university president
By James Hanink | November 16th 2021 7:00 PMTen days ago a student group, Women in Politics, hosted a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of America. Loyola Marymount University (LMU) provided the venue. The University did so despite a nationwide protest and Los Angeles Archbishop Gomez’s expression of deep disappointment. In the sponsoring group’s estimation, the event—a semi-formal party…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSun Follower
On the symbiotic relationship between humans and sunflowers
By Richard DellOrfano | November 15th 2021 3:43 PMDown the road from my house is a nursery that cultivates sunflowers. I stopped nearby to ponder the hundreds of them, all aligned with the 3:00pm sun in the western sky. They stood like monks at their afternoon psalms, all transfixed by that scintillating altar monstrance representing the Son of…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDecide for Yourself
New report reveals high risk of miscarriage in early pregnancy after use of COVID mRNA vaccine
By Barbara Rose | November 11th 2021 9:31 PMA new article by Aleisha R. Brock and Simon Thornley, published at Science, Public Health Policy, & the Law (at publichealthpolicyjournal.com), re-analyzes data used in a CDC report and finds a high risk of miscarriage (also called spontaneous abortion) in early pregnancy after use of a COVID mRNA vaccine. A…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Good Wife, Wise Mother'
A 'ryosai kenbo' is a treasure, a true boon to a man and a household
By Jason Morgan | November 10th 2021 4:22 PMShimoda Utako is probably not a household name in America. She isn’t very well known in Japan, either, although Japan is the land of her birth. This has not always been the case, though. Shimoda Utako was famous more than a hundred years ago as a model woman of Meiji…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOvercoming Doubt
How does a modern-day 'doubting Thomas' get to believe that Christ yet lives?
By Richard DellOrfano | November 5th 2021 3:26 PMAfter walking to San Diego’s Spruce Street in exploratory mode, I chanced upon a charming historical site, which still hovers in my memory: a suspension footbridge that looked to be about 400 feet long. Later I learned it was built in 1912 for access to a trolley line by homes…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Real Talk'
When the common person hears the word ‘synod’ or ‘synodal,’ what comes to mind?
By Barbara Rose | November 3rd 2021 6:45 PMThe first phase of the synod on synodality aims to collect input from the Church's peripheries. It's hard to imagine what kind of feedback Church leaders expect from a global-scale project like this. If bishops and cardinals want perspectives from pew-sitters and Catholics on the margins, then perhaps they should…
READ FULL BLOG POSTLet’s Invite the Pope
If Francis does not know the full U.S. story on abortion, he should
By James Hanink | November 2nd 2021 12:26 PMWhat’s wrong with the world? Chesterton famously asked this and also confessed that he himself was a major part of the problem. In light of his meeting with President Biden, I ask myself what’s wrong with Pope Francis? I’ve asked that question before with regard to his muddled treatment of…
READ FULL BLOG POSTTheory vs. Practice
A chasm exists between the ideas behind COVID protocols and their actual practice
By David Daintree | October 29th 2021 1:52 PMI recently returned from a visit to Perth. Western Australia and Tasmania are COVID-free “bubbles” and one is able to travel fairly freely between them (freely, that is to say, if you except the necessity of obtaining what amounts to a visa to pass from one state of the Commonwealth…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDads on Duty
Forty fathers are using their presence to combat violence at the local high school
By Barbara Rose | October 27th 2021 8:54 PMAbout 40 fathers at a high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, have done something simple, effective, and mostly untried at school: They are using their presence to combat violence that recently led to 23 students arrested in three days. "Dads on Duty" group founder Michael LaFitte says, "“We decided the best…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSpeak up, Francis
Mother Teresa spoke the harsh truth to a U.S. president. Can the Pope do it?
By James Hanink | October 27th 2021 7:26 PMRecently New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan, in discussing the synodal process, spoke of seven “non negotiables.” Jesus, he said, intends each of them. One is that "mercy, love, invitation, humility, joy, selfless generous service, and good example are our only tools, never harshness, condemnation, or pride.” Sadly, we sometimes obscure…
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