The Narthex

Typically our statues and paintings portray saints as individuals. And except for martyrs who are often canonized in groups, canonizations are of individual saints. Nonetheless, many non-martyred canonized saints have had deep relationships with their contemporaries who were also saints. A few are: Mary and Joseph; Sarah and Tobias; Ruth…

On the first warm day of spring, some vagrants came out of their nooks and hideaways to congregate in the local park for fellowship. Several men, old and young, sat together at a stone picnic table, chatting, eating, and drinking beer or cheap wine early in the day. During the…

Some years ago a Jesuit, and yet a friend, warned me of “Thomistic howlers.” That is to say, sometimes, though rarely, St. Thomas Aquinas -- I like to refer to him as the Church’s Common Doctor -- made bad mistakes. Right. And who of us has not? Did not Aristotle…

Over twenty blog posts ago I noted that during the 40 years from 1978 to 2018, 1,419 individuals were canonized and 1,249 of these were martyrs. Of the remainder, about 15-20 were laypersons -- some of which are special cases: those to whom Our Lady appeared, two who took vows…

Several of my neighbors are overweight. One young woman can hardly squeeze into her shiny sports-car, which she pays others to keep spotlessly clean and mirror-waxed. Another family's grown kids are each well over 250 pounds. Though the parents seem in decent shape, their eldest son, in his forties and…

Guardian journalist Van Badham has defined Western civilization in purely negative and derogatory terms: “a racist colonial project to crush, change, enslave, eradicate or genocidally erase other cultures.” It is difficult to regard a person who could write such a thing as quite sane. Christopher Dawson insisted that the Christian…

The U.S. Census Bureau has released data from what it calls an "experimental" Household Pulse Survey on the impact of COVID-19 on homeschooling rates. The survey shows a "substantial increase" from spring of 2020 to the start of the current school year. The survey-makers made sure their questioning was clear…

In order to learn how to recognize holiness in laypersons, we have looked at people by occupation. Let's finish with a few more: Artists Do you think any of the following Catholic artists were holy? Consider the painters Giotto (c. 1267-1337), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Raphael (1483-1520), Rubens (1577-1640), Jan van Eyck…

I arise each morning, stumble to the sink, wash my face, and then stare in horror at the sagging, wrinkled jowls in the mirror. What happened to your youth, old boy? Yet, I don’t feel old; I can still huff and puff up big hills. That face in the mirror…

Wherever you reside, gentle reader, I have some advice. Don’t run for governor in your fair state. Yes, I can well imagine your asking “Who needs such advice?” And if you are a sensible person, the very idea of doing so has never crossed your mind. Unless, that is, you…

Continuing our discussion of recognizing lay holiness, let us look at philanthropists. We could discuss the donors of large sums -- $10 million, $100 million -- to causes consistent with Catholic social teaching, including Catholic schools, hospitals, and more. Many such donors take advantage of “naming rights” -- for buildings,…

I started working at the NEW OXFORD REVIEW in October 2020. Well, that’s not true. I started before I can remember. I read galleys in high school and college. I folded renewals and endorsed checks all throughout middle school. I opened mail in elementary school; granted, early on it…

The goal of Australia’s Dawson Centre, of which I am director, is not evangelization: that is a task for others to undertake. Our role is to revive and justify the Christian intellectual tradition, to argue for the essentially rational nature of belief based squarely upon Faith and Reason. Faith is not at…

I stood with 50 other engineers the morning of September 11, 2001, staring at a widescreen TV. In shocked disbelief, we gawked at another Boeing 767 passenger plane colliding into the second WTC tower, and finally, both towers cascading into a smoky heap. I shook my head, thinking this will…

This has been a long and tumultuous year for the church-going faithful of California, particularly in San Francisco, where church doors have been shut, locked, and all but barricaded. Worshiping on devices, Bay Area Catholics endured months of separation from the true presence of our Lord. Easter and Christmas, the…