The Narthex

Would you say that any of the following Catholics, and their spouses, were holy? Writers The married couple Frank Sheed (1897-1982) and Maisie Ward (1889-1975) were writers and founders of a great Catholic publishing house, Sheed & Ward, in 1926. They had a son and a daughter. Other prominent lay…

Twenty years of clerical sex abuse scandals have rocked the Church. I heard that in 2002, after the Boston Globe reports, some clergy took to wearing civilian clothes in public to avoid heckling. A part of me was thankful that I had not become a brother or religious priest at…

How does it look when men and women strive for holiness at work? Let's take examples from various occupations: Entertainers/TV-Film Personalities Among prominent Catholic entertainers is convert Alec Guinness (1914-2000). (See Guinness’s first of three autobiographies, Blessings in Disguise, from 1986.) See also his portrayal as G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown…

With apologies for being prescriptive, I recommend that you watch the two-part documentary on the Hitler Youth movement, Hitler-Jugend. Its impact is terrifying, and it uses color footage that most of us have never seen before. But the important thing is that it demonstrates unforgettably the power and the naivety…

Real-world balances have objective measures. Karl Wallenda, the patriarch of The Flying Wallendas, launched the amazing high-wire act as a teenager. He’d seen an ad for a “hand balancer with courage.” Fame and fracture continue to be the consequences. And then there’s the doctor’s imposing weight scale. It tells no…

We continue to consider how holiness has been manifested in lay people of various occupations. Hospitality & Retail Workers At least two members of religious orders transformed the task of “doorkeeper” -- porter or meet-and-greeter -- to a holy life. One is Br. André Bessette, C.S.C. (1845-1937, canonized 2010), about…

An interesting New York Times op-ed (Feb. 24) by Stephen Wertheim titled "America Is Not ‘Back.’ And Americans Should Not Want It to Be" actually relates some generally unspoken facts of recent U.S. foreign policy. Wertheim says that despite Trump's description of himself as "militaristic," he didn't start any new…

First and foremost among holy tradesmen are Jesus and St. Joseph. How did the two of them go about their work—improving their skills, finding the right wood, finding the right tools? What kind of relationships did they have with their customers—discussing the customers’ needs such as the product’s use, its…

Decades ago I took a community college class in basic psychology. Other than the 40-something teacher, I was the oldest one there at age 30, sitting among younger adults in their late teens and early twenties. Here I was about to learn a painful lesson in human manipulation. The topic…

Following up from the last post in this series: Consider, too, under the heading “surviving family members of martyrs,” the widow of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian conscientious objector (1907-1943). He refused induction into Hitler’s army and was executed. In 2007 his widow, Franziska, then age 94, and daughters Hildegard,…

I offer for your consideration three interesting groups of people: defenders of the bond; the formerly incorrigible; and surviving family members of martyrs. Defenders of the Bond In Catholic parlance, the term defender of the bond refers to the person appointed in an annulment proceeding under canon law to defend,…

In adulthood I learned that neither my father nor my mother believed in the afterlife, much to my dismay and surprise. It happened while videoing their responses to some questions I prepared with the aim of sharing their wisdom derived from the Great Depression and war years. Within an hour,…

Pope Francis calls for the wide use and distribution of the new anti-COVID vaccines, as do our bishops. They do so in the name of the common good. But they do not teach that everyone has an obligation to use the vaccines. Much less do they argue against ongoing reflection…

On February 9th Australia’s SBS TV News ran a short segment that purported to allay some people’s concerns about the COVID vaccine.  I cannot find a recording of the broadcast, but an SBS News article called "The most common myths about the coronavirus vaccine - and why they aren’t true"…

Daniel Larison, over at The American Conservative, writes on one significant change to U.S. foreign policy in the first few weeks of the new president's term. In “Joe Biden’s Good Start On Yemen” Larison explains a first step taken toward ending our involvement in Saudi Arabia's war. A link to…