The Narthex
New Oxford Blog

Families with Adopted and Foster Children - Part XXV
The radical charity shown by those who take in many children can be considered heroic
By James Thunder | February 9th 2021 2:48 PMWe have all known people, or have read of people, who have adopted children or served as foster parents, often as foster parents of large numbers of children. Have you heard the story of Catholic Ruthanne “Dolly” Donahue? She was a mother of three in the 1970s when a hungry…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Social Scores' Are Coming
Western governments buy into China’s facial recognition & surveillance technology
By Richard DellOrfano | February 8th 2021 2:26 PMIt's been a long while since I entered the lottery at my local 76 gas station convenience store. The Mega Millions prize of nearly a billion dollars was too tempting, so I headed out to buy a Quick Pick. A pay-to-play $2 speculation raises my chance of winning a spectacular…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWall Street Sharks and D.C. Remoras
The U.S. financial system is grounded in a desire to convert suffering into cash
By Jason Morgan | February 3rd 2021 1:32 PMWhen I first saw news about the Occupy Wall Street movement in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan ten years ago, my reaction was a common one: “Get a job, you hippies.” A raucous mob of hooligans destroying public property and vandalizing police cars remained my abiding impression for several years. I’m…
READ FULL BLOG POSTHoliness in Marriage - Part XXIV
Married life can be a rich source of spiritual wealth
By James Thunder | February 2nd 2021 2:31 PMThe preacher of the Pontifical Household, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, said this in his fourth Lenten homily (2016), on the subject of “Marriage and Family” and the holiness of married couples/parents:
In the Christian community, consecrated people and married people are able to “edify one another.” Spouses are…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSigns of the Times
Popular yard signs that list slogans do raise some meaty questions
By James Hanink | February 1st 2021 8:09 PMVatican Council II counsels us to search out “the signs of the times.” The Latin, “signa perscrutandi” suggests the keen scrutiny this involves. One sign of our calamitous times is the invasion of the slogans of the day. What’s the difference between a sign and a slogan? A sign points,…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Fusionism' Failed Us
The Christian fight against progressivism is and has been the touted second American 'civil war'
By Jason Morgan | January 28th 2021 3:26 PMOver the past few years, and especially during 2020 as America burned to the cheers of the woke, we have often heard the words “civil war” pronounced by pundits and scholars. America was on the verge of a civil war, we were told. As the crowds in the streets swelled…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMy Pandemic Prayer
A life or death decision is made more difficult because fake news prevails
By Richard DellOrfano | January 27th 2021 6:58 PMA COVID vaccine soon will be available to me, as I’m nearly 79. My married brother and I recently discussed this. He is 77, has grandkids, and must business travel on commercial airplanes, so he would have to get the shot. I live like a hermit, and the only traveling…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOrdinary Lay Holiness - Part XXIII
Long marriages and many children are signs of great, demanding sacrificial love
By James Thunder | January 26th 2021 1:40 PMMy parents had seven children. They were married for 61 years, until my mother’s death. I often think about what I say was “their great love.” She would often tell us children that she loved “every hair on your father’s head.” And he would cry in front of me when…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDeaths, in Context
We have a duty to be truthful in evaluating all the things that happened to us in 2020
By David Daintree | January 22nd 2021 3:16 PMOn average nearly 150,000 people die throughout the world every single day, from all causes, amounting to a total of more than 55 million each year. Those totals should be constantly in our minds as a sort of yardstick or backdrop to our consideration of the numbers reported slain by…
READ FULL BLOG POSTSelfless & Heroic Souls - Part XXII
More 'bystanders' who, when met with a life-and-death situation, attempted a rescue
By James Thunder | January 21st 2021 3:39 PMLet's add a few more descriptions of “bystanders” who, when met with a life-and-death situation, attempted a rescue, often fatal for themselves. On May 6, 2016, Catholic Malcolm “Mike” Winffel was walking through a shopping mall’s parking lot with a co-worker, Carl Unger, on their way to lunch “when they…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Patriotism
No national cultures are sacred except insofar as they reflect the Creator
By James Hanink | January 19th 2021 1:22 PMCharlie Camosy, a stalwart of the American Solidarity Party, argues that we should condemn the Capitol violence of “1-6” without using words like "sacred" and "temple" and "desecration." In his view, they are “not appropriate words for a place which (while very significant) is not sacred, not a temple, and…
READ FULL BLOG POSTChrist Borne Within Us
St. Symeon preached on direct experience of God and baptism of the Holy Spirit
By Richard DellOrfano | January 18th 2021 5:27 PMI recently saw evergreen trees piled high behind the Senior Center. A trash worker forgot to unlock the trash trailer bins. I stood beside the trees, breathing in the refreshing forest fragrance that conjured up happy Christmases past. It pulled me back to my childhood and the lighted tree in…
READ FULL BLOG POSTEveryday People Who Step Up - Part XXI
A bystander sometimes comes to the aid of a stranger and loses his life
By James Thunder | January 18th 2021 3:32 PMEveryday people who were bystanders to emergency have demonstrated the ultimate in self-sacrifice. In this kind of activity, some live, some die. Many people during the Holocaust saved strangers. The State of Israel has recognized over 27,000 Gentiles who did so and are deemed “Righteous Among the Nations” at Yad…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRisk of Death in the Line of Duty - Part XX
Laypersons who work as first responders may be holy too
By James Thunder | January 13th 2021 4:54 PMI previously cited individuals who tended patients with incurable, communicable diseases: Joseph Dutton who worked with St. Damien of Molokai, Dr. and Mrs. Harry Blaber, and Dr. Martin Salia who died in 2014. Others who risk death for the sake of another include fire and police personnel. On March 24,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTReal Presence
Some people avoid talking politics and religion, but not my feisty friend
By Richard DellOrfano | January 13th 2021 4:51 PMI visited her right after church on Christmas Sunday. It was still morning when I knocked on her door for my weekly visit. Della ushered me in. She had the tea cups already set out, alongside a plate of her favorite pastry. She indicated I should sit, as she reached…
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