The Narthex
New Oxford Blog

The Supposed Cost of Raising a Child
Government and private sector reports are used to deter people from having families
By James Thunder | April 23rd 2025 11:27 AMA particularly deceitful attack on parenthood and children happens via fear-mongering on the supposed cost of raising a child. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued an annual report from 1960 through 2017 entitled “Expenditures on Children by Families,” better known as “The Cost of Raising a Child.” The…
READ FULL BLOG POSTEcumenical Problems with a 'Common Easter'
The impractical proposal in many ways could backfire and is not worth it
By John M. Grondelski | April 22nd 2025 11:37 AMMuch attention has been given this year to a push by the late Pope Francis (with Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew) to find a date for a “common Easter.” Francis had resurrected a dormant appendix of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy as his warrant for the push which, one senses,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTIndivisible PDR
Just as we can’t have Easter without Good Friday, neither can we have Good Friday without Easter
By John M. Grondelski | April 21st 2025 11:52 AMBack in my undergraduate theology days Fr. Robert Werenski, our Bible professor, regularly came back to what he called the “PDR” -- the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We Catholics call it the “Paschal Mystery,” which we just finished celebrating during the Paschal Triduum but still have seven…
READ FULL BLOG POSTAttack on Parenthood & Children
Fear-mongering persists regarding risks of maternal mortality and unintended pregnancy
By James Thunder | April 17th 2025 11:18 AMFear-mongering continues regarding parenthood and child-rearing. I address two aspects here: risk of maternal mortality and dangers associated with unintended pregnancy. Risk of Maternal Mortality A frequent contributor to this blog, Professor John M. Grondelski, has addressed the contention that maternal mortality (any mortality, no matter the rate) requires the escape…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #24
The Erasure of Easter... Money in Higher Education... Nine Brief Ruminations...
By John M. Grondelski | April 16th 2025 12:13 PMThe Erasure of Easter Easter is less than a week away. Among non-believers it’s easier to ignore than Christmas, as it always falls on a Sunday. You can say “goodbye” to a co-worker on Friday and return on Monday and Easter weekend will not be noticeably different to the broader…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPlanned Parenthood Settles In
Another killing center that needs to be prayed away permanently
By James Hanink | April 14th 2025 9:00 PMAbout a year ago a new Planned Parenthood of America (PPA) clinic moved into the neighborhood. We first noticed it on the way to Mass at our Inglewood, California, parish, St. John Chrysostom. The clinic, fairly large and with bold signage, is in a busy strip mall. Why not? The…
READ FULL BLOG POSTAre We Forgetting an Anniversary?
The 250th anniversary of Lexington and Concord, the start of the American Revolution
By John M. Grondelski | April 14th 2025 11:28 AMApril 19, 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. On April 18, Paul Revere started his famous midnight ride. The Battles of Lexington and Concord are regarded as the start of the American Revolution. True, discontent with the British had been brewing for more than…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhy Not 'Harden Your Heart'?
To receive sanctifying grace we must not resist God, play deaf, or put Him off
By John M. Grondelski | April 9th 2025 5:27 PMScripture exhorts us, “O, that today you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts!” (Ps 95:7-8; Heb 3:7-8). Occasionally, that verse appears as a refrain to the Responsorial Psalm at Mass. For those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer usually begins with Psalm 95. Why…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Age of Bishops
If the Pope doesn't or shouldn't resign at 75, should diocesan bishops?
By John M. Grondelski | April 8th 2025 9:49 PMSocial media upended the news world by providing ordinary people an opportunity to raise and discuss matters the establishment media didn’t or wouldn’t. I’ve also found it a place to discover ideas that deserve further discussion but which, because they aren’t on the immediate news cycle, won’t get their due.…
READ FULL BLOG POSTShould Trenton Still Make?
Why shouldn't America have a robust manufacturing sector?
By John M. Grondelski | April 7th 2025 12:09 PMA tweet got me thinking about manufacturing jobs. The poster asked, “Do we really want manufacturing jobs back?” He seemed incredulous and saw an attempt to re-shore manufacturing as “turning back the clock.” My answer: Yes. As the post-COVID “recovery” showed us, America and many Western countries are extremely vulnerable…
READ FULL BLOG POSTTheo-Economic Assumptions
Why do some think largesse, not thrift, is the only proper Catholic response?
By John M. Grondelski | April 4th 2025 2:07 PMWriting in the National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters criticizes the economic thinking of the Trump Administration, particularly the priorities of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought (the article is linked below). This paragraph particularly caught me:
The marriage of fiscal austerity with Christian values strikes…
READ FULL BLOG POSTJohn Paul II: An Intellectual Journey
He accurately diagnosed the problems of modernity and of the contemporary Church
By John M. Grondelski | April 2nd 2025 8:54 PMToday is the 20th anniversary of the death of Pope St. John Paul II. I miss him. John Paul was foundational in my life as a Catholic theologian. I was a college sophomore studying at St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan, when he was elected. In those early college…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #23
What’s in a Name?... “Forced Joy”... The “Business” of Government... and more
By John M. Grondelski | April 1st 2025 12:32 PMApril 1 … is more than “April Fool’s Day.” It’s the end of the first quarter of the year. Ninety days of 2025 down. Last year I made a point of marking each quarter of the year to invite readers to consider what they’d done (or not done) with New…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhere Is the Church? Who Is God?
A brief consideration of a pair of questions that involve 'subsistence'
By James Hanink | March 31st 2025 11:39 AM“What a difference a day makes,” sang Dinah Washington. And why? Because “24 little hours / Brought the sun and the flowers / Where there used to be rain.” But sometimes, we know, it just keeps raining. So, it depends on the day, doesn’t it? What about a word? What…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThat 'Poor Church for the Poor'
In reality, Church institutions must be self-sufficient and self-sustaining
By John M. Grondelski | March 28th 2025 11:36 AMTwo pundits from opposite ends of the political spectrum manage to reach the same conclusion: being a “poor Church” really stinks for the really poor. Writing in the left-leaning La Croix, Massimo Faggioli of Villanova University bemoans the many harms he imagines Trump 2.0 poses for the Church (see READ FULL BLOG POST