The Narthex
New Oxford Blog

Significance of Guardian Angels for Adults
God has given you a spiritual person to walk with you and point you where you need to go
By John M. Grondelski | October 3rd 2025 2:01 PMMany of this journal's readers likely grew up saying the poetic prayer, "Angel of God, my guardian dear." And not a few Catholic homes likely had some version of early 20th century German artist Fridolin Leiber's prints of Schutzengel -- the "guardian angel" -- usually supporting two children in some perilous…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDurbin-Cupich: When Politics Meets Catholic Teaching
Pope Leo XIV found himself having to address thorny issues extemporaneously
By Sabino Paciolla | October 1st 2025 6:22 PMIn the landscape of the Catholic Church in the United States, marked by tensions between social commitment and fidelity to moral doctrine, a development has emerged that has shaken the foundations of ecclesial dialogue. Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, announced his intention to award a "Lifetime Achievement Award" to…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Target' or Man?
Even in war, the enemy combatant is not a thing to be processed by a machine, but a person
By John M. Grondelski | October 1st 2025 11:36 AMWhat happens when the decision to kill is no longer made by a soldier, but by a machine? Yesterday I attended an excellent pair of expert talks on Artificial Intelligence and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), organized by students in the Politics Department at The Catholic University of America. LAWS…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWhy Do We Still Baptize Outside of Mass?
Are mere utilitarian considerations short-circuiting good theology?
By John M. Grondelski | September 30th 2025 11:44 AMSixty years have passed since Vatican II. Sixty-one years have passed since Lumen gentium, which reminded us that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life around which all the sacraments revolve (no. 11). Sixty-two years have passed since Sacrosanctum Concilium taught that "the liturgy is the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDivine Omnipotence and Forgiveness of Sins
God pardons evil when man truly takes responsibility for it
By John M. Grondelski | September 29th 2025 12:40 PMOne of God’s attributes -- omnipotence -- generates all sorts of ideas, many of them mistaken. That’s why the Collect from last Sunday’s Mass (26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C) provides an eye-opening perspective: O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy... God’s…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA Line, Not a Cycle
Fall is a time of hope, rooted in responsibility to make good use of one's days
By John M. Grondelski | September 26th 2025 11:55 AMFall arrived this week, precisely on Monday at 2:19 p.m. Another year is slowly bending towards its end. I’ll admit fall is my favorite season. For me, the year goes downhill from May until about early October. (I used to say September in my native New Jersey, but I'm currently…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPricey Farmers' Markets
What does food gentrification as seen at outdoor markets say about food and social justice?
By John M. Grondelski | September 25th 2025 1:05 PMRecently I wrote about what I call “food gentrification,” the displacement by grocers of staples for “foodie” treats, and its adverse impact on prices. My comments centered on a New York Times story lauding the “comeback” of bakeries offering niche (and premium-priced) novelties, one baker touting the fact that he…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFood Gentrification and Food Substitution
On living to eat rather than eating to live, and eating bugs for the sake of 'the planet'
By John M. Grondelski | September 24th 2025 12:21 PMI recently wrote about how what were once considered food waste products have increasingly hit the grocery market. My inspiration was last Sunday’s First Reading, in which the prophet Amos excoriated the commercial cheats of ancient Israel, specifically, his comment about selling “the refuse of the wheat” as food. But…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Saving God’s People
'Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within you' (1 Peter 3:15)
By James Hanink | September 23rd 2025 12:25 PM“Please, I don’t want to listen to any arguments.” Heard it before? I have. But maybe it’s high time to “listen up” and hear some arguments. Especially sound arguments, that is, the ones that are valid in form and have only true premises. After all, the glory of such arguments…
READ FULL BLOG POSTProphet on the Profit Margin
The minor prophet Amos has much to say about maximizing profits
By John M. Grondelski | September 22nd 2025 9:34 PMLast Sunday’s First Reading was the prophet Amos decrying the religious hypocrisy and wage injustice rife in the Israel of his day. His indictment reads:
“When will the new moon be over," you ask, "that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTNot 'Our' Democracy
The majority does not treat the minority with magnanimity, but with contempt
By Jason Morgan | September 22nd 2025 12:07 PM“Our democracy” is in peril, we are told, endlessly, by pundits and politicians. A Supreme Court justice, talking heads, politicians, and academics have come out as worriers about the state of democratic politics. Even a former pope did so. In the United States, histrionics about “our democracy” have reached a pitch…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMetallic Sacrilege
Civic infrastructure and sacred symbols have become mere objects for plunder
By John M. Grondelski | September 18th 2025 11:12 AMA peculiar subset of modern moral corrosion is metal theft: the stealing of objects ranging from manhole covers to fire hydrants to be sold as scrap metal. Copper currently sells in the $4.60–$4.70 per pound range, making it a tempting target. What might look like petty crime is, in fact,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Need to Stop Grasping
Christ shows man the path by not 'grasping' himself but taking the form of obedient servant
By John M. Grondelski | September 16th 2025 11:56 AMLast Sunday’s Second Reading -- for the Exaltation of the Cross, which preempted the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time -- was St. Paul’s great hymn of Jesus’ self-emptying, his kenosis (Phil 2:6-11). One of the key texts in that hymn is verse 6, where Jesus is presented as treating divinity…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Assassination of Charlie Kirk
Woke culture demonizes anyone who dares challenge it, particularly a professed Christian
By Sabino Paciolla | September 15th 2025 11:50 AMThe assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 12 on a college campus in Utah, supposedly by a 22-year-old named Tyler Robinson who shot him in a single shot with a sniper rifle from approximately 200 meters, is not just the tragic end of a 31-year-old conservative activist, husband, and father…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #28
Back-to-School Guide for Parents... ERA is Dead... Tim Kaine on the Origins of Human Rights... more
By John M. Grondelski | September 12th 2025 6:47 AMBack-to-School Guide for Parents Family Policy Alliance (FPA) is the brainchild of the recently deceased James Dobson. It monitors legislative and regulatory developments with a direct impact on parental rights which, in many ways, is ground zero in the contemporary assault on the family. Make no mistake about it: When…
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