The Narthex

Tomorrow, December 28, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs. I make that explicit because in the past few years there has been something like an ecclesiastical version of bait-and-switch in some quarters to change the focus of the feast. Today’s feast is about children: baby boys aged two…

As we mark the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, I present two thoughts on why Our Lady under the title of the “Immaculate Conception” is the fitting patroness for the United States. First, we Americans continue to fail to reckon with the reality of “conception.” Notwithstanding the reversal of Roe…

As we marked Thanksgiving last week, my memories reached back 50 years to Thanksgiving 1973. I remember the day well: sunny but chilly. The memory is an opportunity for me to salute a man I never met, Gil Durand. (I think it’s Durand. It might be Durant. He doesn’t come…

As Buckeyes head to the polls Tuesday to vote on Issue 1, an extreme amendment to the State Constitution that would -- among other things like surrogacy, artificial reproduction, and state subsidy of abortion -- ensconce abortion-on-demand through birth, they might want to remember Kermit Gosnell. Kermit Gosnell is somebody…

David Hackney is a Cleveland medical professor who is pushing Issue 1, the proposed Ohio state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion through birth, on the ballot tomorrow, November 7. He penned an article in the November 5 New York Times defending the amendment. He claims the State of Ohio is promoting…

I’m blessed to have the Rev. Paul Scalia as a pastor, in part because he inspires me with lines of theological thought I hadn’t considered. He did that last Sunday, with his reflections on the Gospel of the Vineyard Owner who pays all his workers a day’s wage. Fr. Scalia…

Pro-abortionists in Ohio are pulling all stops to pass a state constitutional amendment by ballot referendum this November to ensconce abortion in the Buckeye State. The amendment is particularly aggressive because, in addition to wiping out all prenatal protections through birth (notwithstanding window-dressing language about "viability" that is promptly eviscerated…