The Narthex
How Many Murders Make an 'Emergency'?
Real love for the poor is ensuring their neighborhoods are safe, not a murder every 46 hours
By John M. Grondelski | August 18th 2025 11:33 AMThe danger with a status quo is that it “normalizes” the prevailing situation. It makes one think the abnormal is somehow "normal." That’s particularly problematic when the status quo is the result of decades of “defining deviancy down,” as the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed over 30 years ago…
READ FULL BLOG POST'Eternal Father, Strong to Save'
God’s solicitude for man comes not from any merit of ours but from His Love
By John M. Grondelski | May 26th 2025 1:03 PMThe recessional for Sunday Mass at my parish this week was “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” popularly called the “Navy Hymn” (linked below). It was written by English Protestant William Whiting, although Catholics should find no issue with its theology. It was initially adopted by the British Royal Navy, at…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe End of Faith
Neither faith nor hope will be necessary after the Second Coming
By John M. Grondelski | December 11th 2024 6:15 PMAs I've recently noted, Advent Preface I speaks of Christ’s Second Coming -- the first focus of Advent -- as a time “when all at last is made manifest.” I'll add another reason why the Second Coming involves full disclosure: because it is the end of faith. Faith is “the…
READ FULL BLOG POSTThe Immorality of Plagiarism
Stealing another's work, week after week, month after month, is a premeditated wrong
By John M. Grondelski | February 21st 2024 1:00 PMHarvard’s president, Claudine Gay, became its ex-president through the confluence of two factors, neither one of which seemed sufficient to remove her from office but, together, generated sufficient public (and, apparently, internal private donor) criticism to render her continued incumbency untenable. As you may remember, Gay was criticized for her…
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