The Narthex

Chicago Drama ICE's current campaign against illegal immigrants in Chicago has led to numerous detentions at its Maywood, Illinois, facility. Complaints are now being made that ICE is preventing pastoral access (confessions and Communion calls) to detainees. If true, that would be concerning. People should have religious care. However, I…

Do you know what a “stander” is? A “stander” is apparently the left-behind spouse after a divorce who, nevertheless, remains faithful to his or her marriage vows despite abandonment by the other party. I had never heard that term until I read Leila Miller’s great essay, “Six Uncomfortable Facts about…

June third is observed in France as the feast of St. Clotilde. She was the 5th-century wife of Clovis, pagan king of the Franks. Clotilde was a Catholic, an orthodox one at a time Arianism still had some following in what we now call France. The Franks were a Germanic…

April 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…

Marty is a great film, both for National Marriage Week (February 7-14) and for Valentine’s Day weekend. Even though it is 71 years old, it’s telling to see what’s changed -- and what hasn’t -- since 1954. (And, I'll admit, there's something about black-and-white films.) Marty (played by Ernest Borgnine) is…

I recently criticized in vitro fertilization (IVF) as being, despite appearances, unloving. It raises questions of spousal exclusivity when other peoples’ gametes are used. It raises questions of alienation from our bodies and our child’s, who subtly shifts from a gift to be welcomed to a commodity to be ordered.…

Many people, including Catholics, can’t see the problems with in vitro fertilization (IVF). They contend it’s “pro-life” and “gives people what they want, a baby.” So why does the Catholic Church oppose IVF? Because life and love can’t be separated, which is why Karol Wojtyla -- the future John Paul…

The patria potestas was a legal power held by fathers in the Roman Empire. If you think that Tiberius was just dad in a toga, think again. In Roman law, a father had rights over his family, including the right of who could bear his name. If, therefore, a child…

Has our modern world made things that, for earlier generations came naturally, harder? And, in fact, do those things have to be harder? Tim Carney, author of Family Unfriendly, says there are contemporary changes in society that do make being a parent harder, both objectively (if kids don’t have sidewalks,…

Last weekend, as Iran launched missiles and drones on Israel, that coterie of pro-terrorist leftists Lenin once aptly titled “useful idiots” were launching protests in various American cities. One social media posting showed a group in Chicago learning Persian. They were learning marg bar Asra’eyl (“death to Israel”) and marg…

Calendar Conundrums Has it ever troubled our liturgically befuddled bishops, who have made a goulash of six holydays of obligation (transferring some while making others obligatory depending on their day in the week) that, in our modern world, if you say “January 6,” more people think of “insurrection” than “Epiphany?”…

Once upon a time, not too long ago, June used to be associated with marriage. People spoke of “June weddings.” But while Stevie Wonder might have just been calling to say “I love you,” there was something prescient in his lyric about “no wedding Saturday within the month of June.”…