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From the NOR Dossiers

Revert's Rostrum by Casey Chalk

The Fifth Last Word

'I THIRST'

Casey Chalk

January-February 2024

We followers of Christ are likewise called to thirst for souls, to burn with desire to see others saved — not only our family and friends but everyone we meet.

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The Fourth Last Word

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Casey Chalk

November 2023

Through our pain, we are capable of actually participating in the salvific economy of Christ. This spiritual power is all the more acute at death.

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The Third Last Word

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Casey Chalk

September 2023

Jesus chose for His mother’s guardian the disciple “whom He loved.” There were few, if any, who were better fit for such an important task than St. John.

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Perspicuity: Protestantism’s Achilles’ Heel

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Casey Chalk

June 2023

Within the Reformed tradition, the most famous articulation of perspicuity, or clarity, is found in the 17th-century Westminster Confession of Faith.

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The Second Last Word

LOOKING BEYOND WORLDLY THINGS

Casey Chalk

April 2023

To die well means to place our physical concerns, however legitimate, within the broader context of the spiritual, which is infinitely more important.

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The First Last Word

ON FORGIVENESS

Casey Chalk

January-February 2023

The pedagogy of Christ’s first last word goes far beyond exemplifying mercy to tormentors. Forgiveness also serves an evangelical purpose.

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Are Catholics the New WASPs?

COMPLETE ENCULTURATION

Casey Chalk

November 2022

For many, Catholicism as a religion has become irrelevant as they have capitulated to secular American culture, as did WASPs in the mainline Protestant denominations.

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The Post-Liberal Project & the American Polis

NAVIGATING THE PUBLIC SQUARE

Casey Chalk

September 2022

The post-liberal project is an interesting intellectual exercise that offers cautions regarding Catholicism’s imperfect alliance with the current American regime.

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Mystic Chords of Memory

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Casey Chalk

June 2022

Would I have learned to appreciate classical music — and even the very best of jazz or blues — if I hadn’t first learned to appreciate the best of rock and pop?

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For Mature Audiences Only

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Casey Chalk

April 2022

America’s conception of sex is downright sophomoric, and its overhaul starts with understanding what sex is and what it is for.

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Overcoming Our Culture of Indifference

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Casey Chalk

January-February 2022

We are called to care for the sojourner and to be sympathetic and responsive to the needs of those fleeing poverty, political oppression, or religious persecution.

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On Friendship

SEEKING THE TRUE, OBJECTIVE GOOD OF THE OTHER

Casey Chalk

November 2021

If friendship really is tied up with virtue and our eternal well-being, then it requires work, much as the romantic life does.

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Ministers of the Ecclesiae Mediae

THE PUBLIC SQUARE IS NOT NAKED BUT CLOTHED BY 'WOKE' IDEOLOGY

Casey Chalk

September 2021

The public square is not naked but clothed by the “woke” ideology of our bourgeois liberal elites. It has its own "church" that pronounces on orthodoxy and heresy.

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Conservatism at the Crossroads

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Casey Chalk

June 2021

The American founders followed Plato and Aristotle in acknowledging man’s inclination to consolidate power, indulge his passions, and oppress his fellowman.

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Should Christians Pay Reparations for Racial Injustices?

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Casey Chalk

April 2021

The Church can engage in the work of racial reparations, but only while placing the project within a broader moral framework.

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A Manifesto for 2021

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Casey Chalk

January-February 2021

As always, when contemplating the political order, we should keep in mind the psalmist’s exhortation: “Put not your trust in princes.”

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A Davidic Similitude in Pre-Revolutionary China

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Casey Chalk

November 2020

All of us, regardless of our wealth or circumstances, are presented with choices that lead either to our happiness or to our ruin.

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The Catholic Church in the Crosshairs

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Casey Chalk

September 2020

It is a cruel irony that, in less than a century, Catholics have gone from being victimized as unwelcome immigrants to being widely perceived as racist victimizers.

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Sympathy for the Priest

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Casey Chalk

June 2020

Honest, humble, Christ-like priests serve on the front lines of a multi-millennia war against evil, defiantly waving the banner of Christ.

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Sign-Stealing of the Times

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Casey Chalk

April 2020

The Astros' systematic cheating vitiated the sanctity not only of the game of baseball but a core feature of American identity.

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Overcoming the Evils of Ecclesial Division

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Casey Chalk

January-February 2020

The robust friendship of 20th-century Swiss theologians Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar offers a different approach to ecumenical dialogue.

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In Bureaucracy’s Grip

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Casey Chalk

November 2019

Our friends are being squeezed by the vise of Islamic extremism and by the incomprehensible, inescapable grip of U.S. federal bureaucracy.

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All Catholics Should Major in Double E

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Casey Chalk

September 2019

The Eucharist without the episcopacy is invalid. The episcopacy without the Eucharist is more or less useless. The two are mutually reinforcing.

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A Tree Grows in St. Louis

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Casey Chalk

June 2019

A remarkable family and their little spiritual oasis in the Gateway to the West have become, as divine fate would have it, a gateway to Catholicism.

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Judaism’s Nonlinear History of Monotheism

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Casey Chalk

April 2019

The historical moment when Judaism seemed most alive, its pieties and devotions most ubiquitous, was the moment God required an expanded understanding and vision of His nature.

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Learning the Meaning of Longsuffering

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Casey Chalk

January-February 2019

We all suffer together, we members of the mystical body of Christ. Our every act of virtue contributes to the glory of Christ’s Church.

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The Strange Magnetism of Virtual Fisticuffs

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Casey Chalk

November 2018

What happens when a fairly obscure writer picks a fight with a Christian YouTube celebrity who has over 200,000 followers?

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Humanae Vitae: A Manual for Better Sex?

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Casey Chalk

October 2018

Much popular Catholic literature on NFP is utilitarian, claiming that obeying Church teaching results in a happier, more exciting bedroom experience.

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