So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure. Rightly could I call this treasure the fairest of all fair things and the costliest, in fact as well as in name, for on it and through it and for its sake the riches of salvation that[…]
Year: 2019
Pope Francis’ Problematical Flexibility
I’m not sure what to make of the Holy Father’s most recent comments, again on an airplane back to Rome, from his papal visit to Mauritius and Mozambique. He doubled down on his response to the apparent ‘criticism’ from a certain sector of the Church in America, which seems to have unsettled him, and touched[…]
No one can harm the man who does himself no wrong (Saint John Chrysostom, Patriarch and Doctor, +407)
Despair, Hope and the Rosary
In honour of the Blessed Virgin, we might peruse Pope Saint John Paul II’s encyclical on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which he promulgated on the 25th anniversary of the beginning of his pontificate, October 16th, 2002, about the same time as he re-instituted this memorial of the Holy Name of Mary. Our society needs[…]
Against the New Integralists
Once upon a time, political discourse among orthodox Catholics was dominated by the old First Things school – Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, George Weigel, Michael Novak. These writers adopted Fr. John Courtney Murray’s reconciliation of American constitutionalism and Catholic political thought. At root, they were “classical” liberals. The great promise of liberal democracy was that[…]
The Writ Be Dropped
Today marks the official beginning of the campaign to elect the next Prime Minister, on October 21st, five short weeks, praise God, rather than the endless politicking south of the border. As Canada is still a constitutional monarchy, the current holder of the office of Prime Minister must approach the Head of State, Queen Elizabeth[…]
9 11 and Historical Memory
It is difficult to believe that it was a full eighteen years ago I first heard of the attack – initially reported as a bombing – on the World Trade Centre buildings, on my car radio, an old, donated Pontiac 6000, its navy-blue paint mottled and rusted, but still running fine, outside the former convent,[…]
Because our expression is imperfect we need friendship to fill up the imperfections. (G.K. Chesterton)
The Company We Keep
The climate-change crowd seem to be testing the bounds of sanity and, pardon the pun, good taste. A Swedish professor, a certain Magnus Söderlund has suggested that one way to fight climate change – reducing our dependence on carbon-heavy meat products – is to develop a taste for human flesh, that is, cannibalism. Macabre as this[…]
To love God as He ought to be loved, we must be detached from all temporal love. We must love nothing but Him, or if we love anything else, we must love it only for His sake. (Saint Peter Claver, +1654)