The power of evil men lives on the cowardice of the good. (Saint John Bosco, +1888)
Month: January 2026
The Charism of Saint John Bosco
The term ‘charismatic’ has an ambiguous meaning in the Church, invoking images of liturgical guitars, drums, emotional crescendos, and disconcerting glossolalia. In the Church’s theology, however, it has a rather specific meaning, derived from Saint Paul’s letters: A ‘charism’, from the Greek word for ‘grace’, Χάρις is a gratia gratis data, a gift, talent, ministry,[…]
Don Bosco, Still Teaching in the Hallway
On joy, presence, young love, and the quiet holiness of Catholic education There’s a particular kind of sound you only hear in a school: a quick burst of laughter that tries to hide itself, the shuffle of sneakers between classes, the rhythmic thud of lockers, and the sudden hush when a student realizes you’re closer[…]
Can the Legionaries Truly Be Reformed?
The Legionaries of Christ are currently gathered for their General Chapter, held every six years. This is in accord with the principle of semper reformanda. Every society, especially those in the Church, and even the Church herself, stand always in need of reform, for there is no standing still in the spiritual life. Such a[…]
Thomas’ Pange Lingua
Saint Thomas Aquinas spent some time in the early 1260’s in the beautiful Italian city of Orvieto, perched way high up on a promontory, about an hour outside Rome. When I visited there years ago, we had to take a cable car to the top. It was here, in the glorious cathedral, that Thomas commissioned by[…]
Entropic AI
Entropy may be described as the tendency of all things degrade, to move from order to disorder, from cosmos to chaos, from specificity to entropy. It is the inevitable consequence of any closed system, and encapsulated as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Any such system – whether that be a machine, a living organism, a[…]
Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. (Saint Thomas Aquinas, +1274)
Thomas Aquinas: The Universal and Angelic Doctor
(Last year marked the 800th anniversary of the birth of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who came into this world on this January 28th, 1225. The great saint and doctor died in 1274, and was canonized July 18th, 1323, by the Avignon Pope, John XXII. Good thing, too, for Pope John was one of the pontiffs accused[…]
Saint Thomas and the Unborn
Today’s feast of the great priest and doctor of the Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas, is also the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1988 striking down of the abortion laws put in place in 1969 under Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The court ordered parliament to come up with a new law, which it has never done, thus[…]
Pope Benedict XVI and the Enduring Value of Saint Thomas Aquinas
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter’s Square Wednesday, 2 June 2010 Saint Thomas Aquinas (1) Dear Brothers and Sisters, After several Catecheses on the priesthood and on my latest Journeys, today we return to our main theme: meditation on some of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages. We recently looked at the great[…]