If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hated. (Bishop Fulton Sheen, +1979)
Year: 2026
Bishop Sheen and the Shocking Scandal of the Eucharist
Fulton Sheen’s beatification continues. And I’d like to draw attention to something he once wrote:, “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white Host,” and that sentence alone has more theological density than most religious commentary produced in a year. Consequently, if we are going to speak about Sheen, we[…]
What Hold Has China Over the Vatican?
Here is a disconcerting exchange between Pope Leo XIV and an EWTN reporter, when the Pope is asked to comment on the case of Jimmy Lai. As readers may know, Jimmy Lai is a Catholic entrepreneur and businessman, who persevered through years of threats to stand up for basic human rights and freedom against the[…]
Why and Wherefore Forever War?
‘Epic Fury’, the attack on Iran by the United States, may last for some weeks yet, according to President Trump. Whether this is justified and proportionate is open to some doubt. The reader may peruse also some of my thoughts on just war theory, and make up their minds whether the criteria fit this conflict.[…]
Saint Casimir the Chaste, Patron of Poland
(Today’s saint, one of the patrons of Poland, and of Lithuania, whose very name means ‘bearer of peace’, makes a very a propos intercessor for our troubled world. May peace prevail.) Ed. Saint Casimir died young – as the good often do – entering eternity on this day, March 4th, 1484, at the tender age[…]
Katharine Drexel: The First All American Saint
Mother Katharine Mary Drexel (1858 – 1955) is a fitting intercessor for the racial tensions afflicting her native United States. For one thing, she is the first natural born canonized American citizen (Elizabeth Ann Seton was born in 1774, in what would become that nation a few years later). A young debutante who inherited her[…]
In him the promise made through the shadows of prophecy stands revealed, along with the full meaning of the precepts of the law. He is the one who teaches the truth of the prophecy through his presence, and makes obedience to the commandments possible through grace. (Pope Saint Leo the Great, +461)
Second Sunday of Lent, and Seeing Beyond Our Eyes
Are old people wise? Have they learned anything from experience? Or are they all curmudgeons, continually grumbling about the young generation and contrasting it unfavourably with the way things used to be? Well, as an old man myself, I may observe that it is possible to be both wise and curmudgeonly at one and the[…]
Saint David, of Wales
A brief note on Saint David, the sixth-century monastic bishop, now patron, of Wales, born at an unknown date, but who likely died on this day, March 1st, in 589, based on what evidence we have. He was acclaimed bishop after an eloquent sermon he gave, denouncing the lingering heresy of Pelagianism – that we[…]
To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless. (GK Chesterton, +1936)