Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
I have been asked to write about what is euphemistically, and rather incorrectly, known as ‘swearing’. We have all perhaps heard our younger siblings yell, “Muuuum! Jimmy swore!”. Yet Jimmy did not really ‘swear’, unless he is beyond his years, or brought into a court of law. Swearing literally is taking a solemn oath, only[…]
Today is the feast of Saint Benedict (ca. 480-547), the father of Western monasticism and one of the main forces in preserving Western culture through the tumultuous years of post-antiquity. His retreat from the world, paradoxically, is what saved the world, as he and his monks, guided by Benedict’s wise and prudent regula or rule[…]
Another day, and more mayhem, with no end in sight. Five police officers assassinated, others wounded, by snipers at a Black Lives Matter protest, after two black men were killed recently in dubious circumstances by (white) police officers. And, of course, dozens have been killed by bombings in the Middle East, Sunni versus Shiite, and[…]
We Catholics sell ourselves short. As individuals, often; that will vary from person to person. But more importantly, we underestimate ourselves as a Church, founded by Christ, a divine institution of supernatural, near infinite, power, which we sorely, and sadly underutilize and underestimate. We are not what we are meant to be, which is why[…]
On this solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, celebrating their respective life and martyrdom, it is beneficial to dwell a moment upon the papacy (and by extension, the episcopacy), as we make our way towards eternity in these confusing times. It is no secret to readers of these columns that I share with many other[…]
Another day, and more bad news. One becomes benumbed after a time, which is not a good thing. Would that I could write on something uplifting, and I will, soon. But the culture of death marches on, almost unabated, from victory to victory, and I wonder how much they need further to ‘win’, with the[…]
“This above all: To thine own self be true.” –William Shakespeare Puritan’s Empire by Charles A. Coulombe is a unique tour-de-force of American history from a Catholic high traditionalist perspective. Spanning the colonial period to the modern day, the narrative is tightly-woven and comprehensively arranged. The sheer length and breadth of the volume[…]
Already the effects of the Brexit are rippling through the world: The British currency has taken a record nosedive, the stock market is tottering, and wee bonnie Scotland now wants independence from Britain, to stay cuddled up with the EU. Now our own Quebec wants to break free, once again: Justin Trudeau was[…]
I thought the Star Wars franchise, so successful and cinema-transforming in the late seventies and early eighties, was ruined by the three prequels in the early years of this millennium, all of which were phenomenally bad, the last one on a galactic scale. The blond Canadian Anakin deserved an anti-Oscar for his thespian ineptitude. I[…]
There is much talk nowadays about conscience, freedom of conscience, good and bad conscience, yet with little awareness, from what I can tell, of what conscience actually is. So, a definition: Conscience is an act, specifically an act of the practical intellect, judging the moral quality of an act that we have done, are doing,[…]
