Notes from the Academic Necropolis

Last updated on: August 23, 2019 at 5:49 pm By Chase Padusniak

As of late, I’ve seen a few discussions of modern college education on both Twitter and Facebook. The positions I’ve seen many people take really alarm me. I’m not talking about the (at this point expected) position taken by many older, more-conservative Catholics, that young people should mostly go to trade school and not worry about sinking their and their parents’ money into fancy degrees. No. What I’ve seen has been Left-leaning, young, orthodox Catholics arguing that the freshman college... Read more

If I Were Still Conservative

Last updated on: August 19, 2019 at 1:42 pm By Chase Padusniak

Earlier, I was listening to episode six of Know Your Enemy, a podcast about Right-side politics in the United State. As the title suggests, the show is meant for Left-leaners, is intended to help them understand what exactly is going on in this country in the Year of Our Lord two thousand and nineteen. In this case, the hosts were discussing the recent National Conservatism Conference, a gathering of many elite conservatives—Yuval Levin, Peter Thiel, Yoram Hazony, Daniel McCarthy, Patrick... Read more

How I Came to be Christian (Full Essay)

Last updated on: July 23, 2019 at 9:28 pm By Chase Padusniak

This is a consolidation of three posts I wrote a few years ago, re-posted in an, I hope, easier to read format. You can find the originals here, here, and here. Today and for the next day or two I’ll focus on my journey to Christianity, with specific references to the events, thinkers, and ideas that guided me along the way. With faith, I hope doing so will acquaint readers with that journey while guiding me along the befuddling and... Read more

Catholic and American?

Last updated on: July 4, 2019 at 8:23 pm By Chase Padusniak

As a kid, I watched the History Channel special on the American Revolution every year. I loved learning about the origins of my country. Coming as I do from a patriotic family, a family in which both grandfathers fought in World War Two, one of them at D-Day and Bastogne, the whole ritual was imbued with filial significance. I brought a book about the 101st Airborne, my grandpa’s division, to my high school for a grown-up show-and-tell. I would look... Read more

Traditionalism, Fruit of Vatican II

Last updated on: July 3, 2019 at 4:02 pm By Chase Padusniak

Traditionalist orders and parishes are on the rise. The Dutch Dominicans are full of new life after forsaking a watering-down of their communal and spiritual life. Cardinal Sarah has called for ad orientem liturgy. It just seems to be in the air—young people like the Latin Mass, or at least attach themselves to older devotions. Anecdotal evidence may, for many people in my age group, corroborate this. A recent piece on the English Oratorians emphasizes the lively relationship between their... Read more

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Last updated on: August 17, 2022 at 6:55 pm By Chase Padusniak

Christianity is a communal religion; it coheres in a Church, a body of believers spiritually- and socially-united in faith and deed. Whatever people may say about Vatican II seriously wounding Catholicism, no Christian group has escaped challenge from an individualistic modernity. In fact, some say our decline goes back well beyond the Council. First and foremost, any decline in Christianity has stemmed from the destruction of our communities. People must move to find work, alienating themselves from structures of support.... Read more

Christ is Risen!

Last updated on: April 21, 2019 at 3:13 pm By Chase Padusniak

It is tradition in many Byzantine Churches to read from the Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom on Easter. Perhaps, the sermon is most famous for its ending: O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For... Read more

Japanese Anti-Capitalism and the Post-Christian Future

Last updated on: April 18, 2019 at 3:18 pm By Chase Padusniak

The Bad Sleep Well is my favorite film by Akira Kurosawa. As with many of his films, it finds its basis in a Shakespearean play—in this case, Hamlet. For my purpose here, its most interesting element is its dissection of Japanese corporate culture: the board members, the salarymen, the suppression of conflict such that it must operate in the shadows, manifesting primarily in decorous putsches. Where Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street offer depictions of greed, most typically... Read more

Notre Dame de Paris is Burning

Last updated on: April 15, 2019 at 3:46 pm By Chase Padusniak

Notre Dame is perhaps the most famous cathedral in the work. And now, it’s on fire. It remains to be seen how much of the structure will remain. A 19th-century spite has fallen and, at least from photographs, the flames seem bright and undeterred. Many relics and priceless artifacts are exposed to destruction. The cause also remains unclear. The whole thing seems shrouded in smoke; what the fire illuminates remains no more available for comprehension. We watch and it burns—paralyzed,... Read more

Medieval Socialism

Last updated on: September 19, 2019 at 3:41 pm By Chase Padusniak

What could this title even mean? In our day and age, “the medieval” is most often made to confront modernity. That’s when Catholics were Catholic, when Protestants didn’t even exist. By contrast, socialism is a modern pan-heresy that exalts the State over and above everything else. The pairing seems unthinkable. And yet, it’s not, according to Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P. In 1914, he wrote a book entitled Medieval Socialism. I’ve been reading it, and, while it’s filled with some of... Read more