2016: The Year Catholic Politics Broke

Last updated on: November 3, 2016 at 2:03 pm By Chase Padusniak

Every day I log onto Facebook and, against my better judgment, end up observing or participating in some digital political brawl. I’m particularly susceptible, I suspect, because my Facebook friends span the political spectrum—mostly tepid Hillary-supporting anti-Trumpers and adamant Trump advocates, fewer “I’m with Her” types. Regardless, that diversity manages to cause me an unjust anger on an almost daily basis. Now, aside from the clear truth that I need to spend less time on social media (as most of... Read more

Is a Smaller Church a Better Church?

Last updated on: November 2, 2016 at 11:05 am By Chase Padusniak

Last week, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia gave a, by-now infamous, speech, read by some as an uncharitable—even un-Christian—call for a smaller Church and by others as a faithful reaffirmation of God’s plan for His people: He will spit the lukewarm out of His mouth, so to speak. The archbishop’s talk, however, is much more complex than all that; in fact, it is critical of both major sides of the American Church, that is, not just the “liberals,” who are often... Read more

Donald Trump: Human, All Too Human

Last updated on: October 28, 2016 at 4:49 pm By Chase Padusniak

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Who is Donald Trump: savior, pragmatic choice, satanic force? The answer you get much depends on who you ask. In my news feed anyway, he is most often an evil beast lurching toward Washington D.C. to be born—a misogynist, a racist, an enemy of good manners, and the decency we’ve worked so hard to instantiate and uphold. But in that lies an irony—Donald Trump is himself a product of a well-mannered bourgeois... Read more

An Orthodox Catholic Socialism?

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

I’m sorry to say that the new semester has overwhelmed me. Thousands of pages of reading, moving, and my recent catfishing debacle have made it nearly impossible to write over the past few weeks. For this (and for anyone who actually misses my blogging presence), I can only openly and contritely confess: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I hope to be back soon—I miss whispering musings into the cyber-void. But, I saw something yesterday that called out for... Read more

The Catfishing of the Catholic Community

Last updated on: August 17, 2022 at 6:54 pm By Chase Padusniak

The Internet is a notoriously deceitful place—people con others out of money, adopt any number of fake personas, even live vicariously for nothing more than the thrill of it. We all know this; them’s the ropes of living in the Digital Age. But do we really understand? How many of us has it personally touched? The ubiquity of deceit does not make it any less tragic when it invades our communities, for, as Hannah Arendt taught us, sometimes the most... Read more

The Feast of St. Augustine and Who Else?

Last updated on: August 28, 2016 at 5:31 pm By Chase Padusniak

Today is August 28th, most notably the feast of St. Augustine, bishop, theologian, Doctor of the Church, bearded Mensch, etc. Augustine holds special significance for me as a medievalist—before Aquinas his was undoubtedly the most influential theological work in all the West. Plus, his emphases on desire and conversion continue to strike at the heart of my faith in God. But today holds additional significance—greater significance. It is the feast of a lesser-known saint: a hermit, a martyr, an awkward... Read more

An Open Letter to Pro-Life Catholics

Last updated on: August 25, 2016 at 1:34 pm By Chase Padusniak

Dear _______, We go to the same churches; we fill the same pews. We pray the same Creed; we find ourselves unworthy before the same Sacrament. Yet, there’s anger and mistrust. An outsider looking in could be forgiven for looking at recent feuds and thinking he sees rivals trading jabs, rather than brothers in Christ. I am a writer at Patheos Catholic home of Mark Shea and pieces like “Voting Bernie Sanders,” “YES, You Can Be Catholic and Vote Democrat”... Read more

Mark, Simcha, Abortion, and Fire-Eating Trump Supporters

Last updated on: August 23, 2016 at 8:00 pm By Chase Padusniak

I have a surprise for readers: I am 22. In other words, I’m young enough that some of the significance of the firings of Mark Shea and Simcha Fisher by the National Catholic Register has gone over my head. I don’t know anything about Shea’s books from back in his “sane days,” nor have I ever known him as anything more than a blogger. In all honesty, my head feels pretty clear about the whole subject—it’s all a shame. Yet, the... Read more

Burkini Bans are Anti-Catholic

Last updated on: August 25, 2016 at 12:26 pm By Chase Padusniak

Some French Riviera resorts (along with a few other places, including a ban on full-face coverings in Germany) have begun to prohibit full-body swimwear, aimed at the Muslim “burkini,” but potentially farther reaching. As the New York Times indicates: [T]he more important and dangerous point, Mr. Muhammad said, is that there is no legal definition of the burkini. Typically many Muslim women, who do not want to spend 40 to 125 euros for a burkini, wear a T-shirt and long... Read more

On God’s Time

Last updated on: August 20, 2016 at 12:41 pm By Chase Padusniak

Waiting weighs us down and patience demands so much. Whether it’s excitedly counting the days until a loved one visits, dreading the time until a stressful meeting (or exam or paper), or simply biding time during an unbearable social obligation, waiting remains—interminable. Yet, waiting is not always so mundane. Sometimes its requirements are writ large on our lives. I think of my teenage self, lying in bed, trying to sleep, but shaken with pain. A throbbing discomfort welling up in... Read more