One of the most discouraging things about religious life is to witness brothers fighting one another. Why do so many religious people feel they have to attack their brothers in the faith? Because there’s something sick going on within a lot of religious people and religious groups. I call it the Cain Syndrome. Remember when Cain killed his brother Abel? Remember why? Because God told them to make an animal sacrifice. Abel obeyed. Cain made an offering from the produce... Read more

Here is my review of one of the best books I’ve read this year: Anthony Esolen’s Defending Marriage. Professor Esolen uses his literary references not to prove a point or even to illustrate a point, but to evoke within us a different and more beautiful understanding of what it means to be male and female, boy and girl, husband and wife. From his exaltation of human love within literary culture Professor Esolen conjures up a forgotten world where girls and... Read more

Sister Mary: Why are you smoking? Did Mother Superior give you permission to smoke? Sister Aquinas: (puffing away) Yes. Sister Mary: But she didn’t give me permission to smoke! It’s not fair! Sister Aquinas: What did you ask her? Sister Mary: I asked permission to have a cigarette while I am praying.” Sister Aquinas: Ah. There’s the problem. I asked for permission to pray while I am having a cigarette. Read more

  This article in the National Catholic Reporter informs about an “ordination” of a woman as a bishop in what the reporter calls “Roman Catholic Womenpriests”. What interests me is not that another faux ordination has occurred. We’re getting used to these events now. Mantilla the Hon has something to say about the awful dress sense of these women here…but that’s another matter. It is interesting that the reporter uses the term “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” to designate a separate organization.... Read more

Elizabeth Scalia comments in passing on Bob Jones University here. Yeah, yeah, we all hate Bob Jones University because they’re a bunch of bigots so they got what they deserved and made their decision accordingly, right? Well, late last week the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to redefine marriage as involving “two persons”. With this vote they join six other churches or religious movements willing to perform same-sex marriages. The Episcopals will not be very far behind, I don’t think. Since the IRS can determine... Read more

Not too long ago while celebrating Mass I drifted into a kind of silence. I had spent the day paddling through the shallow waters of contemporary culture and mainstream media and was feeling both tired and soiled. Then as I celebrated Mass it seemed to me that what I was doing there was real. It was somehow solid and real in a way that nothing else in the world compared to. The flippy flappy headlines of the day with their... Read more

Great homily for Corpus Christi by Msgr Pope here. Are you a mouse or a man? So here comes the question. Back in seminary days we were all given the example of a mouse who runs across the altar and takes a consecrated host and runs off and eats it. And we were asked, “Does he eat the body of Christ?” Yes! For the Eucharist has a reality unto itself. “But does he receive a sacrament?” No! A mouse has no... Read more

Kathy Schiffer jumps me to the gun in this post. I was just about to observe that Pope Francis’ harsh words about the mafia killers in Calabria might just as well be applied to the money grubbing abortionists and the politicians who back them up in our country but Kathy went there already in her post. In his homily, the Pope spoke about the evils that can occur when adoration of God is replaced by adoration of money. “Your land,... Read more

Marc Barnes posts here on why it is a good thing that Pope Benedict stepped down: This is what I mean when I say that Benedict gave us a universal principle — if it was proper for him to resign upon an honest recognition of deteriorating strength, then it is proper for any Pope to resign under that same condition. By his resignation, Benedict has challenged the entire future: Put the work first. Put the commission first. Feed the sheep first. Put... Read more

The Bishops who spoke at the Catholic Media Conference emphasized the need for dialogue in the media. Archbishop Kurtz coined a phrase, “dialogue not diatribe” In his keynote he said, I believe that the Catholic press will be called over the next decade to influence the new digital frontier by carving out a place for dialogue. This may well be your greatest challenge and deepest contribution to the new evangelization. Let’s call this a movement from diatribe to dialogue. Merriam-Webster... Read more