The death of Margaret Thatcher and the suicide of Matthew Warren–the son of Pastor Rick Warren has brought to light the irrational rage that has been simmering in our society for some time. I experienced this when a colleague said in 2008 that any Catholic who knowingly voted for Obama should go to confession. His statement made the national news and his email box was suddenly flooded with hate mail. When he disabled his email they started sending their hate... Read more

The latest scientific tests show that the Shroud of Turin dates to the first century. Go here to read more. Still, Shroud skeptics say it’s a medieval forgery. So here are some questions for them: 1. If it’s a fake why hasn’t anyone–even with modern technology–been able to reproduce it? 2. How did the forger not only know about photography in the Middle Ages, but manage to produce what is, in effect, a photographic negative? 3. The image is not... Read more

Why am I a Christian today? Why am I a Catholic today? It is because of the witness of authenticity. Put very simply–I am a Christian today because of the lived witness of my parents and I am a Catholic today because of the lived witness of two remarkable women–a mother and daughter. I am a Christian today because my father and mother lived out their Christian faith. They did so with honesty, integrity, compassion, generosity, sincerity and love. Of... Read more

An ancient sermon–from the Office of Readings – for a video version go here. Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.... Read more

When there is a new pope things change. When things change some people get nervous. Its natural. Its okay. One of the things that helps when there is transition stress is to remember that progress is pendular. Progress is like a pendulum–it swings back and forth. Two steps forward, one step back. This is the way life works. This is the way we make progress. Life lurches. The church lurches. We move forward, then we fall back to re-consider, re-plan... Read more

On the question of suffering: This an excerpt from my book Adventures in Orthodoxy When my nephew Michael was getting ready for college he told me he was expected to write a paper in his first week entitled, “How do I know I exist?” After discussing the matter for some time he concluded that the best thing to do was to punch his professor in the nose. The resulting pain when the professor punched back would thereby prove that both... Read more

Today Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve detainees in a youth detention center. Two of them were female. Last year I wrote this post explaining why the rubrics call for men to have their feet washed. Jimmy Akin explicates the texts and offers an excellent commentary here. What are we to make of the Holy Father disregarding the rubrics which call for “selected men” to have their feet washed, and what does his washing feet of females say about the... Read more

The whole world is clucking again about “equality” and “equal rights.” It is not wrong to fight for “equality” and “equal rights” but the problem is that these are very emotive and vague terms. Most anyone who feels aggrieved in some way, or even worse, most anyone who is feeling somewhat envious, can start a campaign for equality and equal rights and who can say “No!”. Indeed, to say “No” to anyone in our society for any reason at all... Read more

In the combox someone wrote, “Just give me the liturgy straight up. No ice.” I like that. It got my brain humming and I started comparing liturgical styles to drinks. One of the problems with a traditionalism that goes too far is that all the nice things can draw attention to themselves. Nothing in the liturgy should draw attention to itself–either because it is very wonderful or because it is very terrible. A splendid vestment from Barbiconi’s that is so... Read more

Since our new pope’s emphasis on poverty is a hot topic, here are a few thoughts about the Benedictine approach to poverty and how it contrasts with the Franciscan. A Benedictine monk takes three vows: obedience, stability, and conversion of life. He doesn’t take a vow of poverty. However, the Rule of St Benedict does forbid private ownership of any kind. A Benedictine monk does not take a vow of poverty, but he lives under a rule of no personal... Read more