I was blessed last summer to visit Norcia–the birthplace of St Benedict– with my friend Sid Tate. We had gone to Italy on pilgrimage to venerate the Holy Shroud of Turin, and too the opportunity to visit Norcia and spend a short time with my former student Philip Wilmeth–now Brother Augustine–one of the monks of Norcia. Terrible news therefore to hear this morning of the earthquake which has leveled the beautiful basilica church of St Benedict. The church was built over the... Read more

Whoever is elected president, I predict that America will enter into four years of turmoil. The passions stirred up in this election have revealed an America more divided than ever before, and the divisions are bound to get worse. Racial divisions are at boiling point. Class divisions are brewing. Educational disparities are obvious. Ethnic suspicions are on the edge. Economic divisions are sharp. Why is this? It’s not political. It’s not economic. Its not ethnic. Its not racial. Its not... Read more

You’ll be glad to hear that I’m not running for President, but here are my twelve ideas for making America great again. Give bigger tax breaks for charitable giving – Rather than taxing rich people to death, give them bigger tax breaks for charitable giving. Regulate charities more – Make sure charities really do charitable work and are not fronts for lobbying groups or fronts for abortion providers or political activism or slush funds for former politicians to receive bribes Invest in Peace... Read more

This article in the Boston Globe (of all places!) gives you the run down on Hiliary Clinton’s anti Catholic stance. What I like about it is the comparison to Henry VIII AFTER KING HENRY VIII broke ties with the Catholic Church because of a dispute over marriage, Catholics were treated very badly. Bishops were locked up. Monasteries were closed. Tens of thousands were executed in the bloody turmoil of the English Reformation. All of which raises an interesting point: If the... Read more

One of the most common misconceptions about traditional church architecture is that it has to be expensive. Sure, if you go with a prima donna architect with an international reputation you’re going to pay over the odds. Our little parish in the poor part of town has just built a beautiful church, and we did it (complete with a pipe organ and a set of fantastic stained glass windows) for under $6million. How did we do that? Here are some... Read more

Part of this week’s leaked email release features an exchange from Clinton team members about “conservative Catholicism”. This article from Catholic News Agency reports on the comments. What is frightening about these ideologues is that their ignorance is always combined with arrogance. They clearly know very little about Catholicism, but they deride it and despise it all the same. Even more disturbing–they express their disgust for Catholicism not because it is Catholicism and not because they have even an inkling... Read more

If Hillary Clinton is elected President I will continue to fight against abortion by supporting our local charity that helps women in crisis pregnancies, by teaching the kids in my parish school about the evils of abortion, by marching for life, by preaching on the dignity of each human person from the pulpit, by working at a local and state level not only to restrict abortion, but to promote adoption, support women in crisis pregnancies and families who have chosen... Read more

My friend Edward Pentin reports here on some events in Rome this week celebrating fifty years of Anglican-Roman Catholic ecumenical talks. Far be it from me to rain on anyone’s parade, but the fifty years of ecumenical talks have been a resounding disappointment. I’m sure it must be a very good thing for theologians to sit around in a nice library somewhere and ponder how they can stretch ideas and twist words to come up with an agreement on theology, but... Read more