…is another name for the Benedict Option. My latest article at National Catholic Register assesses the signs of the times and wonders if it isn’t time to emulate St Benedict–who headed for the hills when faced with a society in terminal decline. By the end of the fifth century, the Roman Empire was in ruins. Weakened from within through corruption, wealth, luxury and self-indulgence, Rome had, for the better part of the century, been invaded by aggressive foreigners. The empire... Read more

In case anyone thought yesterday’s blog post on Catholic fundamentalists was some sort of hit job on traditionalists, the comments box at CRUX on my most recent article remind us that the wild eyed fundamentalists are not only conservative Catholics. They’e on the other side of the fence too. The radical trendies are just as loopy as the radical traddies. My latest article over at CRUX website is a simple explanation of why lay men and women are not permitted to... Read more

Within Catholic ultra traditionalist circles a new wave of ugliness has arisen. Numerous traditionalist blogs, websites and publications spew disrespectful hatred towards the Catholic church. They mock the Mass by despising the “Novus Ordo” they denigrate the Holy Father referring to him as “Pope Frank” or “Bergoglio” and refer to their mother the Catholic Church with adolescent disrespect as “FrancisChurch”. I avoid commenting on the filth because, why wallow in sewage? I’m not going to link to the aggregators and... Read more

My article at Imaginative Conservative website this week considers the priest’s holes which were created during the Elizabethan terror in England. If you visit Oxburgh Hall in England you can tour one of the ancient country houses occupied without break since 1482 by one of the most venerable Catholic families in England. Last summer, while leading a pilgrimage to England with Joseph Pearce, we visited the hall and not only met Sir Henry Bedingfeld—the current baronet—but celebrated Mass for the pilgrims... Read more

Soon after the plans for the new traditionally styled church in our parish were planned, I showed them with some enthusiasm to a liberal priest who happened to be visiting from England. He turned up his nose at the style and asked why we would build such  a church which was “against Vatican 2” Knowing that he was a “we are church” anti clericalist  type of liberal I said, “But Father! This is the church the people want! The people... Read more

Following a speculative essay in an Italian paper that women should be allowed to preach at Mass there is now a conversation going on about the issue. My blog post yesterday addresses the issue. It’s not about women or men per se, but about clergy and laity. Women are not forbidden from preaching because they’re women. They’re excluded because they’re not priests or deacons. As Pope Francis has said, “The door is closed to women’s ordination.” So that would seem... Read more

An essayist in L’Osservatore Romano– the Vatican paper–suggests that women should be allowed to preach at Mass. On Facebook, popular “Public Figure” Fr James Martin agrees. I wholeheartedly agree. Not hearing women reflecting on the Gospels at Mass impoverishes us, limits us, and prevents us from hearing the wisdom and experience of fully half of our church. I am reminded of this every time I hear a woman reflect on her experiences of the New Testament–particularly on stories like the Annunciation, the Nativity,... Read more

Why does Catholic worship appeal to men? It has to do with liturgy. This is why the feminization of the liturgy is so unattractive to men. When well-meaning liturgists and priests feel they have to make everything in the liturgy emotionally relevant and “meaningful” to everyone, many men switch off. When Father Fabulous insists on being emotionally entertaining in the liturgy he is likely to please the women while the fellas roll their eyes. When Sister Sandals develops new age... Read more

If we are faced with the choice of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as presidential candidates an increasing number of Catholics are saying, “What do I do? Both of them are awful! Do I vote with two hands–one to hold my nose? Do I have to vote? Isn’t a vote a participation in evil?” This is what our bishops say: We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an... Read more

You can listen here to my homily from Our Lady of the Rosary from last Sunday – the third Sunday in Lent. In the homily I discuss self righteousness and how wrong it is to be “right” and how right it is to be wrong. Go here to listen and share. Read more