Some people wonder about the title of this blog. It comes from a Chesterton quote that “Very often a scene is best seen when it is seen upside down.” This excerpt from the foreword of my book The Quest for the Creed explains things a bit further. There are some brave revolutionary souls who stand on their head every day. They are not acrobats but artists, poets, mystics, comedians and prophets. Like children, they have a fresh way of seeing and think it... Read more

The other day somebody on some blog somewhere went on the attack and junked something I’d written and junked me at the same time. It was a smart, sarcastic attack with no real substance, full of anger, lack of information, false assumptions and personal abuse. Then somebody else pointed me to the article and wanted me to engage with the author. I said, “I don’t argue with people.” To which he replied, “That makes his point.” Meaning that it proved... Read more

All the innerleckshuls are consternated, frustrated, irritated, annoyed, befuddled, confused and amused by the popularity of the Donald and Bernie show. “Why are they so popular? What is the attraction? How can so many Americans be in love with an unrealistic, pie in the sky socialist on the one hand and a fake tan, fake teeth, fake hair, fake everything casino owning creep on the other?” The Republicans actually have an impressive line up of candidates. They aren’t angels, but... Read more

My friend told me a story of the time they had a mother cat with a litter of kittens in the house. They came home and a stray dog walked through the door. He saw the storm coming and hurried the dog out the door, but not before it brushed against his wife’s leg. Momma cat came tearing out the door, took one sniff of the wife’s leg and attacked it like it was the hound of hell itself. Wife... Read more

In his homily on the annual ecumenical Vespers to close the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, Pope Francis apologized for the wrongs committed by Catholics against other Christians. Speaking as Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis asked for mercy and forgiveness on account of the “non-evangelical” behavior on the part of Catholics toward their separated brethren. He also called on Catholics to forgive wrongs done to them by other... Read more

My latest article at Those Catholic Men website discusses the right approach to spiritual warfare. I had to speak with Tom about his passion for spiritual warfare. His zeal was unquestioned, and his desire to fight the good fight was admirable. He had his warrior’s rosary, his prayer book, his holy water and his scapulas all in place. He was ready to take up his weapons and fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil with all his might. Tom’s problem was... Read more

My latest blog post for National Catholic Register is here. Give me the hobbit’s life of adventure. I want to shrug on my backpack, pick up my stick and set off on the open road. I want to sleep rough with nothing but the freedom of the quest. Give me dragons to fight and giants to joust with. I’ll set off with a gang of rogues dwarves or a waiting king. It doesn’t much matter. I’ll take the ring to... Read more

The optimistic ecumenist suggests that the Catholic practice of barring Protestants from receiving communion is an obstacle on the path to unity. A Lutheran pastor (who was a cradle Catholic) wrote to me the other day saying that he didn’t understand why anyone should be refused communion. The call to the Lord’s table, he opined, was not a human call, but the decision to fence off the Lord’s table was simply a human action, and one which he could not... Read more

…good Lord deliver us. Have we not learned our lessons from the decaying, carpeted crashed flying saucer churches that litter our American suburbs? Here is an article that gushes lovingly over the designs for a new church in New Jersey by New York architect Carlo Enzo. Amenities include gallery and museum space to attract visitors to the building on days without religious services. The ground-level exterior incorporates a Zen-like reflecting pool, and a “sky chapel” perched at the building’s highest... Read more

My article this week for Aletia explores the impact the Anglican decision to suspend the Episcopalians has on the Catholic Church The center of gravity for worldwide Christianity is shifting away from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia and South America. This shift from North to South is cultural and demographic. Christians in the South are young. Their numbers are growing. They are dynamic in their faith and energetic in their evangelization. These trends mean that for the rest... Read more