Politics is not my strong suit, but I've been musing over this question and have come up with some ideas. Read more

For Christianity to be both dogmatic and relevant it must have an infallible interpreter My latest blog post over at National Catholic Register discusses this idea briefly. Here’s the problem: if Christianity teaches unchanging truth how does it adapt to different cultures and different ages? If it does not adapt it ceases to be relevant. If it does nothing but adapt it alters the truths that cannot be changed. The English theologian Blessed John Henry Newman said that for Christianity... Read more

Catch a breath. The Mainstream media has reported here on Pope Francis in Cuba and the reporter has used the correct terminology! The headline actually says that the Pope “celebrated” Mass. Yes. You heard correctly. The reporter used the correct terms. He said the Pope “celebrated” Mass. They did not say that the pope “Did Mass” or “Gave Mass”. He did not “hold a Mass” or “Make Mass” or “Deliver the Mass”. They actually wrote that the Pope “Celebrated Mass”... Read more

Never forget that verse from the gospel, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.” For the first two years of his papacy Pope Francis seemed therefore to bringing woe onto himself. Everyone was speaking well of him. This CNN article points out how things are changing. Pope Francis is getting schtick from both conservatives and liberals. My response is, “Whoa! No more Woe!” From the conservatives: This article by George Will rubbishing the pope’s encyclical with a click... Read more

  My opinion article at the National Catholic Register reflects on the fact that the Pope is visiting a country where, for fifty years the regime has oppressed the Catholic Church. What is often overlooked is that America also has a sad history of anti-Catholics and that the spirit of anti-Catholicism is still strong. Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba and the United States puts the papacy in the middle of two historically anti-Catholic cultures. The communist regime in Cuba followed... Read more

Are tattoos taboo? If so why? Maybe because they lead to vanity and marring the image of God in which we are created. My essay for Imaginative Conservative this week ponders the issue with reference to Flannery O’Connor’s story Parker’s Back. O.E. Parker is one of Flannery O’Connor’s crazy misfits. A tough dropout who was captivated by the mystique of tattoo at the age of fourteen when he saw the tattooed man at the county fair. Having a tattoo made the... Read more

My latest article for National Catholic Register ponders the sort of Catholic Church Pope Francis will find. I was born and raised in the U.S., but I was never an American Catholic. Brought up in an evangelical-Protestant, fundamentalist home, I went to England after college and became an Anglican priest. Eventually, we were received into full communion with the Catholic Church, but remained in England for the next 10 years. Then, in 2006, we moved to South Carolina in order... Read more

My article for Aleteia this week disses secular media’s obsession with viewing everything as a right wing-left wing conflict. They loved to portray Pope Benedict as a stern right wing arch conservative neo Nazi. Now they love to portray Pope Francis as a kind, loving and gentle socialist. Both are crazy wrong The simple fact of the matter is that Pope Francis is neither left, nor right; he is Catholic. His economic message is nothing new. Like his predecessors, the... Read more

Virtually all commentators have declared Carly Fiorina the winner of last night’s debate between Republican candidates. The lady is poised, articulate, passionate and well informed. Her high points were her fiery denunciation of Planned Parenthood in which she called out Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama–daring them to watch the videos published by the Center for Medical Progress. She also scored against Donald Trump with her classy put down on his insult about her appearance. Her comment on drug abuse–that she... Read more

My former student Philip Wilmeth is now Brother Augustine. He made his simple profession as a Benedictine monk with the newly re-established community at Norcia last week. The picture to the right shows me with Brother Augustine when we visited last June. He won the beard competition… The monks have started what is turning out to be a successful brewery, and Brother Augustine gave me and my traveling companion–Sid Tate a tour of the brewery. Their recording of their Gregorian... Read more