Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), an Oxford convert mentored by St. John Henry Newman, stands among the greatest Catholic poets in the English language. After teaching at Newman’s oratory in Birmingham, Hopkins entered the Jesuits and, after numerous teaching positions in Britain, was sent as a professor of Greek and Latin Read more…
My family spent Christmas back in my hometown, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Some of us took a pilgrimage of sorts to visit ancient and medieval art in New York City and Yale University’s Art Gallery in New Haven. Connecticut may seem an odd location, but a team from Yale helped to excavate Read more…
Beer has a long connection to saints and holy figures. In The Beer Option, I discuss the beer miracles of St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Columban, and St. Arnold, St. Hildegard’s description of beer’s medicinal qualities, and St. Conrad of Bavaria’s hospitality in serving beer to pilgrims. The Ommegang brewery Read more…
This website focuses on rebuilding Catholic culture through art, festivity, education, Catholic history and traditions, and a life shaped by prayer. St. Martin of Tours (c.316-97) can be considered one of the original builders of Catholic culture. Thanks to Sulpitius Severus, we have a detailed biography speaking of his life Read more…
Halloween has become a national spectacle that ranges from cute to the macabre. In a culture that tries to forget death in daily life, it breaks forth dramatically and briefly each year, though in a way that trivializes it. Through the Solemnity of All Saints and the Feast of All Read more…
This is the last of my posts reflecting on the Beauty of Faith Pilgrimage to Ireland. As author of The Beer Option, which presents the Catholic way to drink as rooted in feasting, fasting, and friendship, I kept my eyes open for evidence of Catholic drinking as well as the Read more…
Newman almost died as a young man, still an Anglican, during travels in Sicily. While in recovery he had his first real encounters with Catholics and the Mass. When he was well enough to return to England, he resolved that he would use his renewed strength to enter more deeply Read more…
The early Middle Ages rightly can be called the Age of the Monks and the title fits in Ireland even more than anywhere else. Ancient Ireland did not have cities and, with its tribal organization, the monastery served as a central place of prayer, learning, and social organization. Over time, Read more…
We began our Beauty of Faith Pilgrimage to Ireland in Dublin, visiting its churches and its saints/saints in the making: St. Valentine-the Roman saint whose relics are at the Whitefriar Street church; St. John Henry Newman’s University Church where he delivered some of the discourses that became An Idea of Read more…
A collection of essays written by my mentor, Dr. Don Briel, was just released by Cluny Media. I was privileged to assemble and edit this collection, unified by the theme of the University and the Church, particularly the needed renewal of the university through the influence of the Catholic tradition. Read more…