Is Joe Biden just a cafeteria Catholic like most Catholics in the United States? Is he just following JFK’s political “heresy” of keeping faith private and apart from public responsibilities? Or is there something worse going on? Pope Francis often speaks of abortion as hiring a hitman. Is Biden a Read more…
The Vatican’s new document, Dignitas Infinitas, published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) begins, “Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter.” I believe Read more…
Since everyone is talking about the Person of the Year, why not a blog dedicated to Catholic culture? That’s something I wouldn’t have expected until a friend sent me an article linking Swift’s songs to the medieval Cathar/Albigensian heresy: “The Dark Truth about Taylor Swift: Too Many Young Women Yearn Read more…
As a follow up to my piece on true conservatism and its principles, I want to reflect on why conservatives continue to lose ground against our culture’s “religion of self” that idolizes freedom and enshrines it every more firmly in society. Over the last sixty years we have witnessed a Read more…
I was recently interviewed by Catholic News Agency and the Philadelphia Inquirer about St. Joseph’s University new Certificate in Cannabis Studies. I raised moral questions about this, because, even when legalized for medical purposes, marijuana has been used primarily for “getting high” rather than addressing medical issues. This does not Read more…
What does it mean to be conservative? The modern ideal of conservatism arose as a rejection of Enlightenment principles and their instantiation in political revolution, particularly the French Revolution. Conservatives such as Burke and de Maistre defended the centrality of religion, family, land, and morality in bolstering society. Today, the Read more…
Much commentary has focused on Vladimir’s Putin’s sponsorship of the Russian Orthodox Church, which extends even to the point of making the Church an arm of the State (a constant temptation in Russian history). It is true that a massive building project throughout Russia has constructed thousands of Orthodox churches, Read more…
The Catholic Church, along with every major Protestant denomination, has witnessed a precipitous decline in Church attendance. This slide, set off during the 1960s, has accelerated with the rapid rise of the “nones,” Americans claiming no religious affiliation. We could wonder, has the bottom fallen out with this huge exodus? Read more…
The greatest unresolved issue for the Church, in my opinion, consists in how to make sense of the modern world. Is there something there positive that will show us the way forward? Do we just need to abandon it and start from scratch? How do we live in this increasingly Read more…
Catholics have been accused of focusing on one issue for the election: abortion. Life, however, not only serves as the foundation of the common good, it also is completely interwoven with its other essential elements. Protecting life is bound up with justice as a whole and the securing of every Read more…