Like a pair of Noahs, Rod Dreher and Anthony Esolen have produced two powerful books for Christians who, facing the flood of the breakdown of society, are considering the Benedict Option… Worried about the breakneck pace of change, overwhelming social upheaval, the breakdown of the family, the sexual revolution, the disintegration of Christianity, and the [...]
When there is no religion, the religion that exists in the vacuum—ideology—is the very worst sort of religion… After observing yet another protest march the other day I became interested in how similar to religion ideologies are. The ideology could be left wing or right wing, North, South, East or West wing. It matters not. [...]
If the mainstream media continue to be deceitful about the travel ban and other presidential orders, Americans who heretofore have sat on the fence in regard to President Trump will start to slip down from that fence and sidle over to him in sympathy. One assumes that to get a job as a journalist a [...]
Left-wingers—the beatnik, the hippie, the flower-power revolutionary—used to be the subversives. But now their society is ripe for revolution, and it would seem that it is the conservative who is the new subversive… T.S. Eliot wrote something somewhere along the lines of, “In a world of fugitives the one who stays home will seem to [...]
I am weary of words and wonder why. It is perhaps because I want to ascend to that silence that echoes the innocence of the sub-linguistic bliss. I want to attain what the hymn writer called “the silence of eternity, interpreted by Love"... For twenty years I have been writing, writing, writing. It began after [...]
In this secular age, the fact that Mel Gibson did not shy away from the reality that the hero of "Hacksaw Ridge" was a conservative, Bible-believing Christian makes the film all the more astounding. Mel Gibson’s new film, Hacksaw Ridge continues the controversial actor and director’s taste for gusto, guts, and glory. From Mad Max [...]
The language of beauty is universal. It transcends all cultures, socio-economic divisions, and educational divides. By being appreciated by everyone, the language of beauty unites everyone… It has been my privilege to lead our parish in building a beautiful new Catholic church in Greenville, South Carolina. Designed in the Romanesque style, it features salvaged stained [...]
In a society which is increasingly feminized, a beard makes a statement about masculinity. It is a sign of masculinity to the world, and a sign of proper masculinity to the man himself. This month there is a campaign called “No Shave November” in which men are encouraged to grow facial hair. This is to [...]
Picture a fat, middle-aged Englishman trying to stand on his head. This is not just any Englishman. This is your honest to goodness Edwardian Englishman in a tweed suit. With his wide-brimmed hat, a drooping mustache, walking stick and ridiculous pince nez he looks like an overblown Teddy Roosevelt. The porcine face puffs as he [...]
A few weeks ago I visited the parish of Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio, Texas. Former Anglican priest, Fr. Christopher Phillips, has made the parish his life’s mission and has created there a remarkable church and school. One of the first to pioneer “Catholic Anglicanism” (rather than Anglo-Catholicism), Fr. Phillips was ordained [...]
Were the September 11 attacks on America a false flag event orchestrated by the Bush White House? Did they fake the moon landings? Did Bush Senior conspire to kill JFK, or was it LBJ in cahoots with the gangsters? What’s the real story on Area 51? Are the Freemasons behind the plot to create a [...]
After leaving the ministry of the Church of England I trained as a screenwriter. It is one of the best things I ever did—not because it led to a glittering career in Hollywood, but because I learned about life from a fresh perspective. […]
We were preparing the annual financial report to the parish the other day, and the tricky part of the debate was how to present complex details in a simple way that was not misleading or open to misinterpretation. I commented that we must aim for complete transparency, at which point a member of the committee [...]
Ronald Reagan famously called the Soviet Union “an evil empire,” and as usual he was right. It was an empire and it was evil. But must an empire always be evil? […]