Restorationist church movements—whether they be traditionalist Catholic or Protestant sects—are products of their contemporary culture: well-meaning but artificial attempts at restoration, which end up being no more than the past viewed through a half-baked ecclesiology and a rose-tinted theology. As a boy, I attended a church that was founded in 1962. It grew out of [...]
None of us wants a theocracy, nor do we wish to have a totally secularized order. But both secular and sacred are to be joined in some way, the only question being how and to what extent. Have we still got a Christian consensus around which Americans of every possible persuasion can rally round? A public [...]
Only a people who accepts a moral foundation of its culture, a protection of its property, the decentralization of power, and a “national humility” will in the long run survive. Once a people forgets its purpose, it will fall into decadence. The nineteenth century witnessed the flourishing of progressivist thought: in social relations, political relations, [...]
Fr. David & Fr. Bruce Noble I had never been in a hospice before, although several people had encouraged me to go and serve there. It just didn’t seem like my calling. Why go to serve the dying, when I can work among the living to equip them for a better life? It [...]
John Rocha with Winston & Barbara Elliott On Saturday evening, I went to sleep reflecting on a text I had received from Winston Elliott about the film The Emperor’s Club. On Sunday morning, as I awoke—still a little groggy from Daylight Saving Time—I saw another text from him saying that his beloved bride, [...]
It is not easy to die on the Cross under whatever guise it comes to us this day (stresses, strains, losses, pains). But if we think of it as dying in His arms—His arms outstretched caressingly—then maybe, like Mary our model, we can say yes. Luke 9:22-25 offers us one of Jesus’ starker prophecies: the [...]
C.S. Lewis believes in the laws of nature, but he argues that miracles do not violate them because miracles are done by the Creator of the natural world Himself. Miracles are, therefore, exceptions to the laws of nature. The Great Commission commands all Christians to share the Gospel with non-Christians. Different groups of non-Christians want [...]
Lent is a great time to take stock of all the good things that God has given us and to realize our utter dependence on God, while also realizing he is with us every step of the way. In my time in ministry, first as a diocesan seminarian and now as a Dominican student brother, [...]
The machine we face today is an all-encompassing technological, cultural, and economic system oppressing us—driven by profit and a misguided ambition. In the name of public health and progress we have allowed ourselves to be enslaved to the machine. You will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery [...]
It was God who uttered the first word ever spoken in the language of love. That word was simply "love." It was later called the “Word” by St John because it was the most important word ever spoken. All we need to know, believe, and act upon is the simple truth that our Risen Lord [...]
Fasting is far more than just an obligation or even a discipline; it is connected with the very mystery of life and death, of salvation and damnation. “Fasting is a medicine.” — St. John Chrysostom “The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” — Matthew 9:15 [...]
During this season of Lent it is helpful to reflect on how mimetic desire—defined as “imitation envy"—connects with and influences the classic seven deadly sins. The French thinker Rene Girard had a seminal insight which has shed light on just about every aspect of human endeavor from theology and anthropology to economics, politics, psychology, and [...]
What is it that finally holds a society together? What enables it to cohere? Nothing less, St. John Henry Newman reminds us, “than a common reverence for a certain sacred possession.” Does anyone know what the central myth of America might be? I mean, isn’t there a story out there we tell ourselves about our origins? Our [...]
The madness of our self-sufficiency comes to the fore in the discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper. There, we see that our path of perfection is in point of fact a path towards union. Not only does Jesus promise to dwell with the Father in those who love Him, He also affirms that we [...]