The history of the oratorio proper begins in St. Philip Neri’s oratory chapel, where the story of salvation was brought to life with the best of human art, causing audiences fall in love with their faith through the power of beauty. When I was in the eighth grade and the time came to choose my [...]
Immediately after Jesus was baptised in the Jordan by St John the Baptist, “The Spirit drove him out into the desert and he remained there for forty days and was tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:13). St Matthew describes these temptations and the other evangelists show how his tussles with the devil continued in one way [...]
Christ is not a part of the Church; rather, the Church might be called a part of Christ, grafted upon Him, living by Him and for Him, suffering with Him in order to rule with Him. To say that the Easter observances are the center of the ecclesiastical year leaves much untold: they are the [...]
The Church has disavowed her ancient usurpations of the political. It remains for the Catholic to stop imposing these duties on her. Who is to say, once she has been thus unencumbered by the vain expectations of her own children for the war-leadership she should not provide, that she will not once more glow with [...]
Some Christians get hats or bumper-stickers or even tattoos that simply say “John 3:16.” For some reason “Leviticus 3:16” doesn’t get much love. In that verse, we read: “All fat is the LORD’s” (Lev 3:16). Surprisingly, this verse points to what Christian joy truly means. In context, Leviticus 3:16 is a commandment that all the fat of a [...]
I’ve recently returned from my first-ever visit to Australia. In its wake, I am basking in the afterglow of the experience, as well as enduring the jetlag of its aftermath. The purpose of the visit was a speaking tour to promote the need for a restoration of classical education. Its instigator and organizer was Tim [...]
From the first moment of his conversion, rivetingly recounted in the pages of his Confessions, Augustine rooted himself in Christ, determined to cleave to his person and the redemption wrought by the sacrifice of his life. Not as mere idea, distant and remote, toward which he would now and again direct his attention. Such rarefied realms, [...]
Sentimentalism is collectivized, but not like other ideologies. It has no party or movement or protests or marches or manifestoes as such. Rather it is a Spirit of our Age, the oxygen we breathe, our environment. This title, only slightly ironic in both its parts, refers neither to any of the moon-June-swoon ditties that were [...]
Richard Wagner’s story of gods and heroes, of giants and dwarfs, is not a fairy tale. It is addressed to modern people, who have lost the ways of enchantment, and for whom the path to heroism is overgrown. It is a story in which law and love, power and property are all caught up in [...]
What is needed in understanding childhood is a profound reflection on the nature of man, one that begins with the notion that being is a gift, and so one able to interpret the special qualities of the child—wonder, dependence, receptivity, naive assent, and so forth—as genuinely positive, even if they do not come as easily [...]
The heightened pace of life in industrial societies, Charles Lindbergh realized, necessitated reflection on what type of life is best suited for man. Which of the two, reason or vital instinct, constitutes the best function of human beings? Which of the two contributes best to man’s happiness and lasting well-being? Charles Lindbergh begins his Autobiography [...]
Everyone criticizes Gen Z as a generation that grew up with computer screens and iPhones and is thus unable or at least unwilling to read books. The scenes I have witnessed on streets and in airports seem to confirm this reading-averse characterization. Everywhere you go, Gen Z is online, staring at screens. College professors report [...]
John Stuart Mill may well serve as an invaluable ally in searching out the roots of our ancient Anglo-American order that guarantee liberty as it coexists with order, neither at the other’s expense. He has a great deal of compassion and insight we could benefit from immensely, and it would be to our own disadvantage [...]
Which print journals are still worth reading? Herein you will find my favorite ones, in alphabetical order. The scholar and researcher Stanley Kurtz once opined that one can really be a great reader in only one of three categories: books; journals and newspapers; or the internet. I’m not sure if it’s true, though it probably [...]