Category: Quick Hits
Sometimes our authors like to quickly highlight a number of interesting things, in the news or online, that do not merit in-depth reporting or commentary.
Most Recent Posts
No, this isn’t a culture war
"Just as smoking a cigar is bad but puffing on a joint is OK, so spreading illnesses by being unvaccinated is evil while spreading disease through sexual indulgence is a mere technical problem."
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Quick hits: an unseemly dispute over Pope Benedict’s private thoughts
Francis and Ganswein are squabbling about what he might have said, if he had said anything. But the salient point is that he didn’t say anything,
Quick hits: this week’s signs of impending doom
You may be— you should be— troubled by recent stories about FBI actions against peaceful pro-life activists. But you shouldn’t be surprised.
Quick hits: more thoughts on the Pope-Biden meeting
"Whether Francis is personally plugging a book he hasn’t read (yet), or expecting the press to do his dirty work for him, or fudging on what he knew about a high-profile abuse case and when he knew it, or doubling down on incendiary remarks he made off the cuff, he is pretty consistently to be found playing the angles."
Quick hits: schisms and fear of schisms
Insofar as the motu proprio prevents other priests from celebrating the TLM in approved parishes, it will surely drive some people into the UNapproved SSPX chapels: a curious strategy for ending divisions within the Church
Quick Hits: Newman’s argument, Balthasar revisited, Lenten reading
Von Balthasar very helpfully conceived of God’s plan of salvation as a great drama, which led to many fruitful insights in his vast theological work. The main line of this work was developed in some fifteen volumes, five in his Theo-Drama series, three in his Theo-Logic series, and seven in his Theological Aesthetics series (The Glory of the Lord). But who will read all this? Hardly anyone. And most of us are certainly not called to do so, even in Lent!
Quick hits on Covid: one bold bishop, and a plea for more
While bishops have been restricting access to the sacraments, and explaining that the restrictions will save lives, Hennessey questions how many souls are being lost in the process.
Quick hits on Covid: ethical vaccines, unintended experiments
"During the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is unwittingly conducting what amounts to the largest immunological experiment in history on our own children."
Happy birthday to Jacques Maritain!
Today is the birthday of the great 20th-century Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain. Maritain contributed to virtually every subfield of philosophy, was a major influence on the second Vatican council, and his legacy continues to be appreciated (and debated). This post will feature some of CatholicCulture.org's Maritain-related resources.
Quick Hits: Elections, Newman, Augustine, Media, and more on Rose Hawthorne
This collection of meditations can be used in almost any reading pattern and during any season of the year. Each of Newman’s thirty-eight meditations has been whittled to just over three pages in length. Topics covered include worship, reverence, the glories of Mary, dispositions for faith, the mystery of Godliness, martyrdom, love of friends, affliction, and a great many more, including love itself. Newman is always fresh, deep, astonishing, and in his sermons, accessible.
Quick Hits: After the Synod, praying for a miracle
“Faced with such an evident scandal, it is impossible that a Catholic bishop would remain silent,” he writes. Yet most bishops ARE silent.
Quick Hits: Provocative questions—on suicide and schism, the USCCB and a diocesan tribunal
Writing for First Things about the Seattle suicide scandal, Father Paul Mankowski, SJ, puts his finger on the problem: the fact that the Eucharistic liturgy was used as a stage for a cause, with innocent children as bit actors. The priest involved says that he was not acquainted with the...
Quick Hits: New podcast targets the Equal Rights Amendment
Readers may recall that last year we reviewed Robert G. Marshall’s extraordinarily useful book, Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and other conservatives can win back America. Now Marshall returns with the Reclaiming the Republic Podcast—an incisive nine-episode presentation...
Quick Hits: Priest-pundits mince no words, on death penalty and McCarrick scandal
Today two priest-pundits offer essays that really cannot be missed: Father George William Rutler is at his best, which is very, very good, as he analyzes the US bishops’ discussion of capital punishment for Crisis. He focuses attention on the decision by Pope Francis to change the...
Quick Hits: Questioning the priesthood, dangerous ‘proselytism’, new rules on abuse
When The Atlantic published an essay entitled, “Abolish the Priesthood,” everyone who saw the magazine’s cover knew instinctively that the author, James Carroll, was writing about the Catholic priesthood. That’s a point that Father Paul Mankowski makes in the opening...
Quick Hits: Important background on Vatican-China accord and Press Office turnover
The Vatican has struck a deal with China, which—although we still don’t know any details—apparently gives Beijing the power to nominate new bishops. Is there any precedent for such an agreement? Yes, there is. Writing for AsiaNews, Li Ruohan compares the Vatican-China accord with...
Quick Hits: Awaiting Pope’s speech to Curia, laity in leadership, a controversial funeral homily
John Allen of Crux is an honest reporter, and he clearly tries to avoid overt criticism of Pope Francis. But in a preview of the Pontiff’s annual address to the Roman Curia he is fairly blunt about the failure of promised reforms in this pontificate. The sex-abuse scandal continues, he...
Quick Hits: Dominican Friars video, a remarkable French mystic, a reformist imam and more
Some months ago I agreed to appear in a video produced by the Dominican Foundation to talk about the benefits of membership in a Dominican parish. It’s for a matching challenge fundraiser which ends Dec. 31, so I would have shared it earlier except that nobody sent the finished product to...
Quick Hits: Halloween, Hildegard, and Hugo Chavez
A few of the most interesting articles I’ve read online in recent weeks: Every year we get a spate of articles debating the Christian or pagan origins of Halloween, and this year Catholic World Report offers one of the most detailed I’ve read. Also at CWR: The musical legacy of...
Quick Hits: Catching up on comments about the Synod, the scandal
Most Catholic journalists have been busy recently, reflecting on the new spate of scandals. And since I’ve been writing a book on the subject (more on that soon; its publication is imminent), I’ve had trouble keeping abreast on the latest commentary. But several recent articles are in...
Quick Hits: The year’s best articles so far
I’ve spent most of my time this year working on The Catholic Culture Podcast, but I haven’t neglected to collect some great articles from around the Catholic web to share with you. This is a long list covering the entire year up until now, so I’ve divided it into...
Quick Hits: Cupich on conscience, surrogacy, accountability, eroding parental rights
Catching up on some excellent commentary that has appeared recently, and would make for good weekend reading: Eduardo Echeverria is not the first writer to point out that Cardinal Blase Cupich, in his examination of the role of conscience, wanders far afield from the thoughts of Cardinal John...
Quick Hits: Mary’s influence on culture, the need for digital independence, and more
At her blog, The Marian Option author Carrie Gress describes “Why Mary is the Best Promoter of Culture”. She quotes the Protestant Henry Adams: “The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a period when men were at their strongest; never before or since have they shown equal energy...
Quick Hits: Jordan Peterson, Museum of the Bible, Way of the Cross for children and adults
If you haven’t yet seen the famous Channel 4 interview of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson from last month, it’s well worth spending 30 minutes to watch what I imagine will be considered one of the most significant media moments of 2018. The interviewer, Cathy Newman, who espouses...
Quick Hits: Star Wars, Mary in the Wisdom literature, and more
Bishop Barron annoyed many with his claim that Star Wars: The Last Jedi pushes feminism hard: “Every male character in The Last Jedi is either bumbling, incompetent, arrogant, or morally compromised; and every female character is wise, good, prudent, and courageous.” I basically agree...
Quick hits: AP’s hidden assumptions, a canonical mismatch, Spinoza’s excommunication
Terry Mattingly, who writes perceptively on media coverage of religion, often notices that reporters are tone-deaf regarding matters of faith. Then, at other times, Mattingly notices how reporters slip their own prejudices into their coverage. So, for instances, he asks his readers to notice this...
Quick Hits: Composer-Doctors of the Church and more
Most Catholics know St. Alphonsus Liguori primarily for his pious meditations such as those in his Way of the Cross. His contributions to moral theology also gained him the title of Doctor of the Church. Far fewer people know that he was also a composer and harpsichordist (among several other arts...
Quick hits: Hitchens on Martin, Spaemann on Seifert, Douthat on Hefner
Easing back into business after a relaxing weekend, here are a few columns that you shouldn’t miss: Writing in First Things, Dan Hitchens examines the clever rhetorical strategy of Father James Martin, who never quite denies Church teaching on homosexuality (or the ordination of...
Quick hits: the truth about Islam, how AL affects children, and is Francis really the Pope?
Three short essays—unrelated, but all well worth reading—that appeared online today: The unstoppable Father James Schall explains “Why I Believe in Islam” for Crisis magazine. No, he hasn’t left the faith. But he does serious Muslims the courtesy of assuming that...
Quick Hits: Getting away from pathological activism and pathological art
At his Bad Catholic blog, Marc Barnes recently commented on the self-indulgence and counter-productivity of Antifa’s methods of confronting white nationalists: “If justice is ‘fun,’ you’re probably not practicing justice. If works of justice fulfill elemental...
Quick Hits: Papal prayer intention for artists, cultural appropriation and more
Pope Francis’s prayer intention for August is for artists, so let’s pray for artists and give the arts our attention and support in a special way this month: The Catholic Creatives group has just announced 8beats, “an 8-part anthology film exploring the collision of the...
Quick Hits: Collegiality or resistance; from ‘field hospital’ to long-term care
Over on The Catholic Thing, Father Mark Pilon has two interesting perspectives on the argument—put forward recently in L’Osservatore Romano—that the world’s bishops and priests are the “main obstacle” the reforms planned by Pope Francis. First, he notes...
Quick Hits: Vatican trial’s intrigue; the archbishop as bystander
Having spent many years covering Vatican affairs, John Allen writes with authority when he reports that the Vatican press corps is not accustomed to handling criminal trials. However he remarks—and goes on to demonstrate—that a Vatican trial can have its own special sort of intrigue....
Quick Hits: Catholicism in the movies
I’ve long appreciated the movies of Joel and Ethan Coen, and finally got around to viewing their most recent, Hail, Caesar! The film is already among my favorites by the brothers—it’s one of their most warmhearted, a humorous portrayal of a Hollywood studio in the 1950s. I...
Quick Hits: Four fallacies that tempt Catholic leaders
The interchangeability fallacy: As an addendum to Wednesday’s commentary (The problem with doctrinal obscurity), allow me to notice that those who tend to favor a very loose approach to Catholic teaching on faith and morals typically place a great deal of weight on what they regard as...
Quick Hits: Biochemistry of sex, native martyrs, music & film
There is so much we don’t know about our own bodies, and none of it gets taught in sex ed. For example: A man gets vasopressin, a bonding hormone, when he has sex with a woman. This is not up to him; whether he thinks it is no-strings sex or not, he is now hormonally bonded to that...
Quick Hits: reading the Pope’s intentions; censored PP video; packing College of Cardinals
At Crux, John Allen has a profile of Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, the new president of the Italian bishops’ conference. That’s interesting enough in itself, but Allen adds a good deal of spice by explaining how, on his visit to Genoa this weekend, Pope Francis “may accent the...
Quick Hits: Accepting Anglican orders, predicting Macron’s future, distracting a priest/author
“When someone is ordained in the Anglican Church and becomes a parish priest in a community, we cannot say that nothing has happened, that everything is ‘invalid’,” writes Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio in a new book. But isn’t that pretty much what Pope Leo...
Quick Hits: the disappearance of melody, an app for chant, and more
Does it ever seem like there just aren’t any good melodies in contemporary pop music—say, since the 1970s? Or that there often aren’t any melodies at all? Well, it’s not just your imagination and you aren’t just getting old. Kurt Poterack, organist, composer and...
Quick Hits: Lenten viewing, Feser on libertarianism, the religious roots of jazz
Martin Scorsese’s Silence is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD. Based on the classic novel by Shusaku Endo, Silence tells the story of two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries whose faith is tested by persecutions in feudal Japan. I can’t vouch for whatever extras may be on the DVD, but as I...
Quick Hits: Why the pro-life movement lags in Europe, how nationalism may guard freedoms
Literally millions of Americans have been involved in pro-life activism over the years, but the pro-life movement has never drawn the same sort of mass support in Europe. Does that show that social conservatism is weaker on the continent? Not at all; grassroots efforts to defend marriage were much...
Quick Hits: a ‘mystery donor’ to the Knights of Malta, Pope’s questionable historical references
The complicated struggle for control of the Knights of Malta has become even more mysterious, after Albrecht von Boeselager, restored to power as chancellor of the Order, spoke with the German journal Bild. The focus of the interview was a massive donation to the Knights of Malta charity, from...
Quick Hits: Things worth fighting for—a saint’s body, a woman’s honor
Have you been following the news of the contest between the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Peoria over the remains of Archbishop Fulton Sheen? That dispute has delayed the cause for the late archbishop’s beatification, and many people find it appalling that Catholic prelates...
Quick Hits: News that demands comment on matters of life and death
The task of following news of interest to Catholics is probably safe only for bald people, who have no hair left to tear out. Here are some recent stories which cry for comment: The Pontifical Council of Death: I stole the name from one of the sources of this story, but it seems that the...
Quick Hits: A sensational story from Rome; help for insomniacs; the Americans left behind; and a special treat
Quite a variety today: enjoy! You’ll probably soon see references (if you haven’t already) to a report in the London Times with a sensational title: Anti-reform cardinals ‘want the Pope to quit’. Proceed with caution. Based entirely on a story by Vatican journalist...
Quick Hits: The case for rigor; the New Jansenists; Pope Benedict’s birthday strudel
On the theory that late is better than never, let me call attention to an excellent little essay by Father Gerald Murray, for The Catholic Thing, debunking the notion that some of God’s commands are “ideals” that we cannot be expected to meet. “God does not permit, let...
Quick Hits: Duruflé’s Requiem and more
Yesterday I was blessed to hear some of the most beautiful music ever composed in concert at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan (which happens to be the largest cathedral and the fourth largest church in the world, and a splendid place for music-making). The centerpiece of...
Quick Hits: Vatileaks defendants targeting Cardinal Pell, adapting the Extraordinary Form
Francesca Chaouqui, the flamboyant publicist who was convicted in last year’s “Vatileaks II” trial, has published a book about her experiences inside the Vatican bureaucracy. John Allen has reviewed the book, reporting that it is self-serving and, despite a great deal of...
Quick hits: encouraging trend in France, interviewing Ratzinger’s interviewer, the Pope’s governing style
There are very encouraging developments in the public life of France, from a Catholic point of view, observes Samuel Gregg in a First Things essay. The presidential candidacy of Francois Fillon, who unabashedly appeals to Catholic principles, is confirmation of a revival in Catholic influence...
Quick Hits: Scorsese’s Silence, leftists look to the Pope, ‘room at the inn’ in the Bronx
A few last-minute reading assignments before the Christmas break: Steven Greydanus, an insightful film reviewer with a reliably Catholic perspective, offers his thoughts on Silence, the new Martin Scorsese film based on the novel by Shusaku Endo. The novel is heart-wrenching, profoundly...
Quick Hits: Appalled reactions to Canadian bishops’ tepid stand on assisted suicide
For readers still stunned by the directive from bishops of Canada’s Atlantic region, leaving open the possibility that people planning assisted suicide could receive the sacraments, two columns provide useful perspective: Writing for First Things, in a short but powerful essay that...
Quick Hits: Friedkin, Scorcese, Tolkien, Lewis
Several things that caught my eye over the past two months: Some big names in the world of film have been getting an inside look at Catholicism. Earlier this year William Friedkin, who directed 1973’s The Exorcist, received permission from the late Fr. Gabriele Amorth to witness and...
Quick Hits: the most perceptive columns on Amoris Laetitia and the dubia
Many gallons of ink—or maybe I should say millions of pixels—have been spent in analysis of the heated debate over Amoris Laetitia and the dubia raised by the four cardinals. Among the most useful analyses (leaving aside several that have already been
Quick Hits: More cautionary thoughts on Amoris Laetitia
Writing in Catholic World Report, Samuel Gregg remarks that Amoris Laetitia steers around the discussion of “intrinsically evil acts.” This is unfortunate, he writes, because in all the discussion of showing mercy to troubled souls, there is no clear indication that “mercy...
Quick Hits: secularism, liturgy, and belief
The influential Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor suggested that living in a secular age means not so much that people are less religious but that even for those who consider themselves religious, truth itself seems unstable, uncertain, up for grabs. James K. A. Smith, another philosopher who...
Quick Hits: Not always what they seem: Deaconesses, Jesuits, Christmas displays
Deaconesses: The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, published an article by Carlo Carletti today which could inadvertently lead even the elect astray (cf. Mt 24:24, Mk 13:22). A professor of archeology, Carletti wrote that Pope Francis’ study of women in the diaconate should...
Quick Hits: 'must read' posts on support for Humanae Vitae, Catholics in China, Catholic conscience
Three more items to put in the "must read" column: Janet Smith speaks with Catholic World Report about the tremendous positive response to a statement by scholars supporting the Church's teaching on contraception. The tide has turned, she says, and bright young Catholic scholars...
Quick Hits: Cosmo lauds virginity, mastery of the tongue, underrated ceilings, the Chancellor and the Bard
Astoundingly, the degenerate-by-default Cosmopolitan has published a young woman’s article about the beauty of the consecrated life. (Yes, the piece was originally published in Good Housekeeping, but it’s still remarkable.) In “I Am Happily Married to God—as a...
Quick Hits: Questions on Pope's ad-lib reforms, the 'dance' on doctrine, preparing for persecution
Three must-read columns—none terribly optimistic—from the weekend’s harvest: By all accounts, in the conclave of March 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio was chosen by the cardinals to be a reforming Pope: specifically, he had a mandate to bring change to the Roman Curia. Has that...
Quick Hits: press coverage of Islam and violence; police too ignored abuse complaints
The Bridge Initiative is unhappy with the coverage of Islam provided by Catholic World News (among other outlets). In a report on Catholic public attitudes toward Islam, the Bridge Initiative—an initiative of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at...
Quick Hits: Negative feedback on necessary distinctions, papal intentions, and moral complexity
Necessary Distinctions: Recently I have written both to defend the Pope from the charge of heresy and also to insist that his own private interpretation of Amoris Laetitia does not tell us anything about what that act of the Magisterium requires us to believe. Given the distinctions necessary to...
Quick Hits: the confusion of the 1970s, the necessity of telling right from wrong
Two essays that appeared online over the weekend fall squarely into the “must-read” category: Writing for The Catholic Thing, Father Robert Imbelli discovers “A Pure Distillation of 1970s Catholicism” in an article by Jim Purcell that appeared in the National...
Quick Hits: a 700-year-old tattoo parlor, voting for Jesus, the Tolkien Professor
In this country, tattoos have always been associated with alternative lifestyles of various kinds. But you should know that for a a lot longer than that, getting some ink has traditionally denoted the alternativest of lifestyles: that of the medieval pilgrim. If you don't...
Quick Hits: What works—in attracting priestly vocations, in reviving Catholic liturgy
Last week we reported on the collapse of vocations to the Catholic priesthood in Germany, where only 58 men were ordained last year. There were just 96 new seminarians in 2015—in a country where the Catholic population is officially listed at about 50 million. By contrast there are about...
Quick Hits: Analyzing Trump and the Democrats, questioning Vatican support for internationalism
First Things is not a political journal, yet in the past week the magazine has provided me with two of the most insightful perspectives on a bewildering American presidential race. Matthew Schmitz reminds readers that the religious outlook of Donald Trump was formed by Rev. Norman Vincent...
Quick Hits: Building a cathedral, single-handed
Thomas Van, who is currently fulfilling a different set of obligations overseas, has not lost his knack for finding intriguing Catholic points of interest on the web. The other day, he sent me a link to a brief video about a 90-year-old man who has been building a cathedral in Spain, essentially...
Quick Hits: mayor judges prelate, the real Archbishop Cupich, confusion in Brazil
Philadelphia’s Mayor Jim Kenney, who identifies himself as a Catholic, has scolded Archbishop Charles Chaput for confirming the Church’s age-old teaching that Catholics who divorce and remarry cannot receive the Eucharist unless they agree to abstain from sexual intercourse....
Quick Hits: Cardinal Sarah's speech, the Pope and his critics
Yesterday CWN reported-- and I celebrated -- the wonderful suggestion by Cardinal Robert Sarah that priests should celebrate Mass ad orientem. Today there’s more good news: the text of Cardinal Sarah’s...
Debate tactics for embattled Christians: retreat, engage politely, or take the offensive?
My theme for today is debating tactics. What is the most effective way to challenge the reigning liberal/secular ideology, at a time when Christians are being steadily pushed toward the margins? Should we retreat into protected enclaves? Or continue to insist-- politely but forcefully-- on our...
Quick Hits I: A caution on letting the states decide, a prophetic statement on violence against homosexuals
In years of debate over the Roe v. Wade decision, some earnest American pro-lifers argued that the best resolution would be to restore the power of the individual states to regulate abortion. More recently, defenders of marriage have made the same argument: step aside from a heated national...
Quick Hits: Bishops on Brexit, debate on deaconesses, transgenderism vs. women
England’s most prominent Catholic prelates have been actively (if not formally) discouraging the movement to pull Great Britain out of the European Union. Writing in the Catholic Herald, Damian Thompson questions their reasoning. Yes, it’s true that the drive for a European...
Quick Hit: Petition to Impeach Obama
Shortly after I began my series on gender ideology (see Gender ideology and our fatal empire of desire), Robert Marshall called my attention to his petition to impeach those in the US Federal government who are attempting to force the states to ensure the access of transgender individuals to...
Quick hits: Losing the argument on marriage; losing the unity of the European Union
When the arguments against same-sex marriage are so convincing-- the natural-law arguments, the arguments from tradition, the arguments from social science-- why do we keep losing the public debates? Writing in the Claremont Review, Robert Reilly offers a possible explanation, in reviewing...
Quick Hits: Science and its enemies, choral music for the Novus Ordo, the Armenian genocide
Now and then a scientific discovery comes with a breath of poetry, as in the Daily Telegraph headline : Bright flash of light marks incredible moment life begins when sperm meets egg. It’s sad that in our age, impervious to the beauty of nascent life, the report continues with the...
Quick Hits: Benedict as the Great Reformer, Crux as an objective source
What were you doing on this date, April 19, eleven years ago? After a quiet morning, I spent the afternoon joyously celebrating the election of Pope Benedict XVI-- and also frantically wondering when the CWN site would recover, after our early headline, “White Smoke!” drew so much...
Quick Hits: Will Amoris Laetitia make a difference? Why Vatileaks trial is not a press-freedom case
As we await the publication of the apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, the question everyone is asking is whether or not Pope Francis will make some provision for divorced-and-remarried Catholics to receive Communion. Vatican-watcher John Allen takes an unusual approach to that question,...
Quick Hits: Chaput on the Benedict option, L'Osservatore on Obama, Reilly on dialogue with Islam
Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput confirms his status as the most important thinker/writer/speaker in the American hierarchy with this challenging address, delivered to an audience at Brigham Young University. The archbishop tackles head-on the fear that (as Charles Murray put it)...
Quick Hits: St. Patrick's in the Caribbean, the formality of ancient liturgy, recovering holy friendship
Did you know that on an island in the Caribbean, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated as a public holiday for a whole week? At the Register, Peter Jesserer Smith tells the story of how many of the Irish who were forced into indentured servitude under Cromwell were put to work in the British...
Quick Hits: Would Notre Dame honor Bill Cosby? Father Schall on America's political decline
While Bishop Rhoades scolds Notre Dame for honoring Vice President Biden, Randall Smith raises a provocative question in Catholic World Report: what if Notre Dame decided to give the Laetare Medal to Bill Cosby? Cosby could be cited for his work in entertainment and his philanthropy. But...
Quick Hits: Portrait of Cardinal Sarah, a Catholic hero of Quebec, Europe's loss of will
An African prelate who was once the world’s youngest bishop, who was on the “hit list” of a corrupt dictator, who recharges himself with three-day fasts, and who now, from a powerful Vatican post, leads the defense of orthodoxy. Doesn’t that sound like someone...
Quick Hits: Catholic growth, exceptions on contraception, the BenedictINE option, NCR hits a new low
Today’s Catholic World News headlines include two encouraging stories about the growth of the Church, across the world, and in Singapore . I’ve already commented on the worldwide statistics, and how they show astonishing...
Quick Hits: Pope was tough on Mexico, Archbishop Sample's focus on liturgy, argument against religious tolerance
Regular readers may recall that before Pope Francis arrived in Mexico, I predicted that Pope Francis would become a factor in the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina. That prediction came true, thanks to the Pope’s answer to a reporter’s question about Donald...
Quick Hits: Scalia's charity, the controversial nuncio, judging the Pope-Patriarch summit
Much has been written about the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and how his Catholic faith helped to shape his judicial philosophy. But Justice Scalia’s faith was not just an abstract thing; it didn’t only influence how he thought. Jeffrey Tucker tells a very different sort of story,...
Quick Hits: Pope's impact on SC primary, Ukrainian Catholics nervous about summit, trends behind priest shortage
Prediction: Pope Francis will be a major factor in the South Carolina presidential primary. The Pope heads for Mexico tomorrow (stopping in Cuba—more on that below), and his last scheduled appearance in that country is at Ciudad Juarez, where he will visit the US border and speak about...
Quick Hits: Seven Gifts, female spirituality, Escape from Nihilism, Thomistic Evolution
Catholic pianist-composer Mark Christopher Brandt has now released the second in a series of four fully improvised piano recordings. Seven Gifts (available as a CD or DVD) is based on the same concept as the first installment, Seven Moons, so you can visit my review of the earlier...
Quick Hits: Absurd public-health directives, a rude papal adviser, unresponsive diocesan bureaucracies
This week the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that young women should use contraception if they plan to drink alcohol-- any amount of alcohol. The logic of the CDC’s argument is this: Scientists don’t know what level of alcohol will be harmful to an unborn child, so...
Quick Hits: the myth of believers in a flat Earth, Europe’s failure to evangelize Japan
This week brought us two worthwhile articles about Christianity in secular outlets. In the wake of rapper B.o.B. claiming that the earth is flat, Newsweek points out that people didn’t even believe this in the Middle Ages. It’s a myth made up in the nineteenth century to make...
Quick Hits: covering up nudes, Italy's pro-family resistance, the tragic assassination of Diem
The prudish draping of nude statues at the Capitoline Museum, in preparation for the visit by Iranian President Rouhani, neatly captures the story of Europe’s decline. The curators of a great cultural treasury are ready to apologize for their heritage, to eliminate any aspects that might...
Quick Hits: Divine Mercy movie, IVF and surrogacy, the Saints' favorite books
A documentary about the original painting of the Divine Mercy, which Jesus commanded St. Faustina to have made, is being released worldwide on Feb. 10. While representations of Jesus' Divine Mercy are now commonplace around the world, the original painting has been in obscurity for...
Quick Hits: Priest falsely accused?/Religious test for White House?/Liturgical changes we need
The highly publicized trials of Philadelphia priests are an instance of “prosecutorial lust,” according to reporter Ralph Cipriano. Since the trials began, Cipriano has been making a strong case that the key witness for the prosecution is completely unreliable. Now those strong...
Notes from around the web
In a fine piece appearing on the National Review site, David French makes roughly the same argument that I’ve made here recently: that the latest battles in the culture wars involve not only marriage and family, but the right to speak the truth—or worse, the compulsion to accept a...
Links on Christian culture
Today I return to work after a relaxing Christmas vacation! Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve read a number of valuable pieces, all of which relate in some way to Christian culture. A friend brought my attention to a remarkable First Things essay written in 2004 by Robert...
Links 12/4/2015
Two Catholic writers comment on the recent Planned Parenthood shooting: In The Week, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry shows how unfair and disingenuous it is for progressives to blame the pro-life movement. Meanwhile, responding to those who say pro-lifers...
Links 10/30/2015
Bits and pieces of the Catholic internet: Bloomberg published a superb profile of Catholic philosopher Robert P. George, who is apparently an unofficial adviser to a few of the current GOP candidates. One quote that struck me: "The best thing that’s happened in my academic...
Links: Think like a poet, academia's black sheep, Marion Cotillard on feminism
For your perusal: If you’ve ever wondered how to think like a poet, Dappled Things has got you covered with an insightful essay by Ryan Wilson. First, Wilson says, the poet must take the ancient virtue of xenia (hospitality) and apply it not just to persons, but to things and symbols....
Links: Papal prog-rock, Robert George smacks Bill Nye upside the head, and more
After a big weekend of commentary, it's now time to catch up on links. Strangest news first: Pope Francis is releasing a music album. Well, that’s not the strange part—the strange part is the genre of music represented on the one track released so far. While the album,...
Links to the past
The New York Times Magazine has given some much-needed attention to ISIS's genocide of Christians with a long essay by Eliza Griswold: "Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East?" In First Things
Post-vacation links
I've just returned from a two-week vacation, so it's time to catch up with a few things that caught my interest during the first half of June. First, a topic near to my heart: In Dominicana, the official journal of the St. Joseph Province of the Dominican Order, Br. Bonaventure...
Two quick music links: Ennio Morricone and Ted Gioia
This week the Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone will be conducting a Mass he composed for the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuit order. The Mass is titled "Missae Papae Francisci." Morricone has scored many great films including The Mission, The Good, the...
Two links: moral relativism in elementary schools and charges that God is savage
Today I read two articles which should both be of interest to our readers, albeit for different reasons. First, in an NYT blog piece called "Why Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral Facts," philosopher Justin P. McBrayer shows that while we might think young people are...
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