Columns
Saints in the Halls of Heaven
Only a few years ago – more than twenty years into my priesthood – I discovered the Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation. They have been in the Roman Missal for decades now, but many of us priests leave unexplored the treasures of the Missal –…
Backward Ho! – The Catholic Thing
Good news! Owing to a combination of demographic realities and public scandal, universities are progressing into a phase-out, around the United States and the world. The cause of their extinction will be that they are no longer attractive to…
Two for Thanksgiving – The Catholic Thing
Stephen P. White There is something fitting about the date of Thanksgiving. I don’t mean that there’s anything particularly special about the fourth Thursday of November except that it invariably falls in the last week of Ordinary Time. And so…
In Search of the Historical St. Francis of Assisi
Pope Francis left the Church with multiple controversies, some that he inherited, some that he induced. Indeed, amid the complaints about clericalism and “backwardists,” the considerable presence of LGBT and feminist concerns in recent Church…
Teaching Beauty – The Catholic Thing
There are many reasons people come into the Catholic Church, but a common one is their experience of its beauty: the beauty of the art, the architecture, the music, and the liturgy. Too often, those whose goal is “evangelizing” ignore the beauty…
‘Moses’ and Michelangelo – The Catholic Thing
There’s another basilica called St. Peter’s in Rome, located near the Colosseum. San Pietro in Vincoli (“St. Peter in Chains”) is a minor basilica that gets its own share of visitors, many of whom come for just one reason. Therein lies the…
America Has a King – The Catholic Thing
This year marks the centennial of the institution of the Solemnity of Christ the King. Pope Pius XI published the encyclical Quas primas on December 11, 1925, which sketched the theology and announced the new feast of the “Kingship of Our Lord…
The Liturgy of the Ages and the Pastoral Option
In recent months, we have heard a great deal about traditional liturgies being canceled in certain dioceses. Of course, this is nothing new. The tenacity of certain bishops, however, in eliminating not only these liturgies but also the groups…
The Nuremberg Trials and the Higher Law
Exactly eighty years ago yesterday, the War Crimes Tribunal convened a trial to prosecute twenty-four Nazi leaders – a legal procedure with continued relevance for us today. The driving force behind the creation of the tribunal was American…
The Church as a Poet
The Church is a poet, in the strict sense, since through the Spirit she makes poems, that is, beautiful, created objects. Her sacraments and liturgical year are poems: they have meaning and even tell a story. Likewise, each parish church is a…