Commentary
False Patriots – The Catholic Thing
Donald Trump’s re-election felt like more than a mere electoral victory. It was a profound affirmation of American values and an unequivocal rejection of the lunatic ideas of the left, ideas designed to undermine faith, family, and nation. With…
John Henry Newman, Natural Religion, and the Mystery of Faith
On Monday, St. John Henry Newman will be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo. It was Newman’s epistolary exchange with his brother Charles that first set the saint on the road to the composition of An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of…
On ghosts – The Catholic Thing
Can the boundary between this life and the afterlife ever blur in ways the Church has not fully defined? Each year, All Souls’ Day and the Month of All Souls renew age-old questions about life, death, and the mystery that unites both. In popular…
What does Leo XIV’s education letter say?
In Disegnare nuove mappe di speranza, Pope Leo addresses Catholic education. It begins wth a preamble, which describes the world of education today. Leo says we are living in a time of “rapid changes and disorienting uncertainties.” Students are…
St. John Henry Newman against compromise
Jacob Phillips, First Things Thursday, October 30, 2025 Some look for uncompromising faith that offers a genuine alternative to contemporary society. Newman, by contrast, is often presented as the primary forerunner of the world-affirming and…
How Doctors of the Church are chosen
Pope Leo will proclaim St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the church on November 1st. What criteria are used to make this decision? First of all, the word “doctor” in this sense does not refer to the person who treats your flu or to someone who…
The Death of Halloween – The Catholic Thing
The night of drunken carousing that now passes for Halloween bears little resemblance to the festival of old. Like spiders slurping the innards of a beetle, disenchantment and commercialization have bled it of meaning. And yet the carapace…
Canterbury Fails – The Catholic Thing
When it was announced that the next archbishop of Canterbury would be a woman (Sarah Mullally) with progressive views on homosexuality and abortion, social media erupted with a combination of outrage, congratulations, derision, and triumph. A…
Will MAGA save France? (Monarchy And God Again)
Kristen Ziccarelli, European Conservative Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Modern France is at a precipice. Its Fifth Republic is now widely understood, even in the halls of power, to be on the verge of collapse, as President Macron was forced to…
Abp. Cordileone on why the Solemn Pontifical High Latin Mass is coming to San Francisco
Says Archbishop Cordileone: “It’s occurring because we have a parish here that’s hosting a Rosary congress. There’s a movement of people. And they wanted to bring it here to San Francisco, a Eucharistic Rosary congress. And one of our parishes…