John Paul II
Benedict’s Maestro Makes Music for Leo
High culture – and the spiritual appreciation of high culture – returned to the Vatican this month. Pope Leo XIV is quietly restoring some recent traditions, such as personally celebrating Holy Mass on Christmas morning, not done since 1994.…
The Last Lifeline – The Catholic Thing
I take it as given that God commands only what is good for us and forbids only what is bad, which means sometimes also not permitting others to do what’s bad. For we are social beings, and permission slides into participation, and participation…
What World and Time Is This?
One of the better ways of trying to understand a writer or speaker is to imagine what audience he thinks he’s addressing, and what he believes that audience most needs to hear. For the popes of the last half century or so, I think I pretty much…
What Do We Owe? – The Catholic Thing
In the 2005 movie Cinderella Man, based on the life of boxer James J. Braddock, there is a touching scene in which Braddock, having had to take government assistance for a time to support his family, shows up at the public assistance office to…