The Catholic Thing
Defending the Social Kingship of Christ
There are few things more foreign to the modern imagination than the idea of a Christian king. We are accustomed to separating the sacred from the political, faith from public life, and the Church from the ordering of society. But for much of…
Synodality Will Kill Catholicism – The Catholic Thing
The Catholic Church has always distinguished itself from other Christian bodies by its claim to possess, and be bound by, a deposit of faith handed down from the Apostles. The Church comes from Christ, and the Church doesn’t invent, revise, or…
Remembering Ratzinger at Rimini – The Catholic Thing
Pope Leo XIV is traveling to Rimini today for the annual cultural festival organized by Communion and Liberation (CL). Few use its formal name, the “Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples.” It’s simply “Rimini.” It might be the only thing many…
Beauty: A True Human Need
As I write, on the day celebrated by some Orthodox as the feast of the Transfiguration on the Julian calendar, I’ve had several experiences of beauty just this morning. The sunrise through the West Virginia trees, the sunlight streaming into an…
Star Gazing – The Catholic Thing
I remember a moonless summer night at a campsite in North Dakota, almost forty years ago now, when the stars were so innumerable and bright, it was difficult to pick out the familiar constellations. The night was so black that I could barely see…
Restless and at Home in America
We recently reached the 250th anniversary (a quarter-millennium) of the dominant nation and culture of our time – and of one of the greatest countries in world history. Yet just a few weeks later, you’d hardly know it. And only a month ago,…
Selling Radical ‘Synodality’ as ‘Social Prophecy’
The recent annual Assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious received a video message from Pope Leo XIV, in which he said: All Christians are called to be builders of Christ’s communion, formed in a synodal Church in which everyone…
‘I Want to Believe’ – The Catholic Thing
I sometimes hear people say something like this: “I want to believe, but I just can’t,” or “I would like to believe, but I just don’t.” I don’t wish to be critical of such people. I assume their reserve about “faith” comes out of a good-willed…
The Assumption: A Feast of Doctrinal Development
Why debate what the development of doctrine looked like in distant eras of Church history when we have three instances in front of us, two of which were seen and commented upon by that great Saint of Development, John Henry Newman? By “right in…
In Praise of Notre Dame’s John Cavadini
Who is Notre Dame’s MVP? I don’t mean the Most Valuable Player on the football team. I mean the Most Valuable Professor on the faculty. If there is any justice on earth, John Cavadini deserves that honor. At a time when many complain of poor…