Catholic Culture

When Milwaukee’s Archbishop Jerome Listecki delivered the invocation for the Republican National Convention last month, he began with an appropriate challenge to all American politicians, reminding them: “Our Founding Fathers held the truth self-evident that all are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” … Read moreLeading prayers for the culture of death

The partial halt to the enforcement of President Biden’s new K-12 Title IX transgender regulations for American schools is certainly welcome news from the US Supreme Court. It provides us with a little more time to derail these regulations. But it is also peculiar news. If you read our news story, you will find that … Read moreProvidence or mere politics? On the rebellion against Being

We sometimes hear that a particular person is not religious but is “deeply spiritual.” But spirituality detached from God’s good creation is out of touch with reality and can be harmful. Authentic Catholic spirituality engages body and soul, spirit and creation, divine faith and human reason—and avoids the excesses of materialism and spiritualism. Read More

Like so many American boys, I was thoroughly absorbed with sports in my youth. When I wasn’t playing games, I was reading about athletes and daydreaming about future athletic glory. Every four years I would be thrilled just by reading about the Olympic Games (since there was no TV in our home), and inspired by … Read moreThe Olympic spirit, RIP

Evangelization is not just a matter of preaching the Gospel. For any effectiveness at all, it requires that we first live the Gospel. We don’t have to live it perfectly, but we have to be seen to be “different” in that respect, and when we fall, we need to get up and try again. Where … Read moreSix inspiring books to jump-start your inner evangelist

“The entire synodal process has been, and remains, inward-looking,” writes Francis X. Maier in The Catholic Thing. Therein lies one of the greatest ironies of this troubled and troubling pontificate. Read More

St. Augustine, who was trained in the heights of the Latin rhetorical tradition, found Scripture rhetorically primitive when he was looking at it from the outside, before his conversion. But he became far more impressed with the rhetorical power of both the Old and the New Testaments once he began to grasp their inner meaning. … Read moreSacred Scripture’s rhetorical power

Scrutinize the words of Jesus in the Gospel. He’s not a gossip. He speaks compelling words of truth. He confronts the Pharisees directly and, echoing John the Baptist, courageously indicts them as a “brood of vipers.” He takes accountability for every word. He warns His disciples of the wiles of Herod, referring to him as … Read moreGossip

My title question masks a deeper one which is perhaps more to the point. Are the indifference and even hostility to Christ so great in the world today that we are excused from meeting the challenges of raising our children Catholic, seeking to deepen the faith and commitment of our fellow Catholics, and attempting to … Read moreIn our day, is apostolic work impossible?

Not a day passed—not even a news cycle—between the announcement that Vice President Kamala Harris had chosen Gov. Tim Walz as her running-mate and the statement from the Minnesota Catholic Conference offering hearty congratulations to the presumptive Democratic nominee. Read More