The Chief Fundraiser of the Parish
The Chief Fundraiser of the Parish Church authorities have every right to elicit funds to support Catholic pastoral purposes. Those rights come with corresponding duties of orthodoxy, reasonable financial disclosure, and good stewardship. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/chief-fundraiser-parish/ When I was a young priest over 30 years ago, a parishioner with concerns about the orthodoxy of a national Catholic charitable apostolate asked me to investigate its nat
The Tapestry of Clichés
The Tapestry of Clichés After 2000 years, why should we place our faith in the teachings of Peter and his successors? https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/08/23/the-tapestry-of-cliches/ After the miraculous multiplication of the loaves, Jesus reveals His divinity as He walks on water, and in the Eucharistic Discourse (cf. John 6). Jesus says, “Unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you have no life in you,” and most of the disciples, seeking a Bread King, abandon
The Devil’s Clickbait
The Devil’s Clickbait Those big data centers know our every move, our every text and phone conversation, and every click we make. So does God. Every sin known to man is just one or two clicks away. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/devils-clickbait/ A mortal sin, from pride to lust, is only one click away. The Devil has always exploited human weakness; today, technology gives temptation unprecedented reach. Clickbait may be one of his preferred modern instrum
Hiroshima and the Feast of the Transfiguration
Hiroshima and the Feast of the Transfiguration There can be no doubt that good ends (winning the war with fewer casualties) were invoked to justify profoundly evil means: the deliberate destruction of cities together with their civilian populations. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/hiroshima-and-feast-transfiguration/ In his August 6, 2026 opinion piece in the Washington Times (“U.S. Navy Veteran Recalls the Bombing of Japan”), former special assistant to Presiden
Why I Believe: An Interview by a Respectful Skeptic
Why I Believe: An Interview by a Respectful Skeptic The great G. K. Chesterton once wrote, “A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth.” https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/08/09/why-i-believe-an-interview-by-a-respectful-skeptic/ The Gospel account of Jesus walking on water is an extraordinary story. How could a sophisticate like you believe in such a thing? I believe the account because my First Communion Catechism taught me to pra
The Holiness of Hunger
The Holiness of Hunger The Incarnation guarantees that no technology can substitute for sacramental personal encounters at Mass and around parishes, or even for the taste and touch of bread. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/holiness-hunger/ Most of us agree that our cycle of hunger and nourishment is a pleasing feature of human life. Will we be hungry in heaven? In its original design, hunger is a gift rather than a deprivation. In their Original Innocence,
From Poetry to Reality
From Poetry to Reality Final victory is assured. But just as the Kingdom parables reveal, God’s relentless progress through history is hindered by detours caused by human failures. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/from-poetry-to-reality/ At Christmas, God's reconciliation with fallen humanity becomes visible in the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. Heaven and earth are reconciled. The Incarnation even reconciles the beauty of poetry with the literal understandi
The Heresy Slayer
The Heresy Slayer The belief that human action can hasten God's plan by rebuilding the Temple has influenced activists and commentators whose advocacy has reinforced conflict in the Middle East. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/heresy-slayer/ The study of heresies and theological errors illuminates the truths of the Catholic faith by contrast. Yet those same errors distort right thinking. The oldest heresies rarely disappear; they reappear in new forms and tempt eve
Confessions of a Baby Boomer
Confessions of a Baby Boomer Like every generation, the generations following the Boomers must learn from the mistakes of their forefathers, or they will magnify them with their own errors and sins. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/confessions-baby-boomer/ God promises us the final victory of the Word through the Prophet Isaiah: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose a
The Evil of Schism
The Evil of Schism According to a close associate, Lefebvre went along with the early liturgical tweaks to the 1962 Roman Missal. But the 1969 release of the Novus Ordo revealed massive changes to the Mass. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/evil-schism/ The Church has just undergone a momentous schism. The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ordained bishops without papal approval and suffered ecclesial excommunication. Since the Council of Jerusalem, described in the A
