Discover

Want an insider travel tip perfect for culture vultures? The North American Reciprocal Museum Association, or NARM, is a network of 1,261 different art museums, botanical gardens, hands-on children’s museums, zoos, planetariums and historical sites located all across the US and even some international spots. The basic premise is that you purchase a membership at a museum or site near you, and that membership then earns you free entry into every other facility in the network. This is great for planning an economical outing on your vacation—and is exceptionally useful for road trips where you might want to stop for an hour but not pay through the teeth for a brief but rewarding experience. Here’s everything you need to know about the NARM card. Is there actually a NARM card? No. Your card is...

Today in Papal History marks the official end of the Avignon Papacy – a 70-year exile in the 14th Century where the Successors of Peter holed up in the French enclave and was more or less beholden to the French crown during that time – as Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome. The pontiff retaking his rightful place in the Eternal City was thanks in no small part to a rather rousing letter written to him by the great St. Catherine of Siena, excerpted below: Up, to give your life for Christ! Isn’t our body the only thing we have?[9] Why not give your life a thousand times, if necessary, for God’s honor and the salvation of his creatures? That is what he did, and you, his vicar, ought to be carrying on his work. It is to be expected that as long as you are his vicar you will foll...

Note: This is the second of a two-part series. Part one is available here. At its root, anthropology considers what human beings are and how they have interacted with one another and the world around them over time. While many think of anthropology as a secular study of cultures from ancient to modern day, I propose that there is also a Christian anthropology, one that considers who and what the human person is based on God’s revelation in His word and through our bodies. Indeed, our body is a revelation from God, and by and through it He teaches us. This essay (consisting of both today’s and yesterday’s posts) is not a complete discourse on the topic. Rather, I selected certain teachings rooted in Scripture and the nature of our bodies that apply particularly well to moral issues of our d...

There’s no known date for when the highly anticipated book by Benedict XVI’s longtime personal secretary will be published in English — and at least one American publisher has already passed. ROME — A book detailing Benedict XVI’s papacy and his decade as pope emeritus, written by his longtime personal secretary, hits bookshelves in Italy today — but English-language readers will have to wait. Despite generating significant buzz across the Catholic world, there are no publicly available details of when Archbishop Georg Gänswein’s Nothing but the Truth — My Life Beside Benedict XVI will be available in English. The book is co-written by the Italian Vaticanista Saverio Gaeta, who told the Register via email that he was aware that negotiations for English publication were in progress but did ...

COMMENTARY: The death and funeral observances also offered rather remarkable symmetries that echoed aspects of Benedict’s life. The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the last day of year, just after Christmas, on the feast of St. Sylvester, was suggestive of a life shaped by the sacred liturgy, given his birth on Holy Saturday. The death and funeral observances also offered rather remarkable symmetries that echoed aspects of Benedict’s life. There are four of them that bear noting. Octave Deaths Pope Benedict’s first words on the balcony of St. Peter’s after his election were, “After the great Pope John Paul …” He understood himself in relation to “John Paul the Great,” to use the appellation of Pope Francis. The papacy had been entrusted to him after his history-shaping predecessor; ...

As Ordinary Time (tempus per annum) opens up, the lectionary continues to “introduce” Christ to us. The Christmas cycle now done, we must ask, “Who is Jesus Christ? Who is this savior who has been born for us?” In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist elaborates on this. John’s words are brief, but they are packed with Christological teaching. In this Gospel we learn at least five things about Jesus. We learn that He is prefigured, preexistent, preeminent, powerful, and is the presence of God. Let’s look at each one. I Prefigured – John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Unless you know the history of this moment, it seems a little odd. But for those who know Scripture, it is clear that John is really answering a que...