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Catholic sci-fi writer John C. Wright discusses his craft…
‘The Catholic writer is able to plunge more deeply into the enigma at the core of life,’ says sci-fi writer John C. Wright. (Courtesy of subject) Fictions and Faith: Catholic Sci-Fi Writer John C. Wright Discusses His Craft Convert-writer feels no need to hide his faith from his readers. K.V. Turley “No science fiction writer is imaginative enough to have pictured this combination of hysteria, incompetence, malice and affluence.” So says award-winning science fiction writer John C. Wright, down the line from his home in Virginia. In this time of pandemic, Wright was speaking to the Register June 20, just as the lockdown began to ease across the Western world. The obvious question to ask a writer of speculative fiction is how recent events — which for many have been surreal and at times rem...
Martin Luther King and the religious motivation for social change…
A principal reason why the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was so successful both morally and practically was that it was led largely by people with a strong religious sensibility. The most notable of these leaders was, of course, Martin Luther King. To appreciate the subtle play between King’s religious commitment and his practical work, I would draw your attention to two texts—namely, his Letter from the Birmingham City Jail and his “I Have a Dream” speech, both from 1963. While imprisoned in Birmingham for leading a nonviolent protest, King responded to certain of his fellow Christian ministers who had criticized him for going too fast, expecting social change to happen overnight. The Baptist minister answered his critics in a perhaps surprising manner, invoking the aid of ...
Unless your faith is strong you shall not be strong…
The first reading at Tuesday’s daily Mass presents a complex picture, but its fundamental message is clear. Isaiah announces that there will be a period of political stability among the nations and enemies surrounding Israel. It is a time of favor during which Israel can repent of its injustice and infidelity. If they do not, however, Israel will be destroyed within sixty-five years. Here is an excerpt from the reading: Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz [King of Judah] … and say to him: Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail … Damascus is the capital of Aram, and Rezin is the head of Damascus; Samaria is the capital of Ephraim, and Remaliah’s son the head of Samaria. But within sixty years and five, Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nat...
Who would be King of America if George Washington had been made a monarch?
[embedded content] Drawn from The Washingtons: Seven Generations of the Presidential Branch.
6 things to keep in mind when (not if) the Church’s human element lets you down…
IMAGE: Duccio di Buoninsegna, “Appearance on the Mountain in Galilee,” c. 1310 6 Things to Keep in Mind When (Not If) the Church’s Human Element Lets You Down “Look to the light shining out of the darkness. For Christ crushes evil under his heel and makes all things new.” I know a devout Catholic so angry at her bishop for closing churches during the pandemic she can’t bring herself to go back to Mass. A friend of hers grumbles it’s no wonder we have a Eucharistic crisis in America when so many bishops seemed so willing to locked our church doors with barely a peep of protest. She thinks they should have kept the churches open and soothed COVID-terrified Americans by boldly proclaiming that Christ has defeated death and the Eucharist is the fountain of immortality. What can you say to peop...
Catholic churches and statues burned, vandalized in string of targeted attacks…
Catholic churches and religious statues across the country were the target of vandalism, terrorism, and potential arson this last week as tensions concerning the removal of historical statues continue to rise. In Boston at St. Peter’s Parish Church, parts of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary were scorched after being lit aflame. According to some at the Boston Fire Department Fire Investigation Unit, “an unknown suspect had set fire to plastic flowers, which were in the hands of the statue, causing the face and upper body of the statue to be burned.” “Whoever is responsible for the desecration of the Holy Mother’s statue is clearly a troubled soul,” Secretary for Communications & Public Affairs for the Archdiocese of Boston, Terrence C. Donilon, told the Daily Caller News Foundation....
The holy lives and passions of Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin…
The canonization portrait of Louis and Zélie Martin, parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, in St. Peter’s Square, on Oct. 16, 2015. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA) The Holy Lives and Passions of Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin The parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux were the first husband and wife canonized as a couple. They passed each other on a bridge one spring day — a distinguished, reserved, hardworking watchmaker who had tried and failed to become a monk and a lovely, intelligent, productive lacemaker who had been turned away by the Vincentian sisters. When St. Zélie first laid eyes on St. Louis she heard an interior voice, one that she had learned to trust, say, This is he whom I have prepared for you. Their life together began on July 12, 1858 — a date remembered by the Church as the feast day o...
The Fatima secret no one talks about…..
Now is the time to take a close look at the first two of three secrets which we don’t want to hear about that Our Lady gave the children at Fatima over a century ago. Why do most people ignore the first and second of the three secrets given by Our Lady at Fatima on July 103 years ago? The first one is about hell. Do we really want to pay attention to that one? The answer seems to be ‘No.” The answer comes in the way the world has been heading, especially in the last few years. The First Secret In July 1941, Sister Lucia revealed the first two secrets in her Memoirs written at the direction of her bishop. She wrote, “The secret is made up of three distinct parts, two of which I am now going to reveal. The first part is the vision of hell.” Lucia went on with the description. “Our Lady showe...
Catholic churches burned, vandalized over weekend as police investigate — “Where’s the outrage?” …
A slew of Catholic churches from Florida to California were burned and vandalized over the weekend as police continue to investigate whether or not they are connected to protests targeting symbols and statues. Following George Floyd’s police-related death in May, Black Lives Matter leaders and protesters called for the toppling of statues, from Confederate symbols to former U.S. presidents and abolitionists. Activist Shaun King called for all images depicting Jesus as a “White European” and his mother to be torn down because they’re forms of “White supremacy” and “racist propaganda.” Meanwhile, people on social media point out the lack of mainstream coverage of the weekend incidents. “Churches are...
Dreams of shutting down lazy talk about “the people” and “the base”…
ROME – Have you ever played the “Pope for a Day” game? It’s the one where you sit around with some Catholic friends and compare what you’d do if you were invested with supreme authority in the Catholic Church for just 24 hours. My list is generally silly, not to mention impractical. For example, I’d love to make a pastoral visit to Kansas City and throw out the first pitch at a Royals game, but I doubt that could be pulled off in a day. By the time I got there I’d be a nobody again and they wouldn’t even let me on the field, let alone the mound. However, here’s a more serious idea that might be borderline feasible: I’d commission one of the most reliable polling institutes in the world to conduct regular surveys of the global Catholic population on all the issues of importance in Catholic ...
Why is there a special sink in the sacristy?
If you have ever been in the sacristy — the room set aside for preparing for liturgy — inside a Catholic church, you may have noticed two sinks. One sink looks normal and has a faucet with normal plumbing. Then next to it, or in the same room, is a secondary sink. It often has a metal top that covers it and usually does not have a faucet. What is this sink and what is it used for? The technical term for this special sink is the “sacrarium” (sometimes called a “piscina”). It was developed for the proper disposal of sacred elements. It has a drain that goes directly into the ground. In this way the natural elements are returned to the earth in a more dignified manner than if they were drained into a holding tank or sewer where they would be mingled with sewage. One of the purposes of the sac...
Gary Larson quietly brings back occasional ‘The Far Side’ cartoons after 25 years away…
Quirky comic institution The Far Side has very quietly returned as a full color irregular online series. Nerds, cows, bears, cavemen, Boy Scouts, old ladies, and aliens are back to the old drawing board, which creator Gary Larson notes is now digitized: I don’t want to mislead anyone here. This corner of the website—“New Stuff”—is not a resurrection of The Far Side daily cartoons. (Well, not exactly, anyway—like the proverbial tiger and its stripes, I’m pretty much stuck with my sense of humor. Aren’t we all?) The thing is, I thoroughly enjoyed my career as a syndicated cartoonist, and I hope, in spirit at least, we had some laughs together. But after fifteen years of meeting deadlines, well, blah blah blah … you know the rest. The day after I retired from syndication, ...
