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I’ve been asked quite a few times today what I thought about the new “red hat” list for the College of Cardinals. I simply laughed. The ploy and play of the list is so obvious that it is hardly to be taken seriously anymore. We must all remember that generations of Catholic through many centuries had no idea even of who the Pope was, much less who was a Cardinal in Mongolia. They got along just fine, saying their prayers and living their lives, and going out of the way to help each other when they could and confess their sins when they had to. Some Catholics will, alas, suffer greatly because of these choices, and I feel for them. But we have to remember that of all the possible universes God could have created, He created this on and not another. This is the time into which our Creator ca...

COMMENTARY: Christ’s ascension is meant to help us to grow to full stature in Christ, as we respond to his confidence in making us his missionaries, together with the Holy Spirit, to renew the face of the earth. The celebration of the Ascension of the Lord is an annual opportunity for us not only to focus on heaven, where the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-6) and on the joy that “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the human heart conceived,” which “God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9; Is 64:4), but also on the implications Jesus’ return to the Father means for each of his followers.  Jesus could have stayed on earth until the end of time as the Good Shepherd, crisscrossing the globe after every lost sheep, saving them one by one....

Pope Francis this morning announced the creation of 21 new cardinals, most of whom will be eligible to vote in the next papal conclave. One of them is Robert McElroy, the ultra-progressive bishop of San Diego. For Catholics who actually believe what the Catholic Church teaches, this is terrible news. And for Catholics who would like their Church to be run by men who can be trusted to do the right thing on sex abuse — well, Francis long ago showed (e.g., the Zanchetta affair) that he cannot be trusted. And here he goes again. Here’s a link to a 2016 letter that Richard Sipe, the (now-deceased) psychotherapist and foremost expert on the sexual habits of the Catholic clergy, sent to McElroy back in 2016. Excerpts: It was clear to me during our last meeting in your office, although cordial, th...

Let’s take a look at some of the big movies coming this summer. Summer is traditionally the season Hollywood releases its biggest blockbusters of the year. The thrill from the sights and sounds; the smell of movie-theater popcorn; the sense of solidarity with other moviegoers caught up in the adventure unfolding before them and returning out into the summer night transformed by the experience of going to the movies. But times have changed, and with more content available on streaming platforms, the very survival of movie theaters is in question. Summer 2022 will be a test for the future of Hollywood blockbusters — many of the new releases were completed before the COVID-19 pandemic and are now finally seeing the light of day on the big screen. Let’s take a look at some of the big movies co...

I know the title of this blog will get some people up in arms, but before you get the pitchforks out, bear with me a bit and I will try to make my argument. Before I get to the nitty-gritty, let’s examine a few facts: Fact #1 – Jesus had active discipleship relationships with 12 men at a time (maximum), during his ministry. He spent a majority of his time with these men and taught them to do the same with others.   Fact #2 – Of the Apostles we know of post-Pentecost, all of them went on to have disciples themselves. Peter had Mark. John had Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp. Notice, they only had small numbers of others they discipled (that we know of).   Fact #3 – Most of the Church’s history had small congregations, yet today our congregations average over 1,00...

COMMENTARY: The Church we see mixes Divine and human, and the human beings in it show themselves to be very human indeed. “Something as old, as big, as complex as the Catholic Church, and with its history, is going always to be compromised,” I’d written in an article on Dorothy Day’s understanding of the Church. My anonymous hard-core Calvinist critic, the one who made the snarky remark about Lent I’ve written about, didn’t like the line. He quoted it in a tweet and then remarked “how apologists enable abusers and deceivers. imagine if a Protestant said that about not becoming Roman Catholic.” “As a convert,” Day had written in her diaries, “I never expected much of bishops.” She was 70 when she wrote that. She’d been a Catholic for 40 years and been dealing with bishops for most of that t...

In February 2021 an unholy tremor shook the seemingly carefree sport of pickleball: news that a second hall of fame was in the planning stages. The announcement, from USA Pickleball (heretofore USAP), incited a bevy of questions, such as: Wait, there’s a pickleball hall of fame? (Believe it or not.) Is anyone famous solely for playing pickleball? (Not yet.) Why stop at two? (Actually …) Dinkheads.com, the preeminent pickleball blog, referred to USAP’s intent to erect a rival Hall as a “douche-y” move, but it’s far more serious than that. The Hall is just one parry in a series of turf wars and satellite skirmishes plaguing the fastest growing sport in America—a sport whose ambitions extend from occupying real estate at your nearest park to reaching the Olympics. To wit: There exist two inte...

While actor Alec Guinness is most widely known for his foundational role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy of the Star Wars films, he was also a Catholic convert. In fact, by the time he portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi, Guinness had been Catholic for around 20 years and would frequently make retreats at Catholic monasteries, witnessing the prayer lives of monks…possibly helping his portrayal of Obi-Wan as a wise, religious hermit. Guinness grew-up Anglican, but was more of an atheist, while still holding an interest in religious matters. During the horrors of World War II, an Anglican priest gave Guinness a copy of St. Francis de Sales’s Introduction to the Devout Life. This was the beginning of his introduction to Catholicism. Next he portrayed G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown&nb...

Math has a certain logic to it. If you use it to accurately describe a situation, sometimes you can predict the inevitable — for instance, the moment an eclipse will take place — centuries in advance. To those unfamiliar with the math behind the prediction, this outcome might seem like magic. Indeed, the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In today’s Insights puzzle we’ll explore four examples of mathematical magic that can seem, at first glance, like mind reading. Just like stage magic, these examples can leave you wondering, “How did they know that?” Many of us have experienced this as children. We are asked by a friend to think of a certain number without revealing it. We are then asked to do a s...

Hey everybody, It’s a pretty cold day here in Colorado, and this is The Tuesday Pillar Post. There’s a lot to talk about – namely, Nancy Pelosi and Archbishop Sal Cordileone, so let’s get to it, shall we? San Francisco news You know, or most of you do, that on Friday Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi may not be admitted to Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. We emailed you about that on Friday, and lot of you read our report already, but in case you didn’t, here’s our initial report on that announcement. The archbishop’s move was an application of canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, which says that Catholic “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin should not be admitted to Holy Communion.” Perhaps you’ve got questio...

Since the Eucharist and the proper disposition to receive it is in the news, let’s review.  The present day encouragement for all to receive Communion, simply because they are Catholic, desire to receive, and judge, themselves, that they should and can based on that desire — well, that’s not consistent with Catholic practice from any point in its history. Throughout that history, when Catholics have been encouraged to revisit their practices and receive the Eucharist more frequently and regularly, it has never been in the context of a concern that individuals not feel excluded from the table or feel like “sinners.” It has always been exhorted in the context of a call for individuals to deepen their spiritual lives, turn away from sin and conform themselves more closely to Christ. The ...