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In mid-May, I spent two intense days in Lisbon, where a new Portuguese edition of my Letters to a Young Catholic was being prepared as a catechetical resource for World Youth Day-2023. In and around that wonderful city, I had the pleasure of meeting with Catholic educators from all over Portugal; I was hosted for talks at two vibrant parishes; and I got a whirlwind tour of World Youth Day GHQ: a former military commissary, where a different kind of army — a regiment of energetic young Catholic activists — was handling the logistics of an international gathering that would tax the capacity of the most expensive society “event planner.” In each of these encounters, I found a great hope that WYD-2023, under the maternal protection of Our Lady of Fatima, would energize the New Evangelization i...

It was during a visit to the Holy Land in the summer of 2019 that I first got to know one of history’s most mysterious saints. While sitting at the base of one of the many columns in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I found myself meditating on Saint John’s description of the first encounter between Mary Magdalene and the Risen Lord (see John 20:11–18). Realizing I was just a few feet away from the spot where this profound exchange took place brought tears to my eyes. Later on that same trip, one of my fellow pilgrims recommended to me a book by an Irish priest called Fr. Sean Davidson. The title of the book was Saint Mary Magdalene: Prophetess of Eucharistic Love, and my friend assured me that it did a good job clarifying the various Marys who appear on the pages of the Gospels. Upon rea...

Ever since Superman debuted in 1938, pop-culture has been obsessed with superheroes. At first superheroes dominated the “comic” newspaper strips and then eventually those strips were compiled into what would become the first “comic books.” Once movies and television became an essential part of modern entertainment, it didn’t take long for superheroes to make the leap to the big screen. More than 70 years later superheroes continue to captivate the modern imagination and an entire industry is focused on making them as profitable as possible. Why are superheroes so popular? To answer that question, it’s important to go back a step further and ask, “What is a superhero anyway?“ What is a superhero? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a superhero as, “a fictional hero having extraordinary o...

I wish someone had warned me that the denouement of #TheMiracleClub movie I saw a few nights ago would be a scene set in a hotel named for St. Bernadette in Lourdes where Irish women from different generations share with one another—with great fellow feeling—about how they’ve tried to abort their children and that somehow resolves decades of rancor. The superficially charming portrayal of 1960s Irish Catholics dressed up in the bright fashionable colors of the era (even the doors of the Dublin row houses where they live are painted with the same bright colors—in contrast with the shabbiness inside) with some stellar actors, including Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, and Laura Linney, is rotten at its core. A lot could have been shown in this movie about the cruelty of the double standard that wa...

“This is no time for Christian charity.” That was what stood out among the responses to a recent nationally syndicated newspaper column I wrote about a recent controversial country-music song/video. Jason Aldean was singing about how small towns handle violence better than urban areas. He mentioned his grandfather’s gun, as a warning, among other things. I grew up in New York City, strangely enough, listening to country music, so I’m aware that Johnny Cash among others could get dark along the way. But I’m also a consumer as much as anyone of our politics and our culture today, and I know how violent it can be. And we don’t need more of it. Well, goodness. For saying such a thing, my phone exploded. There was a lot of simple expletives and ad hominems. But there were more disturbing commen...

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. –Entrance antiphon, Mass for the Feast of the Assumption during the Day Like Jesus, Mary’s Son—who is the Word in the beginning, the Second Adam at the center of salvation history, and the Bridegroom whose wedding banquet at the end lasts forever—Mary appears to us at the beginning, middle, and end of Sacred Scripture. A type of “second Eve” announced after the Fall, she gives birth to the Savior in time, and at the end of her life is assumed by God to her glorious reward in heaven. Today’s Solemnity of the Assumption celebrates her heavenly destiny—and invites us to renew our own desire to achieve this same goal. Our story begins in the dust of the earth: ...

How we remember the dead is significant in how we live. Good ‘remembering’ in general is part of how we live in the present. This is very human, for to be in time is to be on the boundary of the eternal, where past, present and future are as one. The Byzantine tradition prays for the deceased ‘may their memory be eternal.’ This fascinating prayer intends something for both the deceased and those praying. May the dead live in heaven and in memory; and may our memory itself be alive with the presence of the dead. There is much to consider—and to pray for—that our memory of the deceased be what it should be. Our memory should not be self-pitying or indulging in what we have lost. As usual, we are called to look outward and think of others. Gratitude should be thematic; and gratitude is always...

Over the years, as a kid and then a climber, I’ve camped a lot, starting in a moldy canvas army pup tent with my friends in the backyard, age 9. Or in tents with classmates on trips to Assateague or Catoctin, in Maryland, where it always seemed to rain and our tents always leaked. Or in my own tent at Miguel’s Campground, Red River Gorge, in Kentucky, where it poured day after day and, as if in a horror movie, salamanders began coming out of holes in the muddy ground by my door. In Patagonia, where you could hear the wild wind coming, and I decided I might never need to camp in the cold and wet again. In Red Rocks, Nevada; El Potrero Chico, Mexico; Shelf Road, Colorado; and Penticton, B.C, and Banff, Alberta, with my climbing friend Susan Price, our little tents side by side each trip. Saf...

The ancient Romans were master builders and engineers, perhaps most famously represented by the still-functional aqueducts. And those architectural marvels rely on a unique construction material: pozzolanic concrete, a spectacularly durable material that gave Roman structures their incredible strength. Even today, one of their structures – the Pantheon, still intact and nearly 2,000 years old – holds the record for the world’s largest dome of unreinforced concrete. The properties of this concrete have generally been attributed to its ingredients: pozzolana, a mix of volcanic ash – named after the Italian city of Pozzuoli, where a significant deposit of it can be found – and lime. When mixed with water, the two materials can react to produce strong concrete. But that, as it turns out,...

Ohio is the most recent battleground in abortion groups’ ongoing efforts to add nearly unlimited abortion access to state constitutions. As pro-life battles have largely shifted to the states a little over a year out from the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the latest showdown will be in Ohio, where abortion groups are pushing an amendment to the state Constitution that would ensure virtually unlimited access to abortion.  The groups behind the amendment include Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which are coming off successes they had in the 2022 midterm elections in adding language ensuring abortion access to the state Constitutions of California, Michigan and Vermont.  The amendment would add language to the Ohio Constitution, stating that “every ind...

n the 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ, there is a poignant scene after the brutal scourging at the pillar. Jesus’ bloody Body is dragged away from the pillar, and the ground is covered with His Blood. The Blessed Mother enters the courtyard with Saints John and Mary Magdalene, she kneels down, and with maternal love and devotion, she carefully begins cleaning up His Blood from the ground. This scene depicts the type of reverence all of us should have for the Precious Blood of Jesus, which was poured out for our redemption. One way to cultivate such devotion is by taking part in July’s dedication to the Precious Blood of Jesus. The Catholic Church assigns dedications to each month of the calendar year. These dedications give us opportunities to learn more about our Faith and to cultiva...

A month ago, on June 16, two vandals were caught on camera drawing anti-Catholic graffiti on the walls of Annunciation Catholic School in Denver.  “F*** religion,” “Satans watching,” “666,” and an upside-down cross were drawn on the side of the school building.  Father Charles Polifka, OFM Cap, pastor of the school’s affiliated church, told CNA Wednesday that his message to the vandals is one of “forgiveness.”  “So many people are not getting the message of what we teach or they’re not getting a message of the Gospel at all,” he said. “They’re not getting a message of peace. They’re not getting a message of reconciliation or anything like that. It’s all violence that they’re getting. They’re getting it from their music, they’re getting it from everywhere except from the chur...