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In the aftermath of the Olympics’ opening ceremony last Friday, at which a flamboyant troupe of dancers in drag performed a burlesque of the Last Supper, the inevitable and entirely just Christian uproar has been met with its own backlash. Christ-haters and online know-it-alls (many of them the same people) have been posting and sharing on social media that, ackshully, the scene was not meant to evoke the Last Supper but the Greek god Dionysius and his hard-partying pals. And that you would have known this if you had studied art history instead of praying to your imaginary God. Some Christians are calling this “gaslighting,” and whether that’s the right name for it, I’m not sure—but without a doubt there’s a popular effort underway to install an Official Version of this event that exculpat...

A: The Code of Canon Law lists 10 holy days of obligation besides Sunday: Holy Mary the Mother of God (January 1), the Epiphany (January 6), St. Joseph (March 19), the Ascension (Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter), the Body and Blood of Christ (Thursday after Trinity Sunday), Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles (June 29), the Assumption (August 15), All Saints (November 1), the Immaculate Conception (December 8), and the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ (December 25) (Canon 1246 §1). Local bishops’ conferences can add to this list (for instance, St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 is a holy day of obligation in Ireland), remove days from the list, or transfer some days to a Sunday (see Canon 1246 §2). In the United States, for example, the bishops have removed the Solemnity of St. Joseph...

How we live in a home stems from how God lives in eternity and how he wants to live with us. What might seem beyond imagining is really the root of family life and its incomparable importance. In a stunning reflection, Thomas Aquinas uses two verses of Proverbs, chapter 8 verses 30 and 31, to show two things that Christ rejoices in from all eternity. The context in Proverbs is how wisdom—identified with the second Person of the Trinity—was with God the Father when he created. The first verse reads, “And I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always.” Some translations say “playing before him.” So, Father and Son simply rejoice together. They love to be together. Even, they play together. From eternity, this is what Being does. This is Life at its root. A father and a son simply livi...

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says some interesting things about charity, the supreme theological virtue that, as St. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:14, “binds everything together in perfect harmony.” CCC 1828: “The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who ‘first loved us’ (1 John 4:19).” CCC 1829: “The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction…it fosters reciprocity…it is friendship and communion….” Charity is also the virtue informing good manners. And the sorry condition of good manners among us these days is perh...

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Let’s return to the Paris Olympics, shall we, before I start my long journey back to East Tennessee from the West Coast. Confession: When it comes to languages, I know absolutely nothing about French. However, it appears that if you take the word “Dionysius” and translate it into French you get “Denys,” or “Denis.” That’s interesting, since the patron saint of France is St. Denys, a martyr who was the first bishop of Paris. He was beheaded and, in sacred art, is often shown in vestments — holding his own head. You know, kind of like that iconic moment in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, when the beheaded Queen Marie Antoinette was shown holding her own head — while still managing to sing along with the heavy-metal band Gojira. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s get an update on...

Since a life-changing evening four years ago, I have not once experienced alcohol-withdrawal symptoms or cravings. I came to know Blessed Solanus Casey 63 years after his death in July 1957 and three years after his beatification ceremony, held in Detroit in November 2017. Providentially, my lack of familiarity with the humble and virtuous Franciscan Capuchin friar, whose feast we celebrate July 30, did not prevent him from hearing my silent yet desperate pleas, or, like he had done so often when he was alive, responding with compassion and healing. It was the autumn of 2020, and after 40 years of self-imposed exile, I was newly reconciled with the Catholic Church and determined to make amends for the faith I had squandered. Despite my sincerest desires and best intentions, however, there ...

(Image: Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash.com) On July 15, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed the radical progressive law Assembly Bill 2955 into effect. As I discussed in an earlier column, the deceptively named “Support Academic Futures and Educator Today’s Youth Act” advances transgender ideology. Previously, in September 2022, Newsom signed Senate Bill 107 into law, making California a “sanctuary” state offering shelter to transgender children and their parents who leave jurisdictions restricting access to gender-affirming care to minors. In September 2023, Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 957, which would have allowed public officials to remove children from the custody of parents who refused to affirm the chosen gender identities of their you...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Jul 26, 2024 In the United States, we are entering the quadrennial silly season in which far too many of us waste a great deal of time, energy and money following politics and attempting to influence the outcome of Presidential elections. Sometimes, of course, there are better reasons to do this than at other times, but as a general rule the party which has won these elections has had surprisingly little impact on the steady spiritual and moral decline throughout American history, and especially since the end of World War II. What typically happens at this time of year is that we convince ourselves (against repeated evidence to the contrary) that a narrow victory by one side or another in our two-party system will result in substan...

Why aren’t we holy? God, in fact, wills that we become holy: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thes 4:3). So why aren’t we? The problem surely does not lie with him. And that leaves only one other answer: we are the problem. God has given us everything we need to be holy: his forgiveness, righteousness, grace and even his divine life. Through our baptism, we have begun a construction project, but we can’t complete it on our own. God must bestow his grace on us because he calls us to a supernatural life beyond the natural capacities of humanity. But after he gives us what we need, we have to begin the hard labor of building. Perhaps this is why Jesus himself was a craftsman, modeling for us the work we must undertake to build the temple of God with our lives. We’re often...

By Clement Harrold July 26, 2024 Matthew 13:24-43 relates the famous parable of the weeds (or tares, as they used to be known). The scene falls within what is known as the parabolic discourse in chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, which involves no less than eight different parables. One of the things that makes the parable of the weeds interesting, however, is that Jesus goes out of His way not just to deliver it (vv. 24-30) but also to explain it (vv. 36-43). The parable itself is very simple. A man sows good seed in his field, but while he is sleeping his enemy comes along and sows weeds among the wheat. In due course, when the plants begin to bear grain, the servants of the sower come to him to explain that weeds have begun to appear. The owner then realizes that an enemy has been at work....

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why aren’t there solar-powered cars? – Emma, age 16, Springville, Utah Solar cars exist. The best place to see them is the World Solar Challenge, a race that’s held every two years in Australia. Competitors have to drive about 1,870 miles (3,000 kilometers), from Darwin on the country’s north coast to Adelaide on its south coast, using only energy from the Sun. Many cars that compete in this race look more like amusement park rides or science fiction vehicles than the cars you see on the road. That tells you something about why solar cars aren’t an option for everyday travel, at least not yet. Collecting enough sunlight While a lot of sunli...