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The very idea that students will suffer any significant loss of educational attainment by losing two months of twelve-plus years of school—less than two percent—is nonsense. Such an argument that every minute of school attendance is irreplaceable can only be made by someone who never attended American elementary and secondary schools. A frequently worried-about consequence of the coronavirus pandemic has been the supposed harm to the education of elementary and secondary school students. Heroic efforts have been made to hold classes on-line. Some public-school systems have considered or are considering “making up” for the loss of the last two months of the school year by convening summer school. Instead, all schools, public and private, should have shortened the school year and given final...

“What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” (Matthew 8:29) In my last article for the Register, I focused on the role of the Guardian Angels, particularly in the life and ministry of priests in this trying time in which we find ourselves. This reflection on the guardian angels led me to then reflect on the Lord Jesus and his encounters with the demons, those fallen angels, whom he encounters time and again in his earthly ministry. Recall that the central message that Jesus came to bring is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. He reveals this message of the Kingdom of God, as Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, reminds us, in two ways: gestis verbisque, through words and deeds. God’s Word is, most...

[embedded content] Pat Lencioni offers this simple and practical message for college graduates…

ROME – China, in a sense, has become the third rail of geopolitics, in the sense that anything it touches automatically becomes controversial, from cell phones (“are they spying?”) to the coronavirus (“are they lying?”) Thus it should be no surprise that even a seemingly innocent gesture such as the Jesuit-edited journal Civiltà Cattolica, which enjoys a semi-official Vatican status, launching a new edition in Chinese last month has been swept up into broader tensions about China, including its human rights record and its role in the world. The edition, which went live April 20, had only been around about a week when a priest-blogger in China named Father Shanren Shenfu, who’s part of the official church, meaning it’s recognized by the government, complained the Vatican was counseling “tol...

Lucas, the photographer’s son, attends his daily class online during the COVID-19 lockdown on May 14, 2020 in Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Miguel Pereira/Getty Images) To you parents who have just started homeschooling in this environment: Don’t be too hard on yourself. Homeschooling is not usually this difficult. “We’re all homeschoolers now.” That’s a recurring meme that’s been making its way around the internet for the past few months. As schools have closed in response to Covid-19, parents across the country—many of whom would have never considered homeschooling otherwise — have begun teaching their children at home. During this time, I’ve seen lots of posts congratulating homeschooling parents, because after a just a few weeks of homeschooling their own children they ha...

What began as simple way to honor the Virgin Mary and encourage the Rosary became an economic and spiritual blessing for Birmingham-area florists, whose business had been severely crippled by the pandemic shutdown. “It’s a God thing when something happens beyond your intentions and it just explodes,” Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, EWTN chaplain and chapel dean, explained to the Register, referring to the thousands of roses that have filled Our Lady of the Angels Chapel to overflowing. It all began on Mother’s Day, May 10, during Mass at the chapel, located in Irondale, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. “At the end of my homily, I encouraged people to pray the Rosary and, as a sign of that commitment, to send a rose,” Father Joseph said. Even th...

Washington D.C., May 13, 2020 / 02:00 am MT (CNA).- Many Catholic parishes have closed during the pandemic, but one marriage renewal ministry is seeking to reopen the doors of the “domestic church,” the family, during lockdown. “The doors of so many parishes are closed, or have been closed, and the doors to so many domestic churches have opened up again,” said Mary Rose Verret, co-founder of “Witness to Love” marriage prep ministry and the “Be Light” marriage renewal date night series. Verret and her husband Ryan are hosting virtual “date nights” for married couples during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to strengthen marriages and connect families to their parishes so they can create more missionaries for the church. The growth of the pandemic forced the closure of countless businesse...

CNA Staff, May 16, 2020 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- The Polish bishops’ conference is encouraging the faithful to participate in a social media campaign to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pope St. John Paul II on Monday. Pope St. John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. In 1978, he made history as the first non-Italian pope in over 400 years. Pope St. John Paul II is credited with helping bring about the fall of communism in his native Poland. He was canonized as a saint in 2014. Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference, encouraged Catholics to share their memories and witness of how the saint had influenced their life and faith on social media using the hashtag #ThankYouJohnPaul2. Gądecki encouraged Catholics to po...

There’s a lot of scolding going on. So much scolding. All the scolding! Just… a lot.  Scolding, along with posturing, virtue signaling, and presumption of motives. I really don’t know a way out. I am resisting the temptation to, you know, scold. But every day, I wonder, What happened to #Resist?  And moving back the referential point a few decades: What happened to “Question authority?” It’s funny, sad and weird. But not so weird, because this is just human nature and human behavior: to follow crowds, to get caught up in mass hysteria and to be so, so selective in our outrage and judgment. What seems to be at the heart of so much of the fraughtness of public discussion on the response to Covid-19 is, no matter what “side” you are on, is an insistence on the absolute veracity of t...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | May 15, 2020 Over the past several years, I’ve known of perhaps a dozen people among acquaintances and extended family who have suffered difficult and at times mysterious illnesses—illnesses of a kind which, if they had befallen me, would have prompted me to double-check everything in my life to make sure I was really on the right track toward eternity. You would think there would be nothing quite so “bracing” as the possibility of death ahead of our own imagined schedules. And yet thus far, all those whom I know who have been in this situation have gone on in the same way. If they have been striving for closeness to God, they have sought to grow closer. If they have been in denial about God and the Christian faith, they have remai...

The dramatic saga of John of Cetina and Peter de Dueñas can be summarized in a single line: “Franciscans of Spain,” writes hagiographer Basil Watkins, “they were sent to the Muslim kingdom of Granada in order to try and evangelize the inhabitants and were predictably killed.” As you’d expect, there’s more to this story. Born in 1340, John had a privileged childhood, but he gravitated to obscurity and penitence. In time he made his way to the Franciscans of Aragon, where he made his profession and was ordained. Although a popular preacher, John longed for solitude, and he retired to a cave in Valencia to take up an eremitical life. Word of heroic Franciscan martyrdoms in the Holy Land reached Father John, and he committed himself to missionary work among the Moors, despite his solitary incl...

[embedded content] From left to right: Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Falcon Heavy and the Space Launch System (SLS). Red = RP-1 (Kerosene) Orange = Liquid Hydrogen Blue = Liquid Oxygen