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We call St. Benedict of Nursia the father of monks, and his teaching on spiritual fatherhood drew me, in part, to become a Benedictine oblate. Thirteen years ago, as a father of a growing family, I was looking for greater focus and direction in my spiritual life, especially in integrating prayer, work and family life. I thought back to a Cistercian monastery where I had made some retreats in high school, where I first encountered St. Benedict’s great Rule for monks, which he wrote while serving as abbot of the monastery Monte Cassino in the 6th century. The monastery seemed to fit as a model for the kind of life and culture I sought to build within my home and through my work as a theologian. For a father, St. Benedict’s teaching on the role of the abbot stands out the most, particularly c...

The zen of the river, the synodality of the nuncio, and the soul of golf Skip to content Happy Friday friends, And a very happy feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to you all.  Unless you’re a Dodgers fan — you should reflect on your life choices today. Consider switching to the Angels, they have two obvious first ballot hall of famers on the team and are barely staying above .500. For an ’80s Cubs fan like me, that’s basically the golden ratio. I’m not going to go on about that particular event scheduled in LA, I’m just going to note that today is, and has been for a lot longer than there has been baseball, a deeply beautiful feast — the history of which we have a great explainer on here. The bishops have called for all Catholics to pray a Litany of the Sacred Heart today in reparatio...

Father Johan Verschueren, SJ, Rupnik’s superior whose name the statement was in, said no further comments will be made until after this period has concluded. In February, the Jesuits said they had opened a new internal procedure against Rupnik after receiving accusations against him spanning from 1985 to 2018. The “highly credible” accusations, they said, included claims of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse, and abuse of conscience. The latest statement said the team investigating the accusations delivered its dossier the same month. Rupnik’s superiors imposed certain restrictions on his ministry at the recommendation of the investigators. The restrictions, according to the Society of Jesus, were “to change communities and accept a new mission in which we offered him one last chan...

One of the reasons baseball is America’s pastime is it usually exists far outside of contentious debates, political rancor and cultural divides. At least that’s how it’s supposed to be. But that image has come crashing down at the iconic Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The controversy has been centered for some weeks now on the Dodgers’ June 16 celebration of “Pride Night.” The existence of such Pride Nights and other celebrations of LGBTQ activities and agendas is profoundly flawed, as the Church makes clear via its teachings about the truth and meaning of human sexuality. Not only that, but the elevation of pride is the exact opposite of our calling as disciples and imitators of Christ. It’s no coincidence that the day the Dodgers decided to honor the first of the deadly sins, the Church ...

My friend Bobby Winters, who is both a mathematician and a Methodist, was in the capital of Paraguay doing something academic, and discovered that the place he’s staying had no street number. The address people there use relates his street to another, like “On Smith Street near the corner of Jones Avenue.” This must be hard for someone with the mathematician’s insight into the value of numbers, but he says it works. It’s a big city, of a million people, but a cabbie who picked them up in downtown knew exactly where to go. Bobby walked around Asunción and called it an adventure. This must be his Methodist side, as his church began with ministers riding around England on horseback. In any case, Bobby’s walking tells us something about the Catholic life. Looking carefully “Street signs are ra...

A while back, I wrote an in-depth piece of investigative journalism on Alexis Bugnolo and his various organizations. As my piece still comes up high on searches for him, I think it is worth noting a few updates. After summarizing my prior piece, I will note the revocation of his charity’s tax-exempt status, a questionable Ukraine charity called Cross Azure, a “papal election,” a feud, and a political party. Summary of the Old Piece If you remember this or know the background, just skip ahead to the updates below. This is all taken from the piece on my old blog on Patheos. Brother? Bugnolo claims to be a brother but, Bugnolo does not seem to qualify under any normal category of the Church as a “brother,” so should not use the term so as to not confuse Catholics. Reliable Source? Bugnolo is ...

Lost and by themselves, four children managed to survive 40 days in the wilderness of the Amazon jungle before they were rescued. The four children — Lesly, 13; Soleiny, 9; Tien Noriel, 4; and Cristin, 1 — were found thin but very much alive Friday after a rescue operation that combed through more than 1,600 miles of dense forest. Colombian special forces airlifted them to the capital, Bogotá, sparking scenes of jubilation across the country and news headlines around the world. But the rescue — code-named Operation Hope — poses many questions. The four children were discovered in the Solano jungle Friday. Colombian Armed Forces Press Office / via AP Gen. Pedro Sánchez, who led the search operation, told NBC’s “TODAY” show Monday that the children’s survival was down...

A recent edition of The Spectator carried an article by Dan Hitchens in which he quoted the Cambridge historian Richard Rex as saying that there have been three great crises in the history of the Church. The first was over the nature of God (all those fights about Christology in the early Church), the second over the nature of the Church herself (all those Protestant splits during the sixteenth century) and now, a battle over the nature of man (all those fights about what we may or may not do with our bodies). This “nails it”, as it were, but beneath the crisis over the nature of man there is a crisis over the nature of Catholic theology. At this moment in the life of the Church divisions over fundamental theological issues are tearing communities apart. One of the reasons why Benedict XVI...

Everyone loves a good inside joke.   But there aren’t that many creators that cater specifically to the sometimes silly workings of Catholic internet culture. Enter Laura Horn — a mom and wife to Catholic Answers apologist Trent Horn — whose YouTube channel pokes good-natured fun at Catholicism in the digital age. Have you ever noticed that Catholic podcasters all fall into only a few categories? Or wondered how Christian apologists would play football together? Have you ever known anyone (or you yourself) who has gotten really  into G.K Chesterton? Laura Horn has, and she explores these and many other topics in her laugh-out-loud skits on her YouTube channel, “Too Far With Laura Horn.”  There’s a lot to laugh at or cry about, depending on your view, when you’re an onli...

The Blessed Sacrament is just one of many reasons why I entered the Church. On May 20, I took part in a Eucharistic procession that made its way through Washington, D.C., carrying the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to the White House and other centers of power in our nation’s capital. At each stop, local priests — including Father Charles Trullols of the Catholic Information Center (CIC) and Msgr. Charles Pope — led a kneeling crowd in prayer for our country, our leaders and other intentions. This was a new experience for me. As a recent convert to the Catholic Church, the idea that “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ … is truly, really, and substantially contained” (CCC 1374) was nearly impossible for me to grasp at first. But the fact is tha...

The presidential race is just starting to heat up. While it may still be early, candidates are popping up every few days and announcing their intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2024. Among those seeking to dislodge the early favorite — polling shows that to be former President Donald Trump — is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. This is the same man who has become something of a conservative darling in recent years for relentlessly going after “woke” ideology. His battle with Disney is an example of a culture war fight DeSantis hasn’t been afraid to address in recent years. DeSantis has been criticized for many things, from whether his wife Casey is “a problem” to confusion over the pronunciation of his last name. As the past weeks have shown, DeSantis’ foray into national politics has...

Architecture By Daily Passport Team Read time: 0 minutes Relatively speaking, the United States is a spring chicken — a downright young country compared to nations in Europe, Asia, and worldwide. Still, while the U.S. thus lacks truly ancient landmarks tourists can check out elsewhere, it does boast surprisingly old structures to visit now. Here, then, are eight of the country’s oldest buildings. Can you guess which state has four of them? Wren Building – Williamsburg, Virginia Credit: Imagesbybarbara/ iStock On the campus of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, sits the oldest college building in the country. Constructed between 1695 and 1700, the Sir Christopher Wren Building predates even the town of Williamsburg itself. And it is where America’s second-oldest...