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If low-church Anglican evangelicals were active in the whole naming-saints thing, you know that the process would already be in motion to honor Queen Elizabeth II. The quiet dignity of her Christian faith was at the heart of her long life of service. This brings us to what I would argue is a valid religion-angle story linked to “Spare,” the tell-all confessional memoir Prince Harry has released from the media-friendly alternative palace that he is creating with Meghan Markle here in America. Here is the basic question: In what church will Harry and Meghan raise their children? This points, of course, to broader questions about the seismic changes inside England’s Royal Family after the passing of Elizabeth the Great. Yes, some of these questions are linked to the complex ecumenical history...

Hey everybody, Today is the feast of St. Anthony the Great, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. The saint we celebrate today is remembered throughout the Church as the “father of monasticism,” or the “father of all monks,” — and really, he deserves that title. But Anthony is really the reluctant father of those monks, and that’s worth noting. Here’s what happened: Anthony was born in the third century, to a wealthy family of Christians in southern Egypt. When he was 20, his parents died suddenly, leaving Anthony to care for his young sister. But soon after, Anthony was attending the Divine Liturgy, when he heard these words read from the Gospel: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” They struck the young man ...

So-called deaths of despair such as from suicide or alcohol abuse have been skyrocketing for middle-aged white Americans. It’s been blamed on various phenomenon, including opioid abuse. But a new research paper finds a different culprit — declining religious practice. The working paper, from Tyler Giles of Wellesley College, Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame, and Tamar Oostrom of The Ohio State University, looked at the relationship between religiosity and mortality from deaths of despair. The paper was circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The authors noted that many measures of religious adherence began to decline in the late 1980s. They find that the large decline in religious practice was driven by the group experiencing the subsequent increases in mort...

PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) – French nun Sister Andre, the world’s oldest person, passed away at 118 in France, her retirement home told Reuters on Tuesday. Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944, had survived COVID last year. She was born on Feb. 11, 1904, and was the world’s oldest living person according to the Gerontology Research Group’s (GRG) World Supercentenarian Rankings List. Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro Editing by Chris Reese Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Want an insider travel tip perfect for culture vultures? The North American Reciprocal Museum Association, or NARM, is a network of 1,261 different art museums, botanical gardens, hands-on children’s museums, zoos, planetariums and historical sites located all across the US and even some international spots. The basic premise is that you purchase a membership at a museum or site near you, and that membership then earns you free entry into every other facility in the network. This is great for planning an economical outing on your vacation—and is exceptionally useful for road trips where you might want to stop for an hour but not pay through the teeth for a brief but rewarding experience. Here’s everything you need to know about the NARM card. Is there actually a NARM card? No. Your card is...

Today in Papal History marks the official end of the Avignon Papacy – a 70-year exile in the 14th Century where the Successors of Peter holed up in the French enclave and was more or less beholden to the French crown during that time – as Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome. The pontiff retaking his rightful place in the Eternal City was thanks in no small part to a rather rousing letter written to him by the great St. Catherine of Siena, excerpted below: Up, to give your life for Christ! Isn’t our body the only thing we have?[9] Why not give your life a thousand times, if necessary, for God’s honor and the salvation of his creatures? That is what he did, and you, his vicar, ought to be carrying on his work. It is to be expected that as long as you are his vicar you will foll...

Note: This is the second of a two-part series. Part one is available here. At its root, anthropology considers what human beings are and how they have interacted with one another and the world around them over time. While many think of anthropology as a secular study of cultures from ancient to modern day, I propose that there is also a Christian anthropology, one that considers who and what the human person is based on God’s revelation in His word and through our bodies. Indeed, our body is a revelation from God, and by and through it He teaches us. This essay (consisting of both today’s and yesterday’s posts) is not a complete discourse on the topic. Rather, I selected certain teachings rooted in Scripture and the nature of our bodies that apply particularly well to moral issues of our d...

There’s no known date for when the highly anticipated book by Benedict XVI’s longtime personal secretary will be published in English — and at least one American publisher has already passed. ROME — A book detailing Benedict XVI’s papacy and his decade as pope emeritus, written by his longtime personal secretary, hits bookshelves in Italy today — but English-language readers will have to wait. Despite generating significant buzz across the Catholic world, there are no publicly available details of when Archbishop Georg Gänswein’s Nothing but the Truth — My Life Beside Benedict XVI will be available in English. The book is co-written by the Italian Vaticanista Saverio Gaeta, who told the Register via email that he was aware that negotiations for English publication were in progress but did ...

COMMENTARY: The death and funeral observances also offered rather remarkable symmetries that echoed aspects of Benedict’s life. The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the last day of year, just after Christmas, on the feast of St. Sylvester, was suggestive of a life shaped by the sacred liturgy, given his birth on Holy Saturday. The death and funeral observances also offered rather remarkable symmetries that echoed aspects of Benedict’s life. There are four of them that bear noting. Octave Deaths Pope Benedict’s first words on the balcony of St. Peter’s after his election were, “After the great Pope John Paul …” He understood himself in relation to “John Paul the Great,” to use the appellation of Pope Francis. The papacy had been entrusted to him after his history-shaping predecessor; ...

As Ordinary Time (tempus per annum) opens up, the lectionary continues to “introduce” Christ to us. The Christmas cycle now done, we must ask, “Who is Jesus Christ? Who is this savior who has been born for us?” In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist elaborates on this. John’s words are brief, but they are packed with Christological teaching. In this Gospel we learn at least five things about Jesus. We learn that He is prefigured, preexistent, preeminent, powerful, and is the presence of God. Let’s look at each one. I Prefigured – John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Unless you know the history of this moment, it seems a little odd. But for those who know Scripture, it is clear that John is really answering a que...

By now it is well known that the Catholic Church in America—and organized religion more generally—must contend with the sudden growth of people who identify with “no religion.” Nearly 30% of Americans now check the box for “no religion,”[1] including 40 percent of millennials.[2] The Catholic Church has been hit especially hard: for each person who joins the Catholic Church, nearly seven leave.[3] Many who become religious “Nones” claim they no longer affiliate with organized religion because of its closemindedness, corruption, or an apparent incompatibility between science and religion.[4] To some, these developments present a clear challenge with an obvious solution: do a better job catechizing young people by presenting them with arguments that prevent them from believing misconceptions...