One thing that characterizes the Class of 2024 is that it has suffered from continual interruptions. Big interruptions, small interruptions, cultural interruptions, and i-interruptions seemed to conspire to deprive this class of the constancy that others enjoyed. Several such interruptions come to mind. The interrupted Class of 2024 saw its final school … Read more
This coming school year, we may see a unique institution opening in Oklahoma. Saint Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School is slated to admit its first students. Barring court interference, the school will be a charter school, meaning its funding will come from the state. Virtual Charter Schools Two terms need to … Read more
The controversy over Harrison Butker’s fiery commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, has set the liberal world ablaze. The left is furious. His statements against abortion, contraception, feminism, and homosexual pride month, and his support for the Traditional Latin Mass and so much more leave no doubt about where he … Read more
Leftist and progressive forces always present themselves as the wave of the future. Indeed, Marxism’s Hegelian roots postulate history as a process of clashing classes inevitably evolving forward. The Catholic left likewise frames its liberation theology and similar programs in these terms. Marxist theory is very clear about the forward pace of … Read more
Having lost L’Univers and proving unable to publish another newspaper in Belgium, Louis Veuillot faced a very gloomy prospect. His family’s livelihood depended on the newspaper. Its suppression threatened them with poverty. He received many job offers. Some were tempting. Nonetheless, he refused them all so he would be free to pursue … Read more
On October 29-30, 1840, a remarkable debate took place in New York City. On one side were the representatives of the Public School Society—the predecessor of the current New York City Public School Board. On the other side was Bishop John Hughes, a great lion of American Catholicism. The most striking element … Read more
Pope Pius IX once said, “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” Saint Louis de Montfort preached, “Public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer…Holy Mother Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has always advocated public prayer in times of public tragedy and suffering.” On … Read more
California’s “Racial Justice Act” threatens to turn the very idea of justice on its head. The Act is a product of the overheated summer of 2020, an indirect result of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis the previous May. Self-Congratulation When he signed the Act, Governor Gavin Newsome’s celebratory press release contained a … Read more
The publication of Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors upset all governments and provoked incidents in many places. Some incidents were trivial; others were extremely serious. All of them revealed the hatred of the revolutionaries. In Naples and Palermo, they burned copies of the document in the public square. However, demonstrations of … Read more
On May 6, the Vatican was host to the annual spectacle of the swearing-in ceremony for the Swiss Guards, with 34 new recipients making their solemn promise to serve and protect the Pope and cardinals, even to the point of laying down their lives. “I swear to serve faithfully, loyally and honorably … Read more