Forced by circumstances to get a bite to eat at a “fast food” place, I expected to find that frenetic, machine-like service, centered on maximum efficiency and the worship of speed. Fast food facilities are designed to move people in and out quickly, with little concern for the pondering of anything. They are strictly focused … Read more
The announcement that the “Silence Breakers” have been named “Person of the Year” by TIME magazine has catapulted the sexual harassment scandals into the national spotlight. Sexual assault in the workplace has taken on crisis proportions. Many are saying that men and women will soon revert to minimizing contact among themselves. They fear a new … Read more
Last year, I made a New Year’s resolution that I would make my Sundays Internet-free. It was not easy but, with one small exception, I was able to make a complete break with the worldwide web on Sundays. As we enter 2018, I will be renewing the resolution. I made the resolution because I was … Read more
There are some who claim that the Divine Commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself means to treat all with equal charity. Such a misconception can have disastrous effects upon an economy or society, since it is not possible to give everything to everyone. Saint Thomas Aquinas, commenting on Saint Augustine’s observations, claims that in … Read more
Adapted from Return to Order If by “dream,” we mean the process by which we idealize our goals in society. This type of dream sustained by grace is what the Church proposed and spread throughout Christendom. It is what Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira called the “most striking, indisputable, and audacious dream imaginable.”1 Free Book: … Read more
The rash of sexual harassment scandals is sweeping the nation to the point that it seems almost no male is exempt from its terrible fury. Anyone can be denounced by the media. Liberals point to “toxic masculinity” and social structures that must be overthrown. Feminists blame the remnants of patriarchy that manage to survive in … Read more
Frenetic intemperance is a term we coined to describe a restless and reckless spirit inside certain sectors of modern economy that foments a drive to throw off legitimate restraints and gratify all desires. Perhaps the most obvious example of frenetic intemperance is that of the speculative bubble of the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis. It is … Read more
In making my list of gift suggestions for Christmas, I could not help but reflect that what we need most are things spiritual, not material. We need things that will not agitate us but which will fill us with peace and order. We don’t need “stuff” to fill our closets but gifts that are enduring … Read more
Christmas should be a time of great joy, but oftentimes it isn’t. Perhaps the joy is lost in the season’s gaudy and frantic commercialization that has turned a great holy day into a secular holiday. There is also the loud revelry of winter parties present that tends to suffocate the memories of calm Christmases past. … Read more
This “liberating” secular society inevitably leaves a profound void inside the soul of modern man creating a frustration and desolation that many have termed a spiritual wasteland. Such an attitude calls to mind the condition that Saint Thomas Aquinas calls acedia, which he defines as the weariness for holy and spiritual things and a subsequent … Read more
