Upon arriving in Lourdes on pilgrimage on a cold, rainy winter day, I was feeling very much the pilgrim. I was cold, tired, and wet. The long trip had been exhausting and the walk in the drizzling rain from the train station to the hotel had drained me of energy. As I headed to the … Read more
I hate living in a secular world. It involves pretending that we live in a world without God. Religion becomes a personal thing without repercussions in everyday life. In this “real” secular world, God can exist, but not effectively act. Such a perception of God is, of course, false. I would hate to imagine what … Read more
A review of The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance by Jim Blasingame, (Florence, AL: SBN Books, 2014). A good book is one that provokes good questions in the mind of the reader. It need not provide all the answers. The important thing is to challenge the person to think about … Read more
Hardly a day passes when some barbarous act does not jump to the headlines. Barbarous—there is no other word to describe these vile deeds. Thus, whether it be the sadistic torturing, terrorist beheadings, mass shootings or truck ramming murder sprees (not to mention genocide and war), these acts are becoming ever more common. There is something … Read more
Self-service is often presented as the best of all buying options because it allows individuals to get the exact product they want quickly without interference from others. This increasingly means interfacing with some kind of efficient machine. People think that by making purchases “easier,” the buying experience is enriched. However, there is another side to … Read more
In the history of the Church, many martyrs died for the Faith. Starting with Saint Stephen the Protomartyr shortly after the Resurrection, they were the first to be remembered, venerated for their public witness and raised to the altars with the title of saint. There are also those who denied the Faith under pressure. They … Read more
There is the mistaken impression that for a modern economy to work efficiently, everything must be 24/7. Missing a beat is considered fatal to good business and economic productivity. All must be frenzied and hurried if one is to compete in today’s globalized economy. Such assumptions go against the necessities of human nature. People are … Read more
We note that technology does not refer only to the machines and computers that make up our industry. It also refers to those identical methods, procedures, and practices that men employ equally upon others and in this way imitates the action of efficient machines. This can be seen in the development of bureaucracy, teaching methods, … Read more
Over the past few decades, America has been invaded by an invisible army of ten million men. The impact of this army is fast becoming a crisis in urgent need of solutions. You might assume that this army is made up of illegal immigrants who are taking away jobs and overwhelming social services. But in fact, … Read more
Lawyers did not always exist in history. In fact, they are the fruit of the organic development of law in Christian civilization. No other civilization proved capable of giving rise to a profession to deal with a systematized body of laws or legal principles. Legal historian Harold Berman describes the situation well. He claims that … Read more
