The seal of Confession is a marvel of the Church’s pastoral care of souls. It is the promise on the part of the priest never to reveal the contents of a confession. Sinners are thus reassured that the secrets of their iniquities are forever sealed before God. They leave the confessional forgiven and at peace. … Read more
A Modern Parable Imagine that you are incredibly wealthy. This is not just the kind of wealth that allows you to have a half dozen homes. It’s a fortune that you will never use in your lifetime. From your detached perspective, you can see that things in the nation are not going as you think … Read more
The coronavirus crisis has turned the world upside down. Nowhere is this more evident than in the political battles now raging around how to deal with the crisis. Not only has the Culture War not ended, but it intensified. Things are rapidly degenerating into the realm of the unimaginable. The most dramatic changes are those … Read more
As the debate rages over stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic, most conservative opposition has focused on the damage to the economy, excessive government surveillance, or the massive increase in government debt. These are very valid and important concerns. But the coronavirus’s most enduring damage will not be a lower GDP, higher debt, or even … Read more
Panic Fueled by WHO, Governments, the Media, and Religious Authorities In an online lecture, historian Roberto de Mattei recalled that contagion can be both a physical and psychological phenomenon. He recalled Gustave Le Bon, who wrote The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. “The modern theory of contagion, which was inspired by Le Bon, … Read more
Public officials dealing with the coronavirus have forgotten one measure—the importance of prayers. Such a consideration is discarded by a secular society that does not believe that God can act upon the nature He created. Prayer is thus ineffective. History proves otherwise. The Church recorded countless cases of individuals and societies that were saved by … Read more
Bolstered by Mass Hysteria and Vatican Support If the Guinness Book of Records were to track the most senseless attitude possible, the award would probably go to someone who committed suicide for fear of dying. With the coronavirus epidemic, that is what the world is doing. It is playing out on the social scale, … Read more
I highly recommend the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a wonderful prayer for our times. Thus, I will comment on some of its invocations and the lessons they can teach us. Heart of Jesus Formed by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mother The first invocation is a most … Read more
April 21 is the feast of Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church. Intrepid in the battles for the Faith, he defended the Church against the English King William Rufus. He once said that “Christ does not want a slave for a spouse. He loves nothing in this world so … Read more
Harvard University is a curious place. It represents the best and the worst of American tradition. Its red-brick buildings and well-manicured lawns are the symbols of the highest American intellectual traditions. At the same time, Harvard has made a kind of cottage industry of condescension. The May-June 2020 issue of their magazine of the same … Read more
