Entries by The Catholic Thing

‘Christian Nationalism’ and the ‘Catholic Thing’

David G. Bonagura, Jr.: Beleaguered Christians, appalled by America’s moral collapse, seek ways to stem the tide. Catholics and other Christians represent the final obstacles preventing the victory of the secular Left. “Christian Nationalism” has fast become a favorite boogeyman term of the cultural Left. Its precise meaning, as many have noted, is intentionally ambiguous so […]

“Truly, This Man Was the Son Of God”

Randall Smith: If this man is God, it fundamentally alters our understanding of the cosmos and human life. One of the strangest lines in the Gospels is uttered by the centurion at the foot of the Cross. In Mark, we are told that when he saw that Jesus had “breathed his last,” he said: “Truly […]

How Bad Are We?

Casey Chalk: As Aquinas teaches, passion, habit, or miseducation can weaken our natural inclinations to the good, but these are aberrations and distortions of the natural law. In January, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor offered a “courtesy visit” to Panama, invited by her longtime friend, U.S. Ambassador Mari Aponte, “to highlight the values shared by the United […]

Validating The Catholic Thing

Father Jerry J. Pokorsky: The Church continues to carry Christ’s saving words to the ends of the earth, despite Judases close to the heart of the Church who abuse their holy offices. Many Catholics (though enjoying the virtues of a Catholic upbringing) learn to reject the Church that formed their ethics. They profess “complicated” reasons for […]

The Legal Making of Orphans

John D. Grondelski: Surrogacy deliberately sets out to make offspring orphans – in the name of assuaging somebody’s felt want to be a “parent.” Michigan, which in 2022 ensconced a right to abortion-on-demand into its state constitution, may be on the verge of another adaptation to the sexual revolution: adopting commercial surrogacy. The Great Lake State, […]

Confessions of a Different Kind of Democrat

David Carlin: The moral and intellectual leadership of the Democratic Party has fallen into the hands of ultra-radical “progressives” who are the sworn enemies of decency and common sense.   I used to be a good Democrat.  I was a Democratic elected official, serving twelve years in the Rhode Island Senate, two of those as majority leader.  […]

Marx and Lenin Explain It All for You

David Carlin: If we wish to save the Catholic religion or the United States of America or Western civilization, we had better join the battle against the current incarnation of the Marxist-Leninist schema. And fast. More than a hundred years ago, Communist revolutionaries, clever Marxist-Leninists in particular, explained their theory of history and morality in a […]

There Is No AI Shortcut to Real Education

Dan Guernsey: Artificial Intelligence can neither love a student nor inspire greatness. Despondency and cynicism result when learning is isolated, unrecognized by other humans, or simply reduced to data sets. Educational optimists predict that artificial intelligence (AI) will soon provide amazing efficiencies and progress in teaching and learning. There is no doubt that AI will benefit […]

The Litany of “I Still Can Believe. . .”

A reflection for All Saints’ Day On bad days, I still can believe. . . That convenience is an intrinsic good That inconvenience is an intrinsic evil That ease and comfort are the ends of life and the means to heaven That eating, exercise and entertainment could be all-fulfilling That earthly success reflects spiritual merit […]

The Religion of Global Climate Change

Michael Pakaluk: Laudate Deum consistently turns qualified statements about the world into certainties appropriate only for articles of faith.  Unlike a truly scientific discussion, it does not review counter-objections or conflicting evidence.   My worry about Laudate Deum (“all you praise God”), the recent Apostolic Exhortation “to all people of good will on the climate crisis,” is that because […]

Islam and Christian Realism

Francis X. Maier: For all of Islam’s strengths, anti-Jewish and anti-Christian prejudice has a long and often bitter history in Islam, despite claims to the contrary. Most Westerners were shocked by the savagery of Hamas’s recent attacks on Israel and the systematic murder of Israeli citizens by Hamas terrorists  That wickedness was compounded by blaming Israel […]