By Sean Fitzpatrick Sean Fitzpatrick is a senior contributor to Crisis. He’s graduate of Thomas Aquinas College and the Headmaster of Gregory the Great Academy. He lives in Scranton, Penn. with his wife and family of four. I had heard that this store went “all out” at Christmas, but I was still taken aback. Ten-foot-tall nutcrackers, sprawling miniature villages, plush snow unicorns, plastic pine trees encrusted with glitter and glass, jingle bell muzak at high volume, seasonally garish sweaters, gigantic drummer boys para-pum-pum-pumming, a marshmallow army of leering lawn inflatables, and a cornucopia of stockings, wreaths, and wrapping paper. Even …
Author: Manuel Xavier
Have Yourself a Simple Little Christmas
By Marlo Safi Marlo Safi is a senior contributor at Crisis. She previously served as a Collegiate Network fellow with National Review. Her writing has also appeared in The American Conservative, The Spectator USA, and The University Bookman, among others. She writes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After years of literary success and popular acclaim, Leo Tolstoy became dissatisfied with the complacency of the intelligentsia in what it had accepted as life’s meaning (or lack thereof)—in a word, he was suicidal. He had become convinced that no answer to his existential questions could be found in the “chemical compositions of the stars” …
What is Heresy, and How Did St. Irenaeus Fight It?
What is a heresy, and who is a heretic? Rev. John P. Cush is a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn. He serves as Academic Dean and as a formation advisor at the Pontifical North American College, Vatican City-State. Fr. Cush holds the Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) from the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he also teaches as an adjunct professor of Theology and U.S. Catholic Church History. He has served as a parish priest, high school seminary teacher, and as a Censor Librorum for his Diocese, as well as a theological consultant for NET TV. Fr. Cush is a …
This 17th-century German Jesuit was the last man to know “everything”
Centuries before the internet, this priest was the world’s leading repository of information. In the modern era, knowledge has become so specialized that even a brilliant person can spend decades on the quest to gain expertise in one particular subject. Centuries ago, however, far less was known about math, medicine, chemistry, and basically any other field of study. So it was possible for one extraordinary intellect to become acquainted with the bulk of existing scholarly information: Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit of colossal erudition, could “rightfully claim all knowledge as his domain.” The son of a theology professor, he was born …
Life of St. John of the Cross
Saint John of the Cross, Confessor, Doctor of the Church December 14 is the feast day of Saint John of the Cross. Ora pro nobis. In 1542, was born at Fontiveros, a hamlet of old Castile, Saint John of the Cross, renowned through the entire Christian world,as the restorer of the Carmelite Order. His mother, after his father’s early death, went to Medina del Campo, where John commenced his studies, and continued them until he entered the order of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel. From his early youth he had entertained a child-like devotion to the Blessed Virgin, who …
‘Miraculous’ Novena to Protect From Papal Confusion
Faithful Catholics will be praying during the month of November in the hope that Pope Francis will uphold Church teaching. Across the world, the faithful have been scandalized by the Amazon Synod in Rome. The release of the synod’s final document has been heavily criticized by bishops and faithful alike for its focus on liberation theology, its pushing of paganism and women’s ordination, and for the ensuing confusion that it’s created. Though synod fathers are recommending these changes, it is up to Pope Francis to decide if and how they will be incorporated into the Church. How he will implement these recommendations will be outlined in …
Dead Theologians Society: The ‘memento mori’ youth group
Denver, Colo., Oct 28, 2019 / 03:12 pm (CNA). The movie stars the late and widely beloved Robin Williams, who plays an eccentric and unorthodox teacher that inspires his students to re-found a clandestine club called the “Dead Poets Society.” Members of the club meet in a cave to read and discuss poetry, including their own poems. In 1997, the film inspired Cotter’s youth group to found their own clandestine society. “Following watching that film, a conversation was initiated by the teens, very enthusiastically, where they talked about, ‘Wow. Instead of learning about poets and writers as they did in …
Cardinal Robert Sarah: A Prophetic Voice for the Catholic Church
Father Scalia grew up in the Diocese of Arlington and attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He then studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Since his ordination in 1996 he has served as parochial vicar at several parishes and as pastor of Saint John the Beloved in McLean. He currently serves as the Episcopal Vicar for Clergy and directs the permanent diaconate program. He has written for various publications and is a frequent speaker on matters of faith and doctrine. Father Scalia is the author …
Spiritual Classic Introduces Readers to the Wisdom of St. John of the Cross
Claire works for the Avila Foundation as editor and contributor of their website spiritualdirection.com. Her work is also featured on various Catholic sites including Catholicmom.com, Endowgroups.org, and The National Catholic Register, and on her own blog, eventhesparrow.com. She speaks frequently on the topics of saints, spirituality, respect for life, and the mission and vocation of women in the Church today. Claire has led a large women’s study group at her Phoenix parish for the last six years and has a passion for helping women see the beauty and possibility in their own interior lives and their unrepeatable place in the …
Pro-Abortion Ford Foundation Major Funder of Key Synod Organizations
Archbishop Roque Paloschi of Porto Velho, Brazil, addresses the media conference following the Synod assembly session Oct. 17 at the Vatican (Edward Pentin/National Catholic Register). INSET: Screen image captures from the Ford Foundation database detail grants given to the Indigenous Council of Roraima, COICA, COIAB and CIMI between 2006-2018. Pro-Abortion Ford Foundation Major Funder of Key Synod Organizations The Register has learned that organizations belonging to REPAM, which has held the primary role in organizing the synod’s proceedings, have received millions of dollars in grants from the U.S. foundation. Edward Pentin VATICAN CITY — A missionary council for indigenous peoples …