–A new biography of Oscar Wilde has been issued. This is After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal by his grandson Merlin Holland. It is reviewed in Literary Review by Thomas W Hodgkinson who summarizes it as describing the unique … Continue reading →| The Evelyn Waugh Society
–The Evening Standard newspaper has published an article about a noted shop on St James’s Street. This is J J Fox and the product they have on offer is cigars. After a discussion of their history, in which it is … Continue reading →| The Evelyn Waugh Society
October 23rd 2025 We are told all too frequently that some event is ‘historic’ or ‘the first time since the Reformation’. But the State visit by the King and Queen to Pope Leo XIV was true in both …| Bishop in Europe
by William Trollinger As I write this on Monday morning, Lance Shockley is scheduled to be killed at Potosi Correctional Institution by the state of Missouri at 6pm on Tuesday for the 2005 murder of Highway Patrol Sergeant Carl Graham, Jr.. Perhaps Missouri’s Governor Mike Kehoe will relent in response to very serious questions about […]| Righting America
Fordham hosted a film screening and discussion honoring the centenary of the life and legacy of John McNeill, a pioneer in Catholic LGBTQ+ ministry. Panelists connected McNeill’s work to modern national, theological and political issues on Oct. 6 in the McNally Amphitheatre at Fordham Lincoln Center. The event opened with a screening of the hour-long... The post Fordham Honors Catholic LGBTQ+ Ministry Trailblazer appeared first on The Observer.| The Observer
The reader might wonder about the relation between the previous post and my discussion of Arman Razaali. If I could say it is more likely that he was lying than that the thing happened as stated, why shouldn’t they believe the same about my personal account? In the first place there is a question of … Continue reading Prayer and Probability| Entirely Useless
Lies and Scott Alexander Scott Alexander wrote a very good post called Might People on the Internet Sometimes Lie, which I have linked to several times in the past. In the first linked post (Lies, Religion, and Miscalibrated Priors), I answered Scott’s question (why it is hard to believe that people are lying even when … Continue reading Might People on the Internet Sometimes Tell the Truth?| Entirely Useless
Christendom's miraculous naval victory over Islamic invaders 454 years ago should continue to inspire us today.| Blaze Media
Turning Point USA’s first tour stop after the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 was at the University of Minnesota, and for many the experience was spiritual. The post Turning Point’s Christian Revival appeared first on UNICORN RIOT.| UNICORN RIOT
If Augustine’s two cities can’t be neatly mapped onto the modern distinction between Church and State, how can his thought help illumine Church-State relations?| Public Discourse
–A post on the website UnHerd.com seems to have been inspired by the recent book of Eleanor Doughty on the British aristocracy Heirs and Graces. This has been mentioned in several previous posts. The article is written by Pratinav Anil … Continue reading →| The Evelyn Waugh Society
For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, a group of out LGBTQ+ people proudly participated in a pilgrimage during the Vatican's Jubilee events. Over 1,300 LGBTQ+ people and their families crossed through the Holy Door of St. Peter on Saturday, carrying a rainbow crucifix and wearing shirts with rainbow hearts. The event marked the first time an LGBTQ+ group's pilgrimage has been included in the church's official agenda. “It is necessary to get rid of prejudices," Monsignor ...| Outtraveler.com
Letters in Exile: Transnational Journeys of a Harlem Renaissance Writer is a compilation of the private correspondence of Claude McKay, the queer Jamaican-born Harlem Renaissance visionary. In this Q&A, editors... READ MORE| Yale University Press
Not Rushing to Premature Ecumenism Patriarch Bartholomew 2024 (Source) It is a widely known fact that Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy celebrate Easter on different days. Some years they celebrate E…| Handwritings on the Wall
According to his detractors, Francis, in addition to “downplaying” the Church’s condemnation of abortion, failed sufficiently to condemn so-called sexual sins. The post Papal Sins Part II: The Four Papal “Sins” appeared first on Contending Modernities.| Contending Modernities
The U.S. Catholic community—numbering 53 million self-identified Catholic adults, or roughly one-fifth of the U.S. population—is complex and layered (as is the phrase “opposition to Pope Francis”).| Contending Modernities
Devotees of the Anchoring Truths Podcast are no doubt aware that interest in the moral foundations of law has reached a fever pitch among those in the conservative legal movement. Culture-shaping decisions of the Supreme Court such as in Bostock and Dobbs have focused the attention of lawyers, judges, and scholars to the fact that ... The post Our Natural Law Moment(s) with Dennis Wieboldt first appeared on Anchoring Truths.| Anchoring Truths
I admit: I was in a rush in a bookshop and I picked up Love Forms by Claire Adam because its beautiful cover reminded me of Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, one of my favourite books of the decade. The blurb, promising adopted babies, nuns and an older protagonist, suggested it might be up my street, so I bought it. | reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
Fr. Spitzer’s Universe: Exploring Life’s Big Questions| The Russell Kirk Center
NEW YORK (RNS) — Choirs that once packed Brooklyn sanctuaries now sing to smaller crowds as pandemic-era streaming lingers and gentrification reshapes Black neighborhoods.| RNS
Eighteenth-century America was predominantly Protestant, and the Thirteen Colonies suffered from a virulent strain of anti-Catholicism. Despite this, the mostly-Protestant Founding Fathers, while being greatly inspired by their Protestant English forebears, were greatly inspired by Catholic thinkers as well. The United States was not established as a Christian country, with American diplomats asserting in 1797: […]| Journal of the American Revolution
The essay “Por nada del mundo. Anarquismo y Catolicismo”, by Spanish poet and essayist José Bergamín, should be read as a wartime reflection on the historical impasse of the Spanish Civil War. Firs…| Infrapolitical Reflections
The atomic theory in Kilburn| Bowblog
Our latest writing is now published on Substack. Follow our weekly content there at https://thinkingwest.substack.com/ We continue to highlight the great minds and ideas that built the West through in-depth articles on history, culture, literature, and the Great Books. We’d love for you to subscribe over there!| ThinkingWest
Met Antony Bashir's 1964 talk on Orthodox-Catholic rapprochement is interesting for the history of Orthodox responses to Vatican II and the role that that Melkite Catholic Church played in it. It should be read alongside the essay by Melkite Catholic Patriarch Maximos Sayegh that was published in the Word the previous year. The talk is also noteworthy for its discussion of Western Rite Orthodoxy within the context of the problem of Uniatism.| Notes on Arab Orthodoxy
After Met Antony Bashir published a rather negative assessment of the Melkite Catholic Church in 1957, it is interesting to see that in 1963 the Word magazine, under his direction, published a lengthy essay about Eastern Catholic identity by the Melkite Catholic Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh. There can be little doubt that this is a sign of the rapidly warming ecumenical relations during the Second Vatican Council, and much of what the patriarch says foreshadows the Balamand Document and Zoghb...| Notes on Arab Orthodoxy
I know, I know … I know. Wrong holiday, dude! Christmas was three months ago—this one’s supposed to be about Jesus! Believe me: in just a ten-day survey, there were Jesuses, crucifixes, arrows, death beds, and blood aplenty. Dyed eggs and bunnies? Notsomuch. If your author had properly thought ahead, maybe he’d have been able … Continue reading Big Mary Country: An Orbit Vacation Postcard from La Tierra de María, México| Pittsburgh Orbit
At the beginning of the re-establishment of the Word as the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America's official magazine, | Notes on Arab Orthodoxy
At the beginning of the re-establishment of the Word as the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America's official magazine, | Notes on Arab Orthodoxy
Because the question of the veneration of St Gregory Palamas by Eastern Catholics comes up from time to time on social media, I thought it m...| araborthodoxy.blogspot.com
Rosa Mistika is a Swahili classic by one of Tanzania’s most revered writers, Euphrase Kezilahabi. It was banned upon publication in 1971 and translated into English by Jay Boss Rubin... READ MORE| Yale University Press
In the prologue to his new book The Last Supper, Paul Elie remembers being a young man in the 1980s, “riding the D train with The Village Voice and the Pensées in a black messenger bag.”| Compact
I’ve written a new piece about two philosophers – Raymond Geuss and the late Alasdair MacIntyre – for the Marginalia Review of Books. There’s no paywall. You can read it her…| Benjamin Studebaker
Dr. Matthew Dal Santo joins Spencer to discuss his Communio article (https://www.communio-icr.com/articles/print/a-theological-reading-of-the-russian-regime-sergei-bulgakov-and-the-theocra) on Russia’s political regime. We discuss some of the distinctions between being “sub-theocratic”, “post-theocratic”, and anti-theocratic, as well as how these categories intersect with genuine and degraded theologies. This podcast is brought to you by Spencer Hess with the support of The Maurin ....| The Maurin Academy for Regenerative Studies
Next Monday, December 16, we will be joined by Harry Murray for his second of four sessions on topics of his choice, related to Personalism and the Catholic Worker Movement! This upcoming session Harry will be presenting on the philosopher and theologian, Nikolai Berdyaev. To attend either this live session and discussion or watch the ... Read more| The Maurin Academy for Regenerative Studies
Some New World Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age By: Peter Harrison Capital Hates Everyone Fascism or Revolution By: Maurizio Lazzarato The Worlds of Public Health Anthropological Excursions 1st Edition By: Didier Fassin Silent Coup How Corporations Overthrew Democracy By: Claire Provost, Matt Kennard The Need for Roots By: Simone Weil On the Ecclesiastical Mystagogy A Theological Vision ... Read more| The Maurin Academy for Regenerative Studies
Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m. US Central Time, live on Zoom In collaboration with our friends at the Canterbury House in Chicago, we are hosting a Personalism roundtable discussion. Inspired from philosophers and writers such as Peter Maurin, Emmanuel Mounier, Nikolai Berdyaev, and many others. Some of the questions we will be pondering: The structure ... Read more| The Maurin Academy for Regenerative Studies
Franz Jägerstätter and Fr. Gabriel Gay are two lesser-known victims of the Nazis. May their prayers deliver Europe from the wolves of secularism and restore the European nations to the Faith which forged them. (essay by Joseph Pearce)| The Imaginative Conservative
RNS — While some cardinals emphasized continuity with Pope Francis, others put the spotlight on tradition.| RNS
Pope Francis is dead. He died by a suspected cerebral stroke Monday morning April 21, 2025. One day after Easter. World leaders are coming to Rome in the next few days for the Pope’s funeral. Everyone already seems to have pronounced their opinion on the matter. Some people on Facebook condemned those who pronounced their […]| The Cripplegate
The Roman Catholic leader “built bridges on the foundation of relationships” with Protestant ministers in Argentina.| Christianity Today
Translated from: Asad Rustum, Kanisat Madinat Allah Antakya al-'Uzma [The Church of the Great City of God Antioch], Jounieh: Editions St. Paul (1988), vol. 3, pp. 1141-143 | Notes on Arab Orthodoxy
I received a question recently about Romans 3:23, which states, “… all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (King James Version). The inquirer| Catholicism Explained
Many contemporary narratives cast the so-called “Dark Ages” as a period defined by intellectual stagnation and cultural regression, frequently attributing these trends to the influence of Christianity. Critics argue that the Church’s pervasive power stifled innovation and suppressed alternative modes of thought. However, a closer examination of the historical context reveals that the Church emergedContinue reading "How Christianity Civilized the Dark Ages"| ThinkingWest
There’s been a dustup over love. No, I’m not talking about Taylor and Travis, who seem to be doing swimmingly. It’s JD Vance.| Compact
A faithful catechist in Fr. Martin Hilbert’s parish came to see him. “Father Martin,” she said, “I have been teaching children about Adam and Eve, just as the Catechism tells us. But we can’t be…| Discovery Institute
Interested to learn more about converting to the Catholic faith? Check out our insights on the process of conversion to the Catholic Chruch.| About Catholics
Explore the philosophical and theological nuances of sin, examining its gravity and relationship to God's law and reason.| Catholic Q&A
In Mary’s body, we see the total gift of God’s grace in raising and glorifying our lowly bodies to that “lofty goal” unattainable by our own efforts. All the evil which eats up our bodies—our diseases, discomforts, lusts, and addictions—will be trampled upon not by abandoning the body, but by glorifying it. (essay by Bro. Thomas Nee)| The Imaginative Conservative
Liberty is not the right to do whatever I please, nor is liberty the necessity of doing whatever the dictator dictates; rather liberty is the right to do what I ought. Furthermore, “ought” is intrinsically related to purpose. The best way of finding out why a thing was made is to go to its maker. “Why did God make you?” (essay by Rev. Fulton Sheen)| The Imaginative Conservative
Moving ourselves out from under the noise of the day to day, even for a little while, is beautiful, and it can be healing, especially when interwoven with prayer.| This Catholic Family
Lorelei Savaryn reflects upon a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Champion during Advent.| This Catholic Family
My kids love to bring home items from the "Free to Take" table at our parish. This often means we're coming home with prayer cards, or pictures of the Divine Mercy, or little trinkets from religious organizations that send out things in the mail. One day this summer, I was rifling through a drawer in our kitchen that contained many items from the "Free to Take" table, and I found a relic of St. Anthony preserved inside a metal frame!| This Catholic Family
Many of the book lists for Catholic families often feature classic stories that are many years old. There is certainly something to be said for a timeless tale, and the books on these lists absolutely deserve a place on the shelf, but there are also many more recent titles that are worthy of designation. The booklist below contains beautiful stories for Advent and Christmas that have come out within the past six years.| This Catholic Family
The Catholic History of Halloween, Trick-or-Treating, and Whether or Not We’ll Let Our Kids go to a Haunted House!| This Catholic Family
By chance I was recently introduced to the ideas of Oswald Spengler – a German intellectual of the early 20th century whose claim to fame is the two-volume work The Decline of the West. The essential idea of Spengler is that civilizations may be described similarly to organisms, which either thrive, survive, or stagnate andContinue reading "The Great Tree of Western Civilization"| ThinkingWest
Thermopylae, Tours, Vienna—throughout the West’s history were a number of battles that scholars can point to and say ”this was the moment the West was saved.” Rescued from destruction at the last minute with the fate of a continent resting on a knife’s edge, battles offer a discrete point of separation between a culture’s continuationContinue reading "The Monk Who Saved Western Civilization"| ThinkingWest
When most of the Western democratic world are mourning the senseless murder of unarmed cartoonists in Paris, and rallying in huge numbers to reaffirm such basic values as freedom of speech and the right to criticize and resist religious bullying and authoritarianism, Pope Francis I took this moment as the perfect time to blame the victims and reassert exactly the opposite values:| Moderates of all Nations, Unite!
On the occasion of a new friend having entered into the Catholic Church this past Christmas and in gratitude to another new friend who has been like a nagging little brother to me, I wanted to comp…| Casual Histrionics
I’ve uploaded Episode 2 of Vocatio and this month we have been discussing Mary and the Divine Comedy. As usual, I wanted to post my presentation notes here in a blog post although I don’…| Casual Histrionics
I had a lovely time answering questions about the Catholic faith . I hope this has been helpful to all those walking this road with us ! I (who lean esoteric-or try to) was joined on the panel by m…| Casual Histrionics
I haven’t been posting much since I’ve been continuing to work on my Dante book that I’ve mentioned before and have resolved to work on it until the end of March at the very least…| Casual Histrionics
