Entries by The Catholic Thing

The Parents’ Rebellion

Robert Royal: Politicians are backing Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ initiatives in schools. If you’re still sending your kids to such schools, either get them out or get involved. Terry McAuliffe, the once and (possibly) future governor of Virginia, said something during a campaign debate last week that surprised many of us who thought we […]

Catholic Seeds Planted in Afghanistan

  Ines A. Murzaku: We’ve had saintly examples of Catholic witness among Muslims before, and the results in Afghanistan may someday surprise us.  As even the military leaders of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan are admitting their failures and after so much else has gone wrong in that perpetually troubled nation, it’s good to remember that, […]

The Pope and Civil Unions

Fr. Gerald E. Murray: Pope Francis’ renewed endorsement of same-sex civil unions is gravely scandalous and causes immense harm to souls.  In the course of the in-flight press conference after his Apostolic Journey to Hungary and Slovakia, Pope Francis was asked: “[Y]esterday arrived news of a resolution in the European Parliament which invites the member states to recognize […]

Biden’s Abortion Fig Leaves and Masks Are [Finally] Off

Abortionist: Killing black babies is a “blessing” Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas: It’s time for bishops to ban Joe Biden from Holy Communion in their dioceses in advance of his ever setting foot in their territory. “My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect […]

Out of a Clear Blue Sky

Brad Miner: At the New York Athletic Club are three memorials displaying the names of the fallen: from World War I, World War II, and September 11, 2001. I am a New Yorker by choice, having lived in the NYC area since 1977. I expect to die here. And I still have vivid memories of September […]

Jordan Peterson and the Search for a Meaningful Life [+Video]

Christopher Kaczor: Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson’s profound thinking about life and suffering has brought him to the very vestibule of the Catholic Church.  Jordan Peterson’s work has not only provoked powerful reactions from defenders of woke orthodoxy, but also reconsiderations by atheists, agnostics, and religious “Nones” about the wisdom of Biblical stories. In our book Jordan […]

A Christian Response to a Defeat

Michele McAloon: When we remember the sacrifices of our military in Iraq and Afghanistan, we must not despair. Remember too Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and hope. Withdrawal or defeat? Armchair quarterbacks and history books will debate the question for decades to come. For the majority of Americans watching the debacle of Afghanistan, this question is […]

Plow that Field

Randall Smith: God has asked us to plant this field, the field we have before us now in the United States of America.  And we do. . .what?  We grumble. I’ve been watching The Chosen with friends, a show about Jesus and his disciples. I’m not going to comment on it, but you can read Brad Miner’s review here.  […]

How We Lost the Bible

Casey Chalk: The promotion of Biblical interpretations serving secular, liberal political agendas of sex and race is only the latest manifestation of a centuries-old trend. The Bible makes no explicit condemnations of transgenderism. It makes no claims as to the morality of abortion. It encourages racial reparations. Such claims can be found virtually everywhere in […]

Race, Covenant, and Forgiveness

James F. Keating: Today’s racial “illuminati” see only guilt (whites) and innocence (blacks). Redemption and reconciliation through forgiveness are missing. Sixty years after the Civil Rights Movement and ten years after the triumphant election of the first African-American president, the question of race has returned with urgency and fury. There is, alas, a group of Catholic intellectuals who […]

Liberty, License, Gratitude

Robert Royal: If a civil public square is to exist for us, especially now, it will take a rediscovered gratitude for the foundations that made American life exceptional in human history. On the Fourth of July (even “as celebrated” on the 5th, as today), we all ought to be grateful for the freedoms of our American […]

A Little Clarity on Some Big Questions

Robert Royal: Many of our social problems – notoriously including easy abortion – stem from the breakdown of the family, which became supercharged with the advent of the sexual revolution. The Pew Research Center, a reliable source on American attitudes about religion, found in 2019 that 43 percent of American Catholics were “unaware” of Church teaching […]

This Day

Brad Miner: We remember those who gave their lives in battle. As President Lincoln said in 1863, “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” The Catholic Thing was founded the week after Memorial Day in 2008, but in eight of the following dozen years, we’ve published a column, either by Robert Royal […]