The word “immediate” has a few different connotations. The most common is the sense of something happening without delay. When a child cries for a toy, he wants that toy immediately. To understand that life consists of a gap between what we desire and when we are satisfied is part of maturity. To demand “instant gratification” [...]
Bill Cosby is not a Catholic, so what does he have to do with the Catholic Church? To answer that question, I am going to bring in Plato, Socrates, St. Bernadette and the now obscure comedian Professor Irwin Corey (pictured below). It all began early this morning, when I woke up angry. I was at the [...]
Joseph Pearce and I are honored to do quite a bit of work for EWTN, the worldwide Catholic television network, founded by Mother Angelica. We often overlook the good that the Network does and the way it moves people around the world who watch it. This is because months or even years can pass between when we [...]
George Takei and a cat We live in an age where all it takes to be good, right and morally superior is to change your Facebook profile picture. Hans Fiene writes of our generation and those that follow us ... More than we wanted to find the perfect prom date, we wanted to find our own [...]
Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Mat. 10:37) These words of Jesus are about what the Church calls Detachment. ... which is not this Detachment is a cold word, and implies that [...]
"Lose Control" the poster says. I think there is a connection between Fifty Shades of Grey and the Islamic State, and it's not the obvious one: the fact that devout Muslims, like devout Christians, would see sexual perversion and pornography as decadent and sinful. No, there's something deeper than that. Concerning Fifty Shades of Grey, I recently [...]
I had just come from an experience that preyed upon me in ways that are hard to describe. I had seen a common sight - the true Faith knocked down and a false one set mockingly in its place. I often see this at suburban Masses, but today I saw it up close, outside of Mass. [...]
Yours truly overacting as King Lear. Over at the Christian Shakespeare, I've been given permission to reprint an essay from Logos by Shakespeare scholar Ken Colston on how sacrificial love redeems nihilism in Shakespeare's King Lear. Colston sees Lear as a fully Catholic play, and unpacks its Christian elements, using C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton [...]
G. K. Chesterton In the comment section of my most recent post on the clergy sex scandal, reader Michael R. asks … Got any advice for a Catholic who doesn’t know where to stand with the clergy? Should one’s Church life merely consist of the sacramental life, and taking clergy’s statements with a pinch of salt? [...]
Here are some clips of an excellent special recently aired by EWTN, in which I portray J. R. R. Tolkien, and in which author Joseph Pearce describes the Catholic elements of The Lord of the Rings. Everything I say as Tolkien are word-for-word quotations from his writings. The special also features artwork by Jef Murray. As [...]