It makes us think of someone who is strict, stern, and so excessively and pointlessly austere that he is unable to appreciate the delights of creation. But asceticism did once have a positive meaning ...

The reference is primarily to the prophets of the Old Testament, including such giants as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos and Hosea. In the Old Testament a prophet is not primarily one who predicts ...

John Henry Newman by Sir John Everett Millais, Public Domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Lately, I’ve had occasion to read two books by Saint John Henry Newman. Let’s start with Loss and Gain.

A proper etiquette does exist for how we address our Church leaders. As a point of courtesy, all Catholics should be familiar with these forms of address. Even though we may live in an increasingly ...

Two lengths of fetters are here fused in a single chain, displayed in a church all its own near the Roman Colosseum. The bonds, according to tradition, once held fast the limbs of St. Peter the ...

Suppose the great edifice of Western civilization had collapsed around you — all its truths, all its certainties, all its aspirations smashed to meaningless shards. Suppose . . . oh, I don’t know, ...

Catholic World Report Editor’s note: The Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based public policy research center, has just published a groundbreaking study, A Vision of Hope: Catholic Schooling in ...

The most important person in my life had called me the day before and told me that he wanted to drive up to Duluth, Minnesota, to talk. There we were, the next day, walking along the north shore of ...

Our fascination with miracles is inextricably tied up with our fear of death. Miracles give us hope for preservation from suffering and, ultimately, an escape from death. They not only give us hope ...

We kept hearing the end was near, but he kept on going and going. Besides in his coffin, the last time I saw him was when he took the podium at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and offered a ...

When I gave a talk recently at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the subject of the Second Coming, I was I asked to describe what our resurrected bodies will be like. St. Paul writes to the ...

Children all over the world begin viewing hard-core Internet pornography long before their parents even consider discussing its dangers. Sean Covey, son of the famous Stephen Covey, has written a ...