My Blog
Fr. Ignatius Maternowski: D-Day Chaplain
You never know where you’re going to meet a possible future saint: at church, in the grocery store, or strapped to a parachute just a few hundred feet over occupied France, surrounded by a cacophony of roaring engines and exploding anti-aircraft shells. Read the rest...
The Story of the Crown of Thorns
When the magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady (Notre Dame) in Paris caught fire earlier this week, the world was mesmerized by the apparent destruction of such an historical and holy edifice—one of the most widely recognized and frequently visited structures in the...
Mary, A Queen of Another Kind
What could have been? It is likely this question came to the mind of the forty-four-year-old Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and the rightful queen of England, on the morning of February 8, 1587, as she awaited her execution at the hands of English Protestants. Her tragic...
Did the Church Destroy Civilization?
The Western academic bias against the Christian faith in general and the Catholic Church specifically has been ongoing since the Enlightenment. Although today there are some areas of scholarship where the bias has been beaten back or even dismantled, in most...
The Last Papal Martyr
The men who have worn the shoes of the fisherman have overwhelmingly been holy individuals dedicated to leading the Church through the turmoil of human history. Of course, there have been some who led less than holy lives and used the papacy for political and economic...
The Saint Who Reformed Priestly Purity
By the eleventh century, the Church found itself in great need of reform, especially the clergy, and the Holy Spirit provided a series of reform-minded popes. These popes began their ecclesial careers as monks, and many of them had spent time at the famous reformed...
The Real Story of Christ’s Warrior Monks
For many years, Hollywood’s treatment of the Crusades and the medieval period has been rooted in fallacy rather than historical fact (and not too popular at the box office), with Ridley Scott’s deplorable Kingdom of Heaven (2005) as a prime example. So, when I saw a...
Did the Church Chain Up the Bible?
In his 1929 book Survivals and New Arrivals, Hilaire Belloc examined the forces attacking the Catholic Church and its role in society. He put them into two chief categories: “survivals,” those “old forms of attack” that continue to be used by the Church’s enemies but...
Bl. Miguel Pro: Anti-Fascist Martyr
The twentieth century was witness to the rise of three political ideologies that brought destruction and death to the world and persecution to the Catholic Church. Communism, National Socialism, and Fascism may appear to be at odds in their teachings, but each of...
Columbus: the Real Story
In popular myth, Columbus is the very symbol of European greed and genocidal imperialism. In reality, he was a dedicated Christian concerned first and foremost with serving God and his fellow man. Peering into the future, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) could not...
Fr. Ignatius Maternowski: D-Day Chaplain
You never know where you’re going to meet a possible future saint: at church, in the grocery store, or strapped to a parachute just a few hundred feet over occupied France, surrounded by a cacophony of roaring engines and exploding anti-aircraft shells.
The Story of the Crown of Thorns
When the magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady (Notre Dame) in Paris caught fire earlier this week, the world was mesmerized by the apparent destruction of such an historical and holy edifice—one of the most widely recognized and frequently visited structures in the world.
Mary, A Queen of Another Kind
What could have been? It is likely this question came to the mind of the forty-four-year-old Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and the rightful queen of England, on the morning of February 8, 1587, as she awaited her execution at the hands of English Protestants. Her tragic story is not well known (many confuse her with “Bloody Mary” or Mary Tudor, who reigned as Queen of England from 1553-1558), but that might change with a recently released movie starring Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I.
Did the Church Destroy Civilization?
The Western academic bias against the Christian faith in general and the Catholic Church specifically has been ongoing since the Enlightenment. Although today there are some areas of scholarship where the bias has been beaten back or even dismantled, in most institutions of higher learning it is still alive and well.
The Last Papal Martyr
The men who have worn the shoes of the fisherman have overwhelmingly been holy individuals dedicated to leading the Church through the turmoil of human history. Of course, there have been some who led less than holy lives and used the papacy for political and economic gain, but for those “bad” popes there are many more others who lived authentically their calling as universal shepherd and vicar of Christ.
The Saint Who Reformed Priestly Purity
By the eleventh century, the Church found itself in great need of reform, especially the clergy, and the Holy Spirit provided a series of reform-minded popes. These popes began their ecclesial careers as monks, and many of them had spent time at the famous reformed Benedictine monastery at Cluny in France. When Bruno of Alsace was elected pope in 1049, taking the name Leo IX, he initiated one of the most comprehensive reforms in Church history.
The Real Story of Christ’s Warrior Monks
For many years, Hollywood’s treatment of the Crusades and the medieval period has been rooted in fallacy rather than historical fact (and not too popular at the box office), with Ridley Scott’s deplorable Kingdom of Heaven (2005) as a prime example. So, when I saw a trailer for the new History Channel series Knightfall, I was interested but wary of its accuracy. Unfortunately, my fears about an inaccurate portrayal of history (even allowing for appropriate dramatic license) were confirmed.
Knightfall purports to tell the history of the last days of the military religious order known as the Knights Templar.