The Catholic Thing

by James Matthew Wilson. It would be nearly impossible to overstate the influence on modern Christianity of the French mathematician, physicist, and Christian apologist Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). In his lifetime, Pascal was known chiefly for his work on the mathematics of probability and his experiments proving the reality of the vacuum, in addition to his controversial writings in

By Fr. Benedict Kiely. We remember Chesterton's great quip that the object of a New Year is that "we should have a new soul." Part of that, I think, apart from repentance and resolution to avoid the sins and failures of the past year, is to enter the new year with a sense of hope. Not a naïve optimism, but a sense of hope and trust in God, and a willingness to cooperate with Him,

By Jackie Dettling When I was seventeen years old, I aborted my baby. Abortion had never previously crossed my mind. I thought I would be a virgin until I fell in love, like the women in the novels I read from the public library. The ones with the handsome man riding up on a horse. Women in the 1970s devoured these new romance novels, featuring explicit depictions of sex, selling m

By Brad Miner. I got an. A. although The word "plagiarism" comes from the Latin plagiarius, meaning "kidnapper." I've known writers who've referred to a book or a poem or a play they've written as their "baby." And if somebody had pilfered their text, they'd have considered it tantamount to child abduction. The word, rendered as plagiary, didn't find its way into English until the

By Michael Pakaluk. I take it that charity has to be freely given by the person who shows charity. If I steal someone's credit card and purchase all kinds of goods with it for a homeless person, I am not showing charity, because that other person never gave his consent. If we are being strict about it - and why not be strict? - the $100 million that the U.S. bishops received in Fed

By Francis X. Maier. The new autobiography by Pope Francis, Hope , written with the help of Italian journalist Carlo Musso, is a mixed experience. On the one hand, it's filled with revealing personal details; Gospel wisdom on the futility of war and the urgency of mercy and forgiveness; the difference between hope and optimism; and exhortations to trust in God and the future. So fa

By Robert Royal. I sometimes wonder whether Thomas Aquinas, whose feast is today, hasn't been ill-served by being so universally praised - and therefore less really read. Please don't misunderstand. He's the GOAT ("Greatest of All Time," in sports parlance) among Christian thinkers. And - except for a few names like Plato and Aristotle - among all human thinkers, period. But in the

By David G. Bonagura, Jr. "Excellence," along with its cousin "success," is the most overused word in education. It adorns mission statements and admission pitches at all levels of both Catholic and secular schools, seeking to convince prospective students to enroll and prospective donors to give. The Catholic elementary school where I was educated, to name but one, had a citation

by Fr. Paul D. Scalia. The Acts of the Apostles recounts Saint Paul's conversion three different times. Some details vary, but one is constant. When Saul of Tarsus, lying on the ground outside Damascus, looks into the blinding light and asks who it is, the response is the same in each telling: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Saul was forever changed by that revelation. I am

By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza. In the work of evangelization is it sufficient to preach Christ crucified? Or do we need to offer something more than Jesus? Does successful evangelization require Jesus plus something more immediate, practical, useful? Jesus Himself alluded to such questions when he told the crowds eagerly following Him: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not bec