There’s a delightful story at the beginning of Taylor Marshall’s book The Crucified Rabbi. As a young Episcopal priest Taylor went to visit a woman in hospital who turned out to be Jewish. He said some prayers with her and then, as he was leaving, saw that the rabbi was waiting. The rabbi was happy [...]

I am clearing out my back stock of my book Adventures in Orthodoxy. The price is just $6.95. If you would like to buy five or more copies for a study group or class study or gifts, please shoot me an email and I’ll give you a further discount. Adventures in Orthodoxy is my favorite of my books. [...]

If I were getting paid for being a book reviewer then I would have it made. Almost every day another envelope comes with another worthy book. The pile on my desk is getting higher and higher and I am tempted to start another blog just for book reviews. In order to get your book reviewed [...]

Here is my latest article for the Washington Post. It analyzes the push that it was religion which motivated the Boston bombers…

OK, so maybe you don’t like the blog getting cluttered up with too many book reviews, but you really ought to take the time to click over here to read my review of John Zmirak’s Bad Catholics Guide to the Catechism. John is probably one of the best and wittiest writers on Catholicism who is tapping [...]

What is the difference between real religion and Nazi zombies? It’s the difference between faith and an ideology. Here’s a clue: in The Imitation of Christ Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Why do you wish to change the world when you cannot change yourself?” An ideology tries to change the world. Real religion tries to change a person. [...]

I drive a six year old Volvo. It’s a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my house in the suburbs and the other stuff that fills the house. Is that okay? I mean, I’m a Catholic priest. [...]

A post to amuse and infuriate… Somehow or other a combox critic has assumed that because I have asserted that men and women are different that I do not believe in equality for women. This is because in the past the superiority of men has been assumed and women have been downtrodden. What troubles me [...]

Blessed John Henry Newman wrote, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” What he means is that there is a difference between a doubt and a difficulty. When we start to think through our Catholic faith we would be negligent or stupid not to have some problems. After all, the things we propose as [...]

Here’s my piece for Aleteia on the Boston Bombing

Here’s how same sex marriage will lead to a police state: First this article on Slate calls for the legalization of polygamy. The call for polygamy sort of springboards from the argument for same sex marriage. The piece argues from various viewpoints, but the underlying principle is the same: “Let us decide what marriage is.” [...]

One of the creepiest things about religion is the tendency for those involved to drift into cult-like behaviors. How can you tell if a religious group is operating like a cult? It’s difficult because the people in a religious group can behave like a cult without them becoming a full blown, identifiable religious cult. What [...]

Sorry not to have been blogging for some time, but after a week’s vacation in Belize I need a few days to catch up. While in Belize we had the chance to visit some Mayan ruins. I climbed to the top of the main pyramid in Caracol and sitting up there on a beautiful day [...]

Go here for my review of John Zmirak’s Bad Catholic’s Guide to the Catechism.

The horrors of the Philadelphia abortion clinic of Kermit Gosnell rank with the worst serial killers in US history. Jill Stanek writes here comparing Gosnell to mass murderers Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Richard Speck. The media covered gruesome stories like that in every morbid and macabre detail. Likewise, if the crime fits their political [...]