Where Peter Is

A Meditation on Christ’s Agony, Part II

For Part I, link here.   My soul is sorrowful, even to death. To attribute Christ’s desolation to anticipatory fear before his betrayal, condemnation and crucifixion is profoundly inadequate (although St. John of the Cross teaches that the more spiritual an experience, the more it will vivify past and future into a single lived...

The Deaths of the Young Must Not Be in Vain

In recent years, my native Mexico has been gripped by a crisis of violence. Organized crime, political corruption, and lawlessness have led to mass killings, forced disappearances, and a growing sense of fear and despair among ordinary citizens. Thousands of young people have been murdered or vanished without a trace. Their bodies—when they...

Which Pope said this?

I invite you to have a faith that can recognize the wisdom of weakness. In the joys and afflictions of the present time, when the harshness and weight of the cross make themselves felt, do not doubt that the kenosis of Christ is already a paschal victory. Precisely in our limitations and weaknesses...

A Meditation on Christ’s Agony, Part I

St. Alphonsus Liguori tells of this legend: “St. Thomas Aquinas was one day paying a visit to St. Bonaventure, and asked him from what book he had drawn all the beautiful lessons he had written. St. Bonaventure showed him the image of the Crucified, which was completely blackened by all the kisses that...

Fragility and tenderness: Pope Francis’s next chapter

12 years. What a ride it has been. Pope Francis has been an earthquake in the Church. Trusting in the Holy Spirit, he has boldly led the People of God on a path towards necessary conversion, reform, and repentance. He’s far from perfect, and has met with great resistance, but there is no...

Fr. Ripperger’s Metaphysics: An Honest Assessment

Mike Lewis has been on a righteous crusade to expose the fundamental incompatibility of the activities of Fr. Chad Ripperger, “celebrity exorcist” (two words especially jarring when paired), with the beauty and dignity of Catholicism as religio vera – and with grave reasons as, sadly, time will more and more unfold. For my...

Cardinal McElroy takes the helm of the Archdiocese of Washington

Cardinal Robert McElroy was installed as the eighth Archbishop of Washington yesterday, March 11, 2025, during a solemn Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. As a nearly lifelong Catholic of the archdiocese, I am grateful for our new shepherd and I hope that his time in Washington...

Father Chad Ripperger versus the Little Gray Men

Due to “unforeseen circumstances,” an event scheduled for later this month in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee featuring the controversial celebrity exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger was forced to change venues, from a retreat center run by the Catholic Schoenstatt movement to a nearby hotel. The theme of the $95-per-head gathering is, “Restore Truth Conference...

Which Pope said this?

Brothers and sisters, having received the ashes, we walk towards the hope of Easter. Let us turn back to God. Let us return to him with all our hearts (cf. Joel 2:12). Let us place him at the centre of our lives, so that the memory of what we are — fragile and mortal...