I was a little mystified, having finished reading The Benedict Option (TBO), to discover not only that the book turns out to be in many respects an elaborate – albeit well-intentioned and probably evangelically useful – practical joke, but also that so few seem to have noticed that author Rod Dreher himself admits as much about halfway … Continue reading Turns out ‘The Benedict Option’ is a hoax →

I’m told that a lot of parents don’t read to their kids because they find it tedious, boring. I'm not surprised. If the contents of the shelves of my local library are any indication, most children’s literature being produced nowadays is stiflingly banal, as insulting to the intelligence and sensibilities of the kids as to … Continue reading How to stop reading boring books to your kids, and learn to love bedtime →

“If you eat ketchup-smeared French fries with your fingers day after day, you are well on your way to the Cyclops.” John Senior – The Restoration of Christian Culture John Senior, the curmudgeonly but brilliant author of The Restoration of Christian Culture, did not like French Fries. Food is to be eaten with forks, not fingers, he reasoned, … Continue reading I dare you to read this life-changing book →

The dismissal of Bill O’Reilly from Fox News over allegations of sexual harassment doesn’t look good, especially coming as it does on the heels of the similarly dishonorable departure of former Fox CEO Roger Ailes. Could O’Reilly be the innocent victim of an ideological witch hunt? Did his head fall under the guillotine merely to … Continue reading Bill O’Reilly’s fall from grace makes one thing painfully clear →

In The Soul of the Apostolate Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard tells a fascinating story about Pope St. Pius X. Chautard recounts how, on one occasion, an “eminent layman” who was spending some time with that great and holy pope, “let fall a few biting words against an enemy of the Church.” The pope immediately rebuked the … Continue reading I confess, I thoroughly enjoyed that interview with Bishop Barron. (Yes, THAT one.) →

An anecdote to start with: Sitting at the dinner table about four years ago, my then-3-year-old eldest son expostulating about what he’ll do when he grows up. He’ll build a tractor factory, he says, and inside the factory he’ll hang a massive sign, reading: “Daddy-time, all the time!” The psychologists would tell me that his … Continue reading What nobody told me about having (a lot of) kids →

Every Sunday in Christ the King Chapel at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, the mass is celebrated with all the pomp and ceremony that the traditions of the Catholic Church and the humble means of that small college allow—glittering vestments, billowing incense, a liberal helping of Latin, and numerous grave-faced altar servers. And music. … Continue reading For God’s Sake, Make Music →

In 2005 I spent three months in Rome. In some ways I have never left. Perhaps it sounds like a commonplace to say that I “left part of myself” in the Eternal City. But the fact is, I did. I returned to Rome once more, in the spring of 2007, when I proposed to my … Continue reading Building the New Rome →

Thou waitest for the spark from heaven! And we,    Light half-believers of our casual creeds,            Who never deeply felt, nor clearly willed    Whose insight never has borne fruit in deeds,        Whose vague resolves never have been fulfill’d;            For whom each year we see    Breeds new beginnings, disappointments new;        … Continue reading The Spark from Heaven: The Mystery of the Monastic Life →

A lot of people are mad about the new translation of the Mass. For my part, I have always had a phobia of debates about liturgical arcana, which somehow seem to sap the vitality of my liturgical fervor as fast as you can say Summorum Pontificum, and I will not pronounce on the goodness or … Continue reading Sin and the Decent Chap →