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 →