This Sunday, Huge Hope: 5 Takeaways From the Second Sunday of Advent...
In the Gospel, we hear about the appearance of John the Baptist and his message — “Prepare the way of the Lord” — could not have found a more ill-suited time. John appears in “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,” an emperor who the ancient historian Pliny the Elder called him “the gloomiest of men” and who the historian Tacitus painted as a merciless tyrant who killed those accused of disloyalty and forbad their families from mourning them...
Nun arrested over alleged links to Italy’s most powerful mafia gang, the ‘Ndrangheta...
St. Nicholas, Notre Dame’s Opening Day, and Driving Like an American Dad...
Nicholas is, of course, famous for other things, but I have always found it most curious that his is listed as patron saint of pawnbrokers — the international symbol of which is three gold balls, harkening back to the purses of gold he is meant to have deposited down a family chimney to save the resident daughters from a future of... keeping low company.
The Conditions for Ultimate Greatness...
A friend asked me recently, “Is there any publication that reviews books that aren’t new?” I told her proudly that we do that here at The Imaginative Conservative. Our conservative imagination is such that we don’t believe that “new” equals better or more worthy nor does “old” mean worse or unworthy. Books are not like jugs of milk...
8 Little-Known Facts About Notre Dame Cathedral...
This is the book that people need to read, right now...
Is anyone out there looking for a timely Christmas present for a reader — young adults and up — who can handle hard questions? In this case, we are talking a prophetic masterpiece by one of the great British writers of the 20th Century, the late P.D. James. She kept writing into her 90s, releasing “Death Comes to Pemberley” in 2011. But the book that people need to read...
FBI Warns iPhone And Android Users — Be Careful Sending Texts Between Platforms...
13 Traditions for Keeping an Advent Attitude...
The only question that matters is whether Jesus Christ is really the Lord of creation. You must decide — and act accordingly...
Words matter. They express but also shape our thoughts, which in turn frame the way we live. Here’s an example: The words of the Nicene Creed are crucial to Christian belief. They’ve summarized and guided the Christian faith for 1,700 years. We recite them routinely every Sunday at Mass, but there was nothing routine in their origin. Good people argued, fought, and died in formulating them...
Archbishop Sheen’s Beatification ‘Inevitable’ Amid Growing Devotion, Says Foundation Head...
5 Brief Advent Themes...
Autumn and early winter are times of great seasonal change. The leaves turn brilliant colors then fade and fall. The shadows lengthen as the days grow shorter and colder. The warmth of summer and vacations seem distant memories and we are reminded once again that the things of this world last but a moment and pass away. Even so, we look forward as well. Christmas can be a wonderful time of year.
Nativity Scene in Lebanon Vandalized...
One of the most dramatic political events in history unfolded in a Catholic Church...
‘I Came To Cast Fire’ introduces readers to the unique work of René Girard...
For Christians, and for Everyone Else, an Uncharted Future in Syria...
Catholic Bishop in Africa Seriously Injured in Assault by Sudan’s Paramilitary Group RSF...
The Long Advent of 1940 and the Scandal of the Incarnation...
During the arduous Advent of 1940, a motley crew of French and Belgian intelligentsia along with a few Jesuit priests prepared a Nativity play for their fellow captives and their German captors at the POW camp in Trier, Germany. In the penultimate scene of the play, the narrator beckons toward the unlikely tableau of a God born man.
Be Not Afraid: How to Give Your Kids Peaceful Hearts in an Anxious Culture...
Earlier this year, I took a five-month break from Facebook. The politically-themed posts and comments had simply become too toxic to read. In an election year, one has come to expect — albeit tearfully lament — that posts (even from many Catholics) will be grievously uncharitable. To be sure, the election cycle of 2024 offered a smorgasbord of sins against charity, but it also offered a generous helping of apocalyptic declarations.
Bible Boom 2024: Why Are People Buying So Many Bibles?
Which Is More Powerful: Lasers or Lightning? There’s Only One Fun Way to Find Out...
‘Luce,’ mascot of dumbed-down Catholicism...
During his years as professor of fundamental theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, Salvatore “Rino” Fisichella was often cited by American seminarians as their favorite professor – an exponent of dynamic orthodoxy whose engaging classroom style was a blessed relief from the stolid ways of the Roman academy. Later, after Pope John Paul II issued Fides et Ratio...
‘Harry Potter’ Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About ‘Thousands of Threats’ She’s Received for Opposing Transgenderism...
Author J.K. Rowling has opened up this week about the harsh treatment she has received — including “thousands of threats of murder, rape and violence” — for daring to speak out against the dangers of gender ideology. “A trans woman posted my family's home address with a bomb-making guide,” the British author of the “Harry Potter” books reveals in a now-viral Dec. 2 social media post...
Singing isn’t just for choir lofts. Singing is something every amateur, with love, should do at home...
“Only the lover sings.” Though St. Augustine’s rightly famous words strike us as true, we perhaps do not immediately grasp a corollary: love calls for and even demands singing. To sing—at least in a certain way—both expresses and cultivates the very love from which it springs. And as with so many of the basic human dispositions and practices, this should begin in the home...
9 Can’t-Miss History Books to Give to Dads This Christmas...
Pope Francis: Where have the people gone?
The new papal funeral rite has a striking detail: in the first phase, the one at home, the dead Pope is exposed in a simple white cassock. This is particularly unusual. Priests are composed in their vestments because a priest is a priest forever. All the more so for a bishop, who is “chief priest” and possesses what we call “fullness of orders” in Catholic parlance...
Survey Says: Here’s What Catholic Priests Want Their Staff Members To Know...
I know hundreds of priests and bishops and am friends with many of them. It is a perk of my job that I have conversations with priests when they let their guard down and know that I can be someone they can be real with. The vast majority of our priests are amazing men who want to serve God and the Church...
Pope’s Sunday Angelus: ‘Be Vigilant and Turn Your Gaze to Heaven’...
What Has Jesus Got Against Fig Trees?
The past, present, and future of Advent...
What I learned about America living in a country without Thanksgiving...
Get this entire Catholic website as an instant digital download...
The full contents of the New Advent website are available as a digital download. It includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — and it's only $19.99...
CATHOLIC LINKS
Adoration: Adoration DirectoryAudio: Lighthouse
Bibles: Douay - Knox - NAB - RSVCE
Blogs: Blog Directory
Bulletins: Seek and Find
Calendars: Calendar - Easter Table
Catechisms: Baltimore Catechism - Catechism of the Catholic Church
Events: Catholic Event Finder
Forums: Catholics Answers
Novenas: Pray More Novenas
HHS Mandate: Becket Fund
Jobs: Jobs for Catholics
Latin: Ecclesiastical Latin Resources
Latin Mass: TLM Altar Server Tutorial - TLM Mass Directory
Mass Times #1: MassTimes
Mass Times #2: Catholic Mass Time
Movie Reviews: USCCB Movie Reviews
Panoramas: St. John Lateran - Sistine Chapel
Readings: Today's Readings (USCCB)
Retreats: U.S. Retreats and Retreat Centers
OTHER LINKS
Cameras: EarthCam (Live) - Aerial PanoramasComics: Calvin and Hobbes - C&H Search Engine - Dilbert - Peanuts
Customer Service: GetHuman
Find Things: Mailboxes (USA) - Payphones - Phone Numbers
Money: Missing Money
Privacy: Do Not Call
Reading Lists: USLHE - Marines
Scanners: Air Traffic Control - Radio Reference - Broadcastify
Shopping (Local): Yard Sales
Tracking: Airplanes - ISS - Satellites - Ships #1 - Ships #2
Travel (Flying): Turbulence - VFR Maps - SeatGuru - FlightAware
Travel (Hotels): Bed Bug Registry
Weather: ECMRF (Europe) - NCAR/RAP - Wind Map - National Weather Service (USA)
