Mary’s appearances at Lourdes and Fatima are not about her, but about us and our need for faith in the face of ever-present uncertainty and adversity. Christianity’s depictions of Mary, the Mother of Christ, throughout the centuries, have typically departed from realistically representing her life in ancient Palestine—from the Annunciation forward to the birth of
Tag Catholicism
I begin this essay by stating some things fittingly paradoxical: sainthood, if and when it comes for G. K. Chesterton, will diminish him. It will martyr his broadly-based reputation for the sake of transient, Catholic parochial needs. He will be unfairly rebranded as a mere Catholic clotheshorse. His sainthood will invite longstanding suspicions and skepticism
We called her Sister Magpie, inspired by the black and white of her nun’s habit, her nimble movements, and those glinting eyes ever alert for that bubble gum we smuggled into her library. The comic books she confiscated from beneath the world atlas where we feigned an interest in Madagascar were invariably returned at the
My memories of Joe Hoehn come from so long ago they seem to be from another world—a world without television—with old toilet outhouses and chicken coops in backyards, cow pastures, and skies filled with blackbirds. Entertainment was listening to a radio during nights dotted with countless stars and distant farmyard lights and wondering why a
Graham Greene had a troubled and chaotic relationship with the Catholic faith to which he converted the year before his marriage, so much so that his motives for conversion have even been questioned. At the same time, more than any writer of his day, he wrote novels rich in Catholic themes seeming to reflect his