Malcolm Muggeridge. “The coming of Jesus into the world is the most stupendous event in human history. . . . As it is, belonging to a civilization which began with the birth of Jesus some two thousand years ago, and reaching the conclusion—to me inescapable—that whatever is truly admirable in the achievements of the succeeding… Read More Fiat Lux. Into History Comes the Light
“With the proliferation of systems, methods, concepts and philosophical theses which are often extremely complex, the need for a critical discernment in the light of faith becomes more urgent, even if it remains a daunting task. Given all of reason’s inherent and historical limitations, it is difficult enough to recognize the inalienable powers proper to… Read More The Church and Philosophical Discernment.
by Thomas Storck. What is needed is a real debate on religious questions providing a rational public apologetic for the faith. “For we were not following fictitious tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his grandeur.” – 2 Peter 1:16 The… Read More The Catholic Faith Is Not a Noble Lie
The late philosopher, William Barrett, in his famous book on Existentialism entitled Irrational Man, writes of faith and reason, “THOUGH strongly colored by Greek and Neo-Platonic influences, Christianity belongs to the Hebraist rather than to the Hellenist side of man’s nature because Christianity bases itself above all on faith and sets the man of faith… Read More Whose Wisdom? Whose Reason?
Full length presentation below the powerful first, brief, video. “A fascinating new look at the biblical, historical, and scientific evidence for Creation and the Flood. Learn from more than a dozen scientists and scholars as they explore the world around us in light of Genesis. St. Alphonsus Liguori: “It is a certain rule, received in… Read More Is Genesis History?
—- Or, Why My Favorite Moggs Reads The Sun Religiously. Prince Harry is reportedly planning to extend an olive branch to King Charles by inviting him to open the Invictus Games in the UK in 2027, which some say could help mend their long-standing rift. . Page Six The US Sun. But that’s just the half of… Read More Moggs’ WiseHead Revisited.
The Telegraph, UK. Rory Stewart is wrong about everything, but he gets away with it because he is posh. Fans of The Rest is Politics believe the social status of a political opinion matters more than its accordance with reality. The former Conservative minister’s career is a reminder there is no limit to how wrong you… Read More Rory Stewart is wrong about everything, but he gets away with it because he is posh
“The Russian intelligentsia produced a faith based upon a strange syllogism: ‘Man is descended from the apes, therefore we must love one another.’” — Vladimir Solovyev. On Lenin’s desk in the Kremlin there stood, for most of the years he worked there, a strange bronze statue of an ape gazing with an expression of profound… Read More Lenin, the Ape and the Skull
[Link below has been repaired]. Through her wonderful gift of music (e.g. this … and this) she asks the most fundamental question everyone must ask. Existence itself poses the question. And implicit in the question is the answer. The resurrection of Christ confirmed the Gospel, splitting time in half, into a ‘before’ and ‘after’. Who… Read More The One Thing Necessary
By Edward Pentin Jan 10, 2026 / 11:30 am / Catholic News Agency Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun delivered a forceful critique of synodality at the extraordinary consistory of cardinals this week, decrying the process as an “ironclad manipulation” that was an “insult to the dignity of the bishops.” The bishop emeritus of Hong Kong also described… Read More At consistory, Cardinal Zen slams synodality as ‘ironclad manipulation’ and ‘insult’ to bishops
The state of Colorado will have to pay out a massive $5.4 million sum after it lost in its attempt to ban abortion pill reversal. The state suffered a decisive loss in federal court in August 2025 when U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said that Colorado’s abortion pill reversal ban interfered with the religious rights of nurses… Read More The ‘A’ Word. Colorado to pay out $5.4 million after court strikes down abortion pill reversal ban
“Under Nicolás Maduro’s administration thousands of people died in extrajudicial killings and seven million Venezuelans were forced to flee the country due to economic collapse.” —Wikipedia. “Venezuela has been a significant transit hub for drug trafficking, particularly cocaine, due to its proximity to Colombia, which is the primary source of cocaine. The Venezuelan government, under Nicolás Maduro, has been… Read More Nice Smile
Learning the First Notes All Over Again. In Fellini’s film “Orchestra Rehearsal” the Conductor suddenly found himself in the midst of a revolt. The musicians had long murmured against the Conductor on account of his rigorous methods, demands and practice sessions. The exchanges between them and he were bitter. And time did not heal the… Read More Fellini’s Orchestra Rehearsal.
With Ross Douthat, NYT. What should the U.S. do next in Venezuela? President Trump’s former Venezuela envoy Elliott Abrams wants the Trump administration to push harder for full regime change. But, he and Ross debate if a democratic transition is even possible based on the administration’s interests and past American efforts in the region.
Emmanuel Mounier was a French philosopher (1905–1950) who founded the journal Esprit in 1932 and led the French personalist movement during the 1930s. His philosophy of personalism is a Christian-inspired response to the crises of modernity, including economic depression, fascism, communism, and the depersonalizing effects of individualism and collectivism. It positions the human person as… Read More The Gospel Personalism of Emmanuel Mounier
Against Partiality. James Chapter 2. 2 My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and you pay attention to the one who… Read More Our Sunday Best.
By Joseph Pearce | National Catholic Register. Imagine a world in which evil actions did not have evil consequences… History shows that evil movements rise and fall, but God’s plan remains sovereign — and Christians need not fear the outcome. We live in a world in which all sorts of evil things happen and, which… Read More Are Things As They Should Be?
Sec. of State Rubio takes aim at UN. US president says a military operation in Colombia ‘sounds good’ to him and warns Mexico ‘to get their act together’. The United States President Donald Trump has threatened military action against his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, following Washington’s abduction of Venezuela’s leader, and said he believed the government… Read More Trump threatens Colombia’s Petro, says Cuba looks ‘ready to fall’
Jan 5, 2026 2:43 PM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — leaving other immunizations, such as flu shots, open to families to choose but without clear guidance. Officials said the overhaul to the federal vaccine schedule won’t result… Read More Trump administration cuts number of vaccines it recommends for every child
Anett Fodor tells the story ofBeethoven, Liszt and the Little Broadwood. | The London piano manufacturer, Thomas Broadwood, visited Ludwig van Beethoven when he was staying in Vienna. He realised immediately that the Master was suffering from impaired hearing. Broadwood was a great admirer of Beethoven and a few months later, he gave him a… Read More Exceptional Provenance
Updated. Tucker Carlson liked Moscow’s clean streets and low crime rate. But he did not confront Putin’s abuses of power as alleged by Western powers. “Vladimir Putin is a thug and a murderer and a killer and a KGB agent,” Senator John McCain said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Dec. 11, 2016. Putin, who… Read More A Short List of Alleged Crimes of Vladimir Putin
By Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. | ” … dictators are not the creators of the world’s evil; they are its creatures; they are only boils on the surface of the world’s skin; they come to the surface because there is bad blood beneath. It will do no good to puncture the boils, if we leave… Read More The Wars and the Revolution
Updated. The U.S. struck Venezuela primarily to capture President Nicolás Maduro, who has been accused of drug trafficking and leading a corrupt regime. This military action was part of a broader strategy to address the perceived threat posed by Maduro’s government and to support opposition efforts in Venezuela. More via CNA / NCRegister / C-Span.… Read More U.S. Strikes Venezuela. Updated.
Philip Norman in his book SHOUT’ The Beatles in Their Generation, writes, “If we are honest we must accept the extent to which the heady new freedoms of youth in the sixties paved the way for the frightening, ungovernable world we see about us today. From the happy high of pot and pills and the… Read More The Beatles, the Sixties and Us
Note: the objective in presenting this data is not to discourage but so that a good part of the clergy will finally get real and begin helping their people to address these matters from the pulpits and in homes regularly, because adults and children are hurting out here. Otherwise we must all, from Popes to… Read More Chat GPT: Heterosexual Marriages Continue General Decline. The Warning of the Prophets.
Catholic Critique, with well over a thousand posts since 2020-21, features secular, ecclesial and theological news and analysis from around the Catholic-Christian world. Every post is carefully selected by its relationship in some important way to the Center which is Christ and Him crucified. Catholic Critique asks nothing from its readers except their own real… Read More Catholic Critique 2026. Unique Objectives.
“Was Jesus really born in Bethlehem, or did the gospel writers “invent” the story to fit prophecy? Did a Roman census ever force people to travel back to their ancestral towns? And what about Herod’s massacre of the innocents – pure theology, or plausible history? Tom Wright and Mike Bird respond here to challenges raised… Read More N.T. Wright Replies to Historian Tom Holland Regarding N.T. Nativity Accounts
“This memory seems a lifetime ago, and yet I knew him best not in a crowd, but in the classroom. We read his theological works in graduate school, and through them, he opened the horizon of my heart to Jesus. Just this past summer, I revisited his life through his memoirs… best not in a… Read More Reflecting on Pope Benedict XVI: Lessons from His Life and Faith
“Ah, she looks like snow – I want to put her in a broadway show–Ah she’ll dance and dine–Like a lucifer she’ll always shine… I feel like letting go….” —Letting Go, Venus and Mars album. Paul McCartney SH: Were some of The individual Beatles into astrology? If so, which ones and why? Tin Man Grok A.I.… Read More A.I. Hedges on The Beatles and Astrology. A “Conversation” With Tin Man.
Note / SH: Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and Harold Laski were prominent members of the Fabian Society, which aimed to promote socialism, abortion and euthanasia through gradual reform rather than revolution. They were influential intellectuals in the early 20th century, contributing significantly to political and cultural discussions of their time. Their legacy impacts us… Read More The Great Liberal Death Wish. Malcolm Muggeridge.
Anne Bancroft was a convert to Judaism in 1964. She played an unforgettable central role as Mary Magdalen. Rod Steiger, Jewish, the American actor had Jewish ancestry on his father’s side and was connected to Jewish cultural roots. He likewise played an unforgettable central role as Pontius Pilate in the series starring Robert Powell (who… Read More Three Jewish Actors Who Played Prominent Roles in the 1977 Series Jesus of Nazareth
By Father Gabriel of St Mary Magalene, 1953. O Lord, increase my confidence in Your help and grant that in this confidence, I may always find courage to begin again. What most distresses souls of good will who are seriously trying to live a spiritual life, is to find themselves falling so many times, despite… Read More The Courage To Begin Yet Again
Note: To what follows I would add the cruel, ridiculous and vicious use of torture during the Medieval period which in retrospect shockingly contradicted the very essence of the Gospel. Exile was not an option to stop treason in its tracks? Cromwell later made a “good” job of it with the Irish. One can only… Read More The Apologies of Pope John Paul II. The Ordeal.
21 The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood. 22 To take away a neighbor’s living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed blood. — Sirach 34:21,22, rsv Amazon to Replace 600,000 U.S. Workers With Robots… Read More Artificial Intelligence and The Poor.
“…the most unsettling question raised by [the Incarnation] is not “What if Christ had not come?” but “What if He has come, and we live as though He has not?” Christmas exposes this paradox with uncomfortable precision. We sing the hymns, quote the promises, and decorate our sanctuaries, yet it is possible to live functionally as if Emmanuel were… Read More A Most Unsettling Question
Bishop Robert Barron at Westminster Cathedral, London. 2023. Bishop Robert Barron’s whirlwind missionary journey to London. He spoke to members of Parliament; gave a homily in Westminster Cathedral; spoke with award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster Tom Holland; and more. On February 6, 2023, Bishop Robert Barron gave an address at the Houses of Parliament for… Read More Jesus, the Torah, And Freedom
“We went [to Bethlehem] early in the day, and I sat by myself in the cave underneath the Church of the Nativity where Christ is supposed to have been born… Overhead are numerous silver and bronze lamps, and the stone walls are covered with silk and damask, now mostly threadbare. Seated there in the half-light,… Read More Malcolm Muggeridge in the Holy Land; and “snatching fantasy from the jaws of truth”
“It is vanity to desire a long life, and to have little care for a good life.” — Thomas a Kempis. Tolkien mourned the decline of the Shire* i.e., …the real shire of his youth which he ever remembered and sought to salvage to the extent that he could. The Shire: the simplicity and beauty… Read More Tolkien’s Battle for the Shire. And for Us All.
Did WW1 really come to a halt for one day only, and the soldiers meet for friendly exchanges? How did the authorities react to the truce, and did they try to stop it happening again? And did they really play football? Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland take a close look at the story which involved… Read More Did They Really Play Football?
Updated: “As the DOJ releases the largest batch of files yet on the federal investigation into Epstein, survivors have condemned the Department of Justice for not complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required all files to be released last Friday. “I mean, that was the first indication of the contemptuous, cavalier attitude that… Read More Trump Appears Multiple Times in Epstein Files
by Ron Paul | Dec 22, 2025 Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and… Read More Opinion. A Christmas Gift to the War Machine. Ron Paul.
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