“Chesterton challenged the common belief that previous generations were foolish.” By Shane Parrish. Chesterton’s Fence is a principle that reminds us to look before we leap. To understand before we act. It’s a cautionary reminder to understand why something is the way it is before meddling in change. The principle comes from a parable by… Read More Chesterton’s Fence: A Lesson in Thinking
Has Oxford Awakened from its Wokeness? Not Yet. “Oxford University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. It was founded in the 11th century, and its history is closely linked to the history of Christianity in England. At the time of its founding, the university was primarily a religious institution, and… Read More God and Man at Oxford
Recusal from case with huge implications for education could tilt scales in cause her friend spent a career defending. Linda Jacobson | The Guardian | Opinion / CC. On 30 April, the court will consider a legal question that has defined her career: can explicitly religious organizations operate charter schools? At the center of the dispute… Read More How Amy Coney Barrett’s close friendship could affect future of major supreme court Ed case
Better to to appear Quixotic to fools than Egalitarian in the American / French and modern Western sense. St. Thomas Aquinas writes regarding the ideal: “One of the principal things to be considered,” Thomas wrote, “with regard to the good establishment of princes [rulers] is that all should have some part in the government; for in… Read More St. Thomas Aquinas on the Ideal Form of Government
by Thomas W. Carroll.First Things.11 . 5 . 24 / An alarming number of children from Catholic families lose their faith during elementary and secondary school. By age thirteen, 50 percent fall away from the Church; by eighteen, it’s 86 percent. This exodus is not unique to Catholics—other Christian communities struggle with similar problems. But… Read More Reclaiming Our Catholic Schools
Fr. Joel S. Panzer, The Catholic Answer and EWTN, 1996 When did the Catholic Church condemn slavery? According to some notable figures, the Church did not finally condemn slavery until recently. Judge John T. Noonan stated that it was not until 1890 that the Church condemned the institution of slavery, lagging behind laws enacted to… Read More The Popes and Slavery: Setting the Record Straight
Learning the First Notes All Over Again. In Fellini’s film “Orchestra Rehearsal” the Conductor found himself in the midst of a revolt. The musicians had long murmured against he Conductor on account of his rigorous methods, demands and practice sessions. The exchanges between them and he were bitter. Time did not heal this rift but… Read More Fellini’s Orchestra Rehearsal.
Rosary College is a two-year liberal arts college in the Catholic tradition offering courses in the humanities ordered toward readiness to serve within the Church and society. It finds inspiration in the Benedictine tradition of integrating prayer and work and expressing beauty for the glory of God. Immersing students in the legacy of the life… Read More The Birth of Rosary College: Application Open for Fall 2024
For years now very many “influencers” (Catholics very much included of course) spend much of their time making and promoting videos to share their points of view, or those of others. The camera is alluring. Many dream of becoming popular, the next Joe Rogan or Tucker Carlson. But very few videos are all that memorable;… Read More How to Mark (Read) a Book By Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.
Truth does not change with the changes in political parties, current philosophies or trends. ” a thing cannot be and not be at the same time”— St. Thomas (Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, chap. 84) “…reason’s first principle is the principle of contradiction. He who denies this principle affirms a self-destructive sentence. To deny this principle… Read More Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange on Reason and The Law of Non-Contradiction.
Well, it certainly is interested, as witness the following. “A RAPIDLY INCREASING number of American families are opting out of sending their children to school, choosing instead to educate them at home. Homeschooled kids now account for roughly 3 percent to 4 percent of school-age children in the United States, a number equivalent to those attending charter… Read More The State in Your Home. What Does Harvard Think of Homeschoolers?
(CNA) The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld a Catholic school’s ability to enforce an employee code of conduct in line with Catholic moral teaching and to fire teachers for violating that code. The ruling in Victoria Crisitello v. St. Theresa School further solidifies the ability of New Jersey religious schools of all… Read More New Jersey court rules Catholic school can require teachers to follow Catholic teaching
G.K. Chesterton and the Meaning of Progress by Joseph Pearce. “Progress is a useless word; for progress takes for granted an already defined direction: and it is exactly about the direction that we disagree.” G.K. Chesterton c. 1920 (photo: Public Domain).National Catholic Registerwith permission of author. The great British writer G.K. Chesterton insisted that progress… Read More What Good is ‘Progress’ in the Wrong Direction?
Are we supposed to believe Elon can’t “imagine” who might take over over his global, technological infrastructure, all of his labs and his brain-chips, after he’s gone? And that he can’t imagine such forces being malignant? Elon Musk claims AI will overtake humans ‘in less than five years’. Existential threat posed by artificial intelligence is much closer… Read More Elon’s Future
“Separation of church and state? I can think of a couple of other things I’d like to see separated from the state, or connected with the state in only a slender and indirect fashion. One of them is the school. The other is the home… Americans have largely taken for granted a monstrous bit of… Read More Anthony Esolen on Separation of Home and State
“One of the most famous and most evil techniques of Maoist Marxism is the “struggle session” (dòuzhēng, 鬥爭; or pīpàn dòuzhēng, 批判鬥爭, “critical struggle”; or sometimes just pīdòu, 批鬥; also called “denunciation” sessions). “They were made famous during Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but they were utilized in the Chinese thought-reform (xǐnǎo, 洗脑, lit. “wash brain”… Read More Surviving A Modern “Struggle Session”. James Lindsay.
House Republicans passed a bill on Friday that emphasizes parental rights in the classroom, leaning into a hot-button, culture war issue that has gained popularity in GOP politics across the country. The legislation, titled the Parents Bill of Rights, passed in a 213-208 vote, and it now heads to the Senate for consideration. It is highly… Read More House Passes The Parents Bill of Rights
How do we experience life? What is it to be human? How do we see? What is the relationship between reading and history, reading and science, metaphysics…empathy, philosophy, religion and art? …More. — How to Mark a Book by Mortimer Adler — The social disaster: Children who frequently check social media face significant brain changes
Dr. Lyell Asher.June 10, 2022. “[It is] critical that we ask: In whose interest is it to persuade students that a university is a “home” where they’re not to think? In whose interest is it to persuade them that they’re fragile, that they’re threatened, that words are violence, that an imagined slight is as bad… Read More Why Colleges Are Becoming Cults
“On August 13, 1961, the Communistgovernment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep so-called Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state,… Read More Far Left Power. A New Berlin Wall.
I personally think that Catholic education, combining the teaching of traditional theology, philosophy, the great books and intensive practical skills necessary to build a home, ought to be returned to holy men and women in small orthodox monastic or other communities at comparatively little cost. — Why colleges are becoming cults — Trent Horn reviews… Read More The Quicksands of “Catholic” Education and the Future.
Note: One need not care for Hollywood and its often amoral actors in the slightest to have sympathy for victims of addictions in general. Many of us know or love persons who have suffered—and made others suffer— from addictions. Christians are no more immune to it than their enemies. Some jump into it. Other slide.… Read More Johnny Depp and Substance Abuse. What we can learn.
Jackson at a confirmation hearing said she cannot define what a woman is. Suggests the science is unclear. Embryonic Democracy: “Pilate, wishing to please the crowd, released for them Barabbas; and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” — Mark 15:15. And so a New World is coming into view, “After decades of… Read More Supreme Ct. Nominee Jackson Cannot Define What a Woman is
“…democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms—elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest—will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of non-violent totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. “Democracy and freedom will be the theme of… Read More “Democracies Will Change Their Nature”
Note: In The Outline of Sanity, making the case for Distributism, G.K. Chesterton argued, “They say it is Utopian; and they are right. They say it is idealistic; and they are right. They say it is quixotic; and they are right. It deserves every name that will indicate how completely they have driven justice out… Read More What is Distributism? By Thomas Storck
College is nothing like it once was. “Colleges have been scamming people for a long time and have burdened generations with trillions of dollars in debt. Isaac Morehouse is an expert in this field, and has made it his mission to help people escape the shackles of the Ivy League.” View the Discussion @ Tucker… Read More Tucker Carlson Takes On The College Scam
The New Criterion. “the real prize in the pronoun wars is not correct grammar but the display of power and exertion of control.” The pronoun wars have been raging around us for at least five or six years now. Like so many toxic developments, this sickness was incubated in the university. We began to take notice… Read More Mostly About Pronouns
Catechism of the Catholic Church Avoiding war 2307 The fifth commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life. Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war. 105 2308 All citizens… Read More Traditional Just War Teaching
Catholic Critique 