Full disclosure; because its been what seems like ages to me, and I only remembered the general outlines of Dickens’ novel, Hard Times, I resorted to A.I. for the following verbatim description of the beloved characters. Any use of it A.I. all here will always be fully disclosed. SH. ~~ Ah, yes. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind… Read More Dickens’ Hard Times. Of Facts — Utilitarianism and Heart.
“Today the first and perhaps the only duty of the philosopher is to defend man against himself: to defend man against that extraordinary temptation toward inhumanity to which—almost without being aware of it—so many human beings today have yielded.” —- Gabriel Marcel Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan… Read More Thomas Merton on Creation: The Rain is Not for Sale
Time to say goodbye. In November 1996, Andrea and Sarah Brightman were invited to perform the duet ‘Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò)’ at the farewell contest of the German World Light-Heavyweight boxing champion, Henry Maske. A national hero held in unrivaled esteem, he is known for his love of selecting entrance themes to… Read More Time Out. Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman. 1997.
… and a present or future faithful and deeply spiritual Pope. Acts ch. 2: “‘In the latter time, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit… Read More Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich On the Infiltrations of a Dark Theology…
By Joseph Pearce | February 13th, An interview by The Imaginative Conservative Joseph Pearce recently answered questions from students at Benedictine College about his career as a writer and scholar. Firstly, how do you go about choosing a subject for your non-fiction writings? In almost all cases, I was motivated to write on a particular subject… Read More Reflections on Writing and Scholarship by an Autodidact, Joseph Pearce
Aridity and Spiritual Progress By Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. Even without the presence of other causes, it is possible to pass from a state of sensible spiritual fervor to one of absolute aridity. This happens by the direct work of God which makes it impossible for the soul to pray with the help of… Read More If God invites the soul by means of aridity…
I’ve seen documentaries on JPII many times since the early 1980s. But this is different. This is history, not merely piety. Based on the biography written by George Wiegel it tells the story of the nearly 5,000 priests and nuns who “were sent to Concentration Camps and how all polish cultural activity was forbidden on… Read More Witness to Hope: the life of JPII. DVD.
David Suchet’s most beautiful recital below. The Seven Penitential Psalms are united by themes of repentance, confession, and pleas for mercy. They express sorrow for sin and a longing for reconciliation with God. As sinners trying to do penance for our sins it is a good thing to meditate on them daily. David Suchet profoundly… Read More The Seven Penitential Psalms
When the heretic Hans Kung met with Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, Kung said it was a deeply personal conversation. Benedict said he “respected” Kung’s “path” (without agreeing with it all). He urged Kung to teach students in regard to world religions and in other areas; and so, again, an ominous pluralism was seen to… Read More Hans Kung and Benedict XVI
by John Daniel Davidson. G. K. Chesterton said, “Some say it is impossible to return to the past; but the truth is that there is now nothing before us but the choice between two paths which both return to the past. We can return to some sort of Catholic fellowship, or we can return to… Read More Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come
by Michael Davies.From Catholic, October 1996. The Catholic Church was founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son made Man. He has promised His Church that She will continue to exist exactly as He constituted her until He comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. The Catholic Church is the Church that is indefectible. The… Read More Michael Davies on the Indefectibility of the Mass of Paul VI.
Insularity: speaks only to insiders or fans, alienating broader audiences. For example, a critic might say: “The film collapses under its own self-referential weight, obsessed with referencing itself rather than telling a compelling story.” God forbid that we Christians devolve into this kind of self-referential vanity. For all his problems, Pope Francis was correct in… Read More Insularity
“May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. — St. Paul, Galatians 6:14. “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent,… Read More Kerygma. Finding Our Way Home Again.
Martin Bormann, Reich leader: “National Socialist and Christian concepts are incompatible. The Christian Churches build upon the ignorance of men and strive to keep large portions of the people in ignorance because only in this way can the Christian Churches maintain their power. On the other hand, National Socialism is based on scientific foundations. Christianity’s… Read More Adolph Hitler Hated Christianity
The song starts off with a slow intro in which the abandoned husband describes his two sons. “If you look at them both for awhile, you can see that are you, they are me,” he says, beautifully summing up the way we see ourselves in our children, not just physically but emotionally. “You should have… Read More Time Out. Sinatra: Michael and Peter
Consider Materialism. Whatever his origin, if man is presently and constantly “evolving” in a godless universe, then it follows that his thinking, and especially his philosophical views, cannot be worth much ultimately; his thoughts would be inherently unstable, unguided, random, merely emerging fragments in process, or mutation, on route to nowhere. / sh
& Sarah’s feminism. Yes Minister is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran for 16 episodes from 1986 to 1988. All but one of the episodes lasted half an hour, and almost all ended with a variation of the… Read More Theology is a Progressive Device? 😟
“Someone said, drink the water, but I will drink the wineSomeone said, take a poor man, rich folk don’t have a dime Go fool yourselves if you will, I just haven’t got the timeYes you can drink the water (yes you can drink the water)But I will drink the wine Someone gave me some small… Read More Time Out. Sinatra’s Cup.
Father Jacques Philippe Commentaries, October 1, 2025 | National Catholic Register This year, the Catholic Church celebrates the centenary of the canonization of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of her birth in 2023, Pope Francis wrote an apostolic exhortation entitled “It Is Trust,” which is a beautiful synthesis of the spirituality… Read More The Little Way of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Is a Path of Hope
The Telegraph 2024 Is the UN still relevant? The organisation faces numerous unresolved conflicts, a cash crisis, deep polarisation among its members, a bloated bureaucracy and the waning interest of its biggest backer, the US. Venetia Rainey speaks to Richard Gowan, veteran UN watcher and UN director for the US think tank International Crisis Group.… Read More Is the UN Still Relevant?
“I appeal also to philosophers, and to all teachers of philosophy, asking them to have the courage to recover, in the flow of an enduringly valid philosophical tradition, the range of authentic wisdom and truth — metaphysical truth included — which is proper to philosophical inquiry — John Paul II, Fides et Ratio # 106… Read More John Paul II’s Battle Against Nihilism
NOR editor, Pieter Vree, writes, “The NOR was contacted by a neocon foundation — right out of the blue” …”As my father wrote, “We at the NOR are glad to be independent of the ideological bigwigs. We don’t have to run around on the New York and D.C. cocktail-party circuit. We don’t have to kiss… Read More New Oxford Review’s Finest Hour
By Dr. Richard Bauckham. A groundbreaking work in New Testament studies, expanded and updated. Winner of the 2007 Christianity Today Book Award in Biblical Studies, this momentous volume argues that the four Gospels are closely based on the eyewitness testimony of those who personally knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that… Read More Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
It was fascinating to watch Mike Pompeo shock duo. Rory was as jumpy as a stage monkey. He knew he had been hashed. So they tried in vain to recover, i.e., by ad hominem, after Pompeo had left the studio. If you wish to see how obsequious and temperamental the posh one can become when… Read More Mike Pompeo Tells Stewart and Campbell No Way A Two State Solution
Neither Socialism nor lassez faire CapitalismOctober 1, 2001 | By Mark and Louise Zwick The following was a talk given at the American Chesterton Society annual conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, in June 2001. Dorothy Day and G. K. Chesterton were contemporaries. Both came into Catholicism in the 1920’s, Chesterton in 1922 at age 48… Read More G.K. Chesterton and Dorothy Day on Economics
Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” — Exodus 4:10 I know the feeling. Someone said, writing is easy, It is the editing that is hard. I hope visitors… Read More Slow of Speech and Tongue
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn. 15:13) The Alleged Killer Full 33-hour timeline of Tyler Robinson’s movements… and the frightening gaps unaccounted for Joe Hutchinson, US News Reporter Daily Mail, UK, 18 September 2025p PROVO, Utah — Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of… Read More No Greater Love
W.B Yeats “When You Are Old” is a poem by W.B. Yeats that reflects on love and aging, urging the addressee to remember their past beauty and the true love that transcends superficial admiration. It is often interpreted as a poignant reminder of the deeper connections in life. Verses below. By William Butler Yeats When you… Read More When You Are Old.
“Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good.”— Thomas a Kempis, 15th century
Best friends & much more forever 51 years and counting in 2025 Kahlil Gibran “You were born [again]] together, and together you shall be forevermore… But let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.” ‘For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health… Read More In Sickness and in Health, For Better or for Worse, for Richer or for poorer…till death do we part.
…Taylor.” Strange to place her here, but it’s a Time Out and it was the song which drew me in. “The song [see pg. bottom] is a hauntingly tender ballad from his 1970 concept album Watertown. The album itself is a departure from his usual style—it’s a narrative-driven piece (summary song). 🎶 About the Song:… Read More Time Out. Sinatra: “Elizabeth”
And a discussion about the friends and supporters of Antifa Victor Davis Hanson: In a recent and now widely seen Tucker Carlson interview, a guest named Darryl Cooper casually presented a surprising number of flawed theories about the Second World War. He focused his misstatements on the respective roles of Winston Churchill’s Britain and Adolf… Read More The “Lunacy of the Anti- Churchillians”
St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan has unveiled a 25-foot-tall mural honoring migrants to New York City. Housed in the entryway of the iconic New York church, the mural, “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding,” portrays the apparition of Mary, Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist to the Irish village of Knock as well… Read More Massive mural honoring NYC migrants unveiled at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
By Brendan O’Neill, Spiked Online “Normally a left-wing party has to exist before it can start splitting. Not Your Party. The Corbyn-Sultana loonfest has leapt right over the founding conference and manifesto-writing business and gone straight for the People’s Front of Judea routine. This fledgling gang of soy socialists that promised to save Britain from… Read More The collapse of Your Party is hilarious — Opinion
The Jerusalem Report By JACOB SIVAK Published: MARCH 10, 2022 15:54 The renowned American author and masterful satirist Samuel Clemens, also known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an abolitionist, a supporter of women’s rights and a supporter of Jewish emancipation. His attitude toward Jews is evident in his earliest book, The Innocents Abroad (1869). The book chronicles… Read More Was Mark Twain’s depiction of Israel in the 1800s accurate?
The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination became ‘more political’ in recent years and spoke about disliking the conservative activist’s ideas, officials said on Thursday. The suspect was named as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, from Washington, Utah. Robinson was turned into police overnight by his father and a minister in southern Utah after authorities shared images of the… Read More Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Motive Revealed
Who were they? Why was Alger Hiss convicted as a perjurer? In this episode of America’s Untold Stories, we delve into the intriguing story of Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss and uncover the fascinating connection between these two individuals. Whittaker Chambers, a former Soviet spy turned anti-communist, and Alger Hiss, a prominent American government official,… Read More Cold War Spies: Whittaker Chambers v. Alger Hiss
Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, has died after he was shot during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said. “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump said on social media. “No one understood or had the Heart of the… Read More Outrageous
Hail, Victim of salvation! Eternal King! Incarnate Word, sacrificed for me and all mankind! Hail, precious Body of the Son of God! Hail, sacred flesh, torn with nails, pierced with a lance, and bleeding on a cross, for us poor sinners! O amazing goodness O infinite love! Oh! let that tender love plead now in… Read More Traditional Prayer at the Consecration
Catholic Critique 