Like many things, the term “great” is terribly overused these days.  We speak of great pitchers and quarterbacks, great movie and rock stars, great columnists and journalists, etc.  By the classic definition of “great” as something or someone of major…

Last weekend, Pope Benedict XVI released his motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which enables the greater use of the Pre-Vatican II liturgy, now commonly known as the Tridentine Latin Mass.  Under Summorum Pontificum, any priest who is "worthy and not impeded…

Think it's hard getting through to your teenager about the importance of faith? Think it's difficult to find good role models for your kids nowadays?

Think again. Help has arrived.

Not the least problem with modern culture is its lack of real…

One picture told it all: At Toronto’s airport, the world’s eye caught little ten-year-old Georgia Rae Giddings as she emotionally burst into tears after Pope John Paul II embraced her. For the next hour, she recalled the moment repeatedly before…

Years ago, in happier and more carefree times, St. Patrick’s Day was a major holiday, a festive occasion when everybody was a wee bit Irish. Wearin’ o’ the green was a big part of the fun, with pinches awaiting those…

When this year’s Academy Award nominees were announced, many were shocked Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ was not nominated for a single major award. The movie, which chronicled Jesus’s last twelve hours, took the cinematic world by storm.

Breaking an…

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Compare the Joe DiMaggios of yesterday to the Alan Iversons of today; entertainers like Nat King Cole to rappers like Snoop Doggy Dog; our nation’s first president George Washington to our previous one, Bill Clinton.…

A wise slogan recommends we occasionally “stop and smell the roses.” Likewise, Allen Wright’s excellent new book “Silent Witnesses in the Gospels” (St. Anthony Messenger Press, $11.99, 230 pages) advises us to stop and breathe in the Gospels anew, seeing…

A Vision of Hell: While my home in Simi Valley wasn’t directly threatened, flames came within about 1.5 miles of us. From our house, we could see the wildfires surrounding Moorpark and Simi, angry red lines stretching for miles unending.

Homes and…

If there’s a single cardinal virtue uniting the ten priests profiled in Michael Rose’s excellent new book, Priest: Portraits Of Ten Good Men Serving The Church Today ( Sophia Institute Press , $14.95, 187 pages), it’s “fortitude” (or “guts,” if you’d prefer).

Let's…