Tertium non datur. That’s the law of the excluded middle. It is used in philosophy, especially logic, but there is a lot of other “middle” that we can exclude besides philosophy. In my last post, There is a Third Way,…
There is No Third Way
Curing the Rot of the Clergy Scandal
A few years ago I broke my back. I spent a month in the hospital recovering, learning to perform basic actions like walking again. Getting out and getting home was one of the greatest reliefs of my life. About a…
Reflections on Humanae Vitae Part IV: The Fruits of Contraceptive
In our last article in this series, we focused on the ills that Pope Paul VI predicted would happen if contraceptives became widely adopted. And it turns out that Paul was a prophet to our generation, one who has been…
Staying Connected
Do you remember when your telephone was connected to the kitchen wall? Or how about when your computer was connected to a jack in the wall and you could hear the sounds of being connected to the internet? I’m sure…
Reflections on Humanae Vitae Part I – What it Says
The Church is about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of its most famous encyclicals in the modern world: Humanae Vitae. Of course if you have read most of the press coverage, the word “celebrate” may seem a bit…
Making The Old New Again
I’ve always found today’s Gospel reading difficult to understand. It feels as though Jesus was light years ahead of John’s disciples, and even his own for that matter. Then a thoughtful soul explained that, no, you really can’t fast in…
Swept up by the Spirit
Swept Up in the Spirit: Journey of Transformation by Gary Garner is as mysterious as it is thrilling. In this testimony of conversion, he writes, “I have lived two vastly different lives—one spent exalting materialism and filled with spiritual darkness,…
There is a Third Way
A while back, I had an exchange with a disheartened young man. He said that he keeps encountering 5 types: “(o)ld, rambling and cynical men; bored, cliquey housewives; clueless and hard-headed men; disinterested and troubled women; and unhelpful, indifferent men…
On Pride and Christian Privilege
In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape educates a lesser demon on using a new Christian’s pride: “He must be made to feel (he’d better not put it in to words) ‘how different we Christians are’; and by ‘we Christians’…
Are You Catholic?
Many of us Catholics, if asked what our religion is, will respond, … “I am Catholic”. But are you really? Do you say you are Catholic because you were born into a Catholic family or because you actually live an…