April 2, 2017
When the original and lamented Pennsylvania Station designed by McKim, Mead & White was under construction in the first decade of the last century, our parish was not in a salutary area. The New York Tribune described it as a “whirlpool of slime, muck, wheels, hoofs, and destruction . . . a waterfront as squalid and dirty and ill smelling...
March 26, 2017
Laetare Sunday is a relaxation from what, in our culture, are usually the not-too-rigorous rigors of this penitential season. Thoughts of the Heavenly Jerusalem occasioned the hymn “Jerusalem the Golden.” (Click here for choir, here for words) Ours is a translation by the Victorian classicist, John Mason Neale. The hymn is the fourth part of a poem by Bernard of...
March 24, 2017
Having just returned from Washington, D. C. with our special friends Judy and Dick Ames, Pat and I were lucky to get out before the late winter blizzard hit the East Coast. It was a combination of work, sightseeing and visits to the Hill to obtain and share information. Attempting to follow Dr. Italy’s (Marcellino D. Having just returned from...
View Articles If you’ve met Tim, you know that his life was shaped by good values that were imparted to him by his parents and he...
March 21, 2017
In an age of moral confusion, there are those who would suggest that the word “not” has been interpolated in several of the Commandments. It is easy to make words mean what one wants them to mean: in fiction, Humpty Dumpty did that in Wonderland and, in fact, the Anti-Christ did that in the Wilderness. Satan is clever at quoting...
March 13, 2017
Since no one was with our Lord during the forty days he spent in the wilderness, it is obvious that he later related it to his disciples. Perhaps this was among the secret things he revealed during the forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension. His three temptations: hedonism, materialism, and egoism, are the sum of all kinds of...
February 27, 2017
There is nothing new in being told that we are dust and shall return to dust. We hear it every year. Ezekiel pondered that when he saw a valley of dry bones. The answer came when God breathed, and the bones came alive again, “an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10). One of the longest discussed, and often most harshly argued,...
February 20, 2017
An oral tradition holds that in the course of a reception during the Constitutional Convention, the hearty Gouverneur Morris on a wager, after bowing to George Washington, patted him on the shoulder. Washington cast an icy glare at Morris, and the room fell silent. A man of grace and tact, Washington nonetheless had no patience for what he considered boorishness....
February 13, 2017
Europe and its contiguous lands were in a chaotic condition in 1240: the Mongols were destroying Kiev, the Novgorod army virtually wiped out the Swedes along the Neva River, and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, was pillaging the Papal States using Islamic Saracens as his mercenaries. Pope Gregory IX’s attempt to rally a Crusade against the invaders failed, and...
January 24, 2017
During these days of transition in government, temperance in expectations is a wise policy based on experience. Calvin Coolidge said, "It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know he is not a great man." The Yankee farmer was frugal with words, but they were not cheap. No...
January 17, 2017
We do not need Einstein to tell us that time is variable, or can “bend.” A half hour having a tooth pulled is much longer than a half hour having a drink with friends. Here in New York on New Year’s Day, the Q line extension on Second Avenue was opened, saving subway commuters a couple of minutes to travel...
January 10, 2017
Painting landscapes in the classical academies was done indoors, to “improve upon nature” the way formal gardens arrange flowers according to geometry. In the nineteenth century, the painters of the Barbizon and Hudson River schools began to paint outdoors (“en plein air”), trying to show nature as it is. The invention of portable easels and oil paint in tubes like...
December 25, 2016
In the days before computer screens, when parchments and wax tablets were costly, the writing on them could be scraped off and replaced with new script. That which replaced the old was a “palimpsest,” and sometimes bits of the old text could still be seen under the new. The Church’s feasts are something of a palimpsest, for under Pentecost, whose...
December 13, 2016
It has been a wonderful year. I can say that now, I could not have before knowing the results of the Presidential election. There is still much unknown about the Trump administration, but thus far he is showing the good judgment in his appointments and other actions to save American workers jobs that we had hoped for. The continued open...
December 6, 2016
It was a privilege years ago to know the English theologian Alec Vidler, a colorful and even eccentric character whose long beard amused the Queen when he was her chaplain and whose religious views irritated many. He was a good friend of C.S. Lewis and, especially, Malcolm Muggeridge, who agreed to disagree with him. Although his interpretation of some of...
November 27, 2016
Special to the Catholic Business Journal, writen by grandson of Chicago Times founder. Much of the mainstream media has disgraced itself in recent years. It has been focused on manipulation by engaging in tactics to "normalize" those who disagree with their points of view by targeting, freezing, personalizing, and polarizing. And most recently, we observed clear evidence that the press...
View Articles Thomas M. Loarie is a popular host of The Mentors Radio Show, the founder and CEO of BryoLogyx Inc. (BryoLogyx.com), and a seasoned corporate...
November 18, 2016
While reading a daily devotional on election day a single sentence caught my attention because of its simple yet profound accuracy, “As Christians we know asking Jesus for help is the best way to fix our problems”. Literally millions of prayers were answered with the defeat of Hillary Clinton for President of the United States and the rejection of the...
November 17, 2016
Experience can be a valuable teacher, but only if one learns the right lessons. Let’s make sure we learn the right lessons from the latest presidential campaign so America can move forward. Far too many people are drawing the wrong conclusions. One such errant interpretation came from Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank who wrote how hard is was to console...
November 13, 2016
The schedule for putting together a parish bulletin requires that I write this before Election Day. But as in all decisive moments, the words of Winston Churchill after the Battle of Egypt in 1942 have generic application: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the...
November 6, 2016
Today a long-forgotten crucifix will be placed once again in the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome. It will hang in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel near Bernini’s great tabernacle. Bernini himself would have admired the work of the anonymous artist, for its medieval style anticipated the spirit of the more exuberant baroque. The crucifix was carved seven hundred years...
November 2, 2016
Exactly eight years ago I wrote a column titled “The One We Were Waiting For” in which I referred to a book by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, The Lord of the World. That dystopian novel has been cited by Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis said he has read it several times. The protagonist, if one can apply that term...