In May 2024, I will complete my fifth year on the full-time faculty at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology (MTSM). This is in addition to the three years I taught as an adjunct. These have been the most satisfying eight years of my professional career. I should …

In 1992, British novelist P.D. James departed from her usual genre of detective fiction to write a dystopian novel about the growing prevalence of what Pope St. John II later called “the culture of death.” This culture, wrote John Paul in the 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, is “fostered by powerful …

The most obvious association that people have with Lent is of “giving something up.” In many cases, of course, this is perfectly legitimate. Along with prayer and almsgiving, fasting is one of the three traditional pillars of Lenten observance, and it is mandated (with exceptions) on Ash Wednesday and Good …

As most Catholics are well aware, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. And, of course, almost everyone associates Lent with giving something up, even if they do not understand the penitential importance of the season. “I gave that up for Lent” is a common refrain, …

In the midst of rapidly changing social norms, the challenges of Catholic discipleship in the U.S. have become increasingly difficult and frustrating. Making matters worse, Catholics can be found on both sides of polarizing cultural and political issues, each thinking theirs is the only reasonable position for a Catholic to …

In June 2023, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board (the “Board”) approved an application from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa to create a virtual Catholic school, St. Isidore of Seville. Like all other virtual charter schools in Oklahoma, St. Isidore will be tuition free, …

In his January 16, 1980, general audience, Pope St. John Paul II noted that the second creation account in Genesis affirms two essential truths about the human person. The first is that the human is the only creature that God “willed for its own sake.” All other created things are …

On November 7, 2023, Ohioans will vote to approve or reject an amendment to the Ohio Constitution, proposing to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right. Drafted and financed by militant pro-abortion advocacy groups, the approved amendment would enable Ohio to have the most extreme abortion law imaginable. Properly read and …

Beginning on October 4, 2023, two years after launching a process known as the “Synod on Synodality,” bishops, theologians and other participants will assemble at the Vatican for the first session of “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” My optimism for the Synod’s success is persistent, albeit guarded. …

August begins the annual ritual of children dragging their parents to the shopping mall for new clothes, backpacks and sneakers, in preparation for their return to classrooms, playgrounds and athletics fields. The nervous anticipation of going “back to school” is as common to the American experience of growing up as …