The Catholic Thing

By Kristen ZiccarelliToday, August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration, commemorates one of the most mysterious moments in Christ's public ministry. Ascending Mount Tabor with Peter, James, and John, Jesus is transfigured before them. His face shines "like the sun," and His garments become dazzling white, Moses and Elijah appear beside Him, and the Father's voice declares, "This is my beloved...

By Casey ChalkEarlier this month, Orlando-based evangelist and social media influencer Whitney Lynn posted a video of herself offering a brief preaching session as passengers prepared to debark an airplane in San Diego. Below the clip – in which most people seemed either oblivious or trying to ignore her – Lynn wrote: "I just love a captive audience." On 30 July, Lynn was even bounced from a San...

By Randall SmithThere was a bit of a kerfuffle a few years back over the phrase in the Our Father: "Lead us not into temptation." It was suggested that the phrase be changed to "do not let us fall into temptation," reasoning that the original wording incorrectly implies God pushes people into sin, whereas it is Satan's domain to tempt. It is certainly true that God does not lead people into sin,...

By Robert RoyalThis is the first summer in quite a while that circumstances have prevented me from taking a walking pilgrimage, usually something like the Camino de Compostela (here) or the Via Francigena (which nearly killed me a few years ago between the heat and distance (here). My favorite, however, is still St. Cuthbert's Way, which runs from Melrose in Scotland over the mountains on the...

By Fr. Thomas KuffelNike, the shoe company, not the ancient Greek goddess, famously said, "Just Do It." But why is the company called "Nike," and what does the word mean? Nikê is the Greek goddess of victory in war – and life. Battles bring victory, and she brought victory to Zeus, supporting him in his wars. Taking note, Nike became the shoe company that brings victory to athletes.St. Paul, too,...

By Steven Jonathan RummelsburgWhen I ask my classes, "What is a cat?" inevitably the answer is, "Whatever someone says it is." Not so long ago, every seventh grader knew what a cat was. Now, that certainty has evaporated into subjectivity. But after a few months of instruction in logic, a kind of mass awakening occurs: the class discovers that "truth is not consensus, but the convergence of the...

By Francis X. MaierYes, alas, it's another election year. You know what that means. The free-fire zone, formerly known as our public square, demands that we steal a break from our screens – and think. We think in order to understand. And we best understand the character of our times by tracing the lineage of the ideas and actors who have shaped them. Marx, Nietzsche, and many others are among the...

By Michael PakalukI wonder if a certain greater sobriety is not asked of us as regards our use of social media. And if so, who is going to tell us so? So much that is stern and chastising has been removed from the public acceptance of our faith today. This is strange when, never before, it seems, has such chastisement been so very badly needed.To see what I mean, open the pages of the spiritual...

By Amy FaheyNorwegian soccer star Erling Haaland recently made news not for his playing or pseudo-Viking antics, but for his record-breaking purchase of a 1594 printed edition of the Heimskringla – the lives of the Norwegian kings from legendary beginnings to the death of Magnus V in 1184. Haaland and his father donated the volume to his hometown library to promote reading: "I want the book...

By Brad MinerMany readers know of my passion for art, especially painting. I'm particularly fond of the work of the great Catholic artists Caravaggio, Rubens, and Vermeer, and some examples of their work are in the collection of my favorite museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. What readers don't know is that nothing at the MET by those greats is my favorite. That distinction,...