On Success and Salvation: What Does Our Work Say About Us?
This is the opening editorial from the las issue of Sword&Spade magazine, and unmatched print publication for men and their households. --- For years I’ve been hunting down the Foxfire books with a peculiar passion. The Foxfire publishing group started out as a magazine overseen by a flailing teacher in his effort to engage students...
Fathers: Education is the Initiation of Your Children into Culture
I’ve been working in catechesis for almost twenty years. Anyone involved in religious education can tell you that we have a crisis on our hands. Our programs do not produce adult Catholics or lifelong disciples. Classes about God are not enough to draw our kids into a Christian way of life, following Jesus, and sharing His mission in the world. W...
Culture and Divine Revelation
Mr. Brian Jones In his 2008 Address to the Representatives From the World of Culture, Pope Benedict XVI gave an illuminating analysis of the Christian roots of European culture. Reflecting upon the aim and purpose of the early monastic communities that arose in Europe, Benedict makes this startling claim: First and foremost, it must be frankly ...
Reclaim Religious Freedom – An Independence Day Homily
Six years of my priesthood were spent serving as the Vice Rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland - my previous assignment. Emmitsburg is a small town with a great Catholic Heritage; But just eight miles north of the town is the historic Gettysburg National Battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Since the National Park Ser...
The Catholic Stance in a World Off Its Axis
We sat under the moon at Monreau Seminary on the campus of Notre Dame; seven college men from the University of St. Thomas and one holy priest. As we re-hashed our weeklong conference on leadership in Catholic education, our conversation led to many cultural tragedies that find rationalization in academia: man-hating feminism, gender identity co...
Four Tips For Discerning Your Vocation
One of the blessings of teaching religion to high schoolers is that I get to witness to how God has transformed my life. This comes up in various ways through a myriad of lessons in all the grades I teach. Over the years, one particular topic, one special piece of advice, has resurfaced in various contexts: discerning one’s vocation. Everyone mus...
Take Up Your Cross
One of my favorite quotes from G.K. Chesterton – or from anyone for that matter – accurately distills the distinguishing characteristic of essentially every critique of the Christian paradigm and unapologetically defends that very paradigm in the space of less than twenty words. In fact, my description of the quote is already longer than the qu...
As The Family So The Church
Mr. Brian Jones The political philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre once observed that the contemporary breakdown of communal and familial life in the West is frequently attributed to the wrong cause. Many commentators have argued that the disintegration of our culture, and its rapidly increased secularizing power, has been the result of the loss of re...
Wise Men, The Nothingness of Eastern Religions, and the Somethingness of Christianity
A brilliant and valiant teacher named John Senior is continuing to be discovered by those startled by today’s shadowy darkness, especially through a newly published biography. Interestingly, Senior could be described as an apostle of shadows, not because shadows are not real but because they point to the fact that things are real. How else could ...
What My DAD Taught Me About Strength
Four hundred pounds is a lot of weight by any estimation. When loaded on a barbell resting on one’s back, four hundred pounds is unquestionably heavy. Now, do a set of squats with that weight. Such a feat relatively few people ever have the strength, ability, or desire to even attempt. Yet, this was the goal my dad had set for himself for his ...