The Dispatch
Opinion: The Purge of Purgatory
On All Souls Day and throughout the month of November, the Catholic Church encourages her members to visit cemeteries, pray for the faithful departed, and [...]
“God is glorious in His saints”: St. John Henry Newman and All Saints
Essay
Editor’s note: This homily was preached on the Solemnity of All Saints, 1 November 2026, at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, New Jersey. St. Paul tells us that “God is glorious [...]
Rome excoriates publisher of a “credibly accused” list
Features
In a shockingly frank judicial decision—decided in June 2025 but made available in English just last week in the canon law journal of St. Paul University in Ottawa1—the Roman Rota, the rough equivalent of the [...]
Essay
A Convert from Communism
As World War II was brewing, the Communist newspaper in London ran an “exposé” about the supposed Fascist connections of G. K. Chesterton’s Weekly Review. The articles were hastily written by Douglas Hyde, who was [...]
Essay
She reported on a “prairie fire from hell”: Author Donna Steichen dies at 97
The year was 1985. A nun in a zip-up velour robe was demonstrating liturgical dance at my all-girls high school. Spotlighted onstage in the darkened auditorium, she swayed and bowed, long grey hair falling to [...]
Features
Opinion: The Twelve Bishops and Trump—Controversy and Context
On October 22, twelve American successors to the Apostles cleared up a conundrum that has baffled theologians for centuries: What is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit? Thanks to them, we now know: it [...]
Essay
The Gospel, not “listening,” is the message
Toward the end of the recent Roman meeting to discuss the Church’s 21st-century mission to marriage and the family, Pope Leo XIV asked the participating bishops to share their reflections on that experience. Bishop Erik [...]
Essay
Opinion: When praying for a President becomes a scandal
We have reached such an extraordinary degree of political derangement within Catholic discourse in the U.S. that twelve bishops praying over the President of the United States now constitutes a scandal requiring public apologies and [...]
Essay
Why seminaries need to teach political philosophy and study of statesmanship
I taught in fine seminary programs at the beginning and end of my full-time teaching career, with stints at Catholic colleges and universities in between. I continue to teach part-time for the college seminary of [...]
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The anticipated meeting in Rome to revisit and possibly reassess Amoris Laetitia is now over. And whatever Pope Leo wishes to do with its deliberations will now be on hold as he recovers from surgery, [...] -
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“The Apostle Paul, an outstanding and almost inimitable yet stimulating figure, stands before us as an example of total dedication to the Lord and to his Church, as well as of great openness to humanity [...] -
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mrscracker:
Thank you for that, Ken. I think I remember the Anglican Church included the Apocrypha even more recently.
Joe MInogue:
There was no justice here but the truth of the old axion # Follow the Money #
Sandra Miesel:
I expect results on the some year "on the Greek calends." (That's a Roman way of saying "never." Any accused…
