Paul Kengor
Dr. Paul Kengor is a husband, father, a college professor and a best-selling author. He teaches political science at Grove City College where he is Executive Director of the Institute for Faith and Freedom. He is author of The Devil and Karl Marx (TAN Books, 2020).
Saint John Paul II and the Gift and Duty of Our Talents
As a biographer of Saint John Paul II, whose feast day is October 22, I’m often asked if I have a favorite statement of the great pope whose pontificate ran from October 1978 through April 2005. That is not an easy choice. I came into the Catholic Church in large part because of John Paul…
St. Peter Claver: Slave of the Slaves
There is a movement afoot that claims that the Roman Catholic Church was long insensitive to the plight of black slaves or to the institution of slavery in general. The movement is growing more vocal and more hostile and levies some extraordinarily uncharitable and unfounded claims. This is not the place to lay out those…
Padre Pio, Superhero, Makes Another Save
The remarkable conversion of actor Shia LaBeouf is making waves among Catholics and the culture at large. I watched his testimony in a fascinating long interview with Bishop Robert Barron. LaBeouf comes across as fully sincere, repentant, and highly thoughtful. This is an obviously intelligent and informed individual, highly cerebral, who came to the Church…
Inspiration from St. Stephen of Hungary and His Crown
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Pope Francis by phone on Friday and thanked him for his prayers. The phone call came the day after the funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica for Cardinal Jozef Tomko, who at age 98 had been the Catholic Church’s oldest living cardinal, and the last of the great Cold War…
Remembering Leo XIII’s Arcanum—On Christian Marriage
Few popes in the history of the Church had the impact of Pope Leo XIII. Born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci on March 2, 1810, he was the sixth of seven sons born to Count Lodovico Pecci and Anna Prosperi-Buzi. At age eight, Lodovico and Anna sent their son to study at a Catholic school…
St. Rita of Cascia: One of the Incorruptibles
She has become one of my favorite saints, and yet I usually don’t think of her until her feast day, which every year is May 22. In fact, you would be reading this article earlier, ahead of her feast day, if I had thought ahead. Her feast day also happens to be the day when…
Divine Mercy Sunday and St. Faustina’s Message
This Sunday, April 24, 2022, is Divine Mercy Sunday, given to us by Saint Faustina Kowalska, by the pope who canonized her, and by their Lord Jesus. In a personal moment of divine inspiration or plain dumb luck (more likely in my case), I grabbed her famous Diary to check if she had any revelations…
To Consecrate Russia—and Oneself and One’s Family
On this Friday, March 25, 2022, the Feast of the Annunciation, Pope Francis will be consecrating Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Mother in a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica. This is a big deal. It’s a big deal to the world. But consecration is also a big deal to each…
Appealing to Saints Cyril and Methodius—Heralds of Light and Faith
In June 2014, my family experienced something special. We had a private Mass in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It was our only visit there. Descending the stairs and quietly walking past the literal bones of St. Peter himself is a surreal experience. I carried my youngest and whispered to him that…
Inspiration from the Ukrainian Martyrs
The current battle playing out in the public eye between a Russian authoritarian leader and the people of the Ukraine is unfortunately nothing new. This is a rivalry that goes way back. And the worst times was the period when Ukraine was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union and its atheistic and (indeed) genuinely evil…
Catholic Elements of Home Alone
Released in November 1990, in time for the Thanksgiving and holiday theater-rush, the film Home Alone became an instant Christmas classic. It was a box-office smash, grossing nearly a half-billion dollars in receipts worldwide. It received numerous accolades, with Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Its main star, Macaulay Culkin, became a household name. The…
Julia Meloni’s The St. Gallen Mafia: Crucial Insights into Pope Francis
Julia Meloni’s new book, The St. Gallen Mafia, is a fascinating work. Rarely do I push through a book in two days, but this time I did. The research and writing are outstanding. A read of the text and study of the footnotes and bibliography make clear that Meloni seems to have read every book…
John Paul II’s Feast Day and Historic Landmarks
October 22 is the feast day of Saint Pope John Paul II (on the General Roman Calendar). And for this year, 2021, his feast day comes at a historically notable time. This year marks some remarkable anniversaries related to what in retrospect was one of the sainted pope’s most notable historical accomplishments: the defeat of…
Unchained
I love the old Twilight Zone episodes. One of my favorites is called “The Howling Man.” A bedraggled, desperate, ill tourist somewhere in the remote mountains of Europe happens upon a monastery late at night in the middle of nowhere. The monks and the abbot, Brother Jerome, are reluctant to let him in, but their…