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Stuck In A Basement In San Francisco

January 9, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Stuck In A Basement In San Francisco

By TERENCE P. JEFFREY “Why isn’t it moving?” “We’re stuck.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Oh, my G—!” That was not a prayer — however much one was needed. The scene, as I recall, unfolded on a Friday night in the late 1980s. We had started the evening with pesto and shrimp at a great Sicilian restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach. Our group included my wife and me, one of my brothers, one of my sisters and several friends. Over dinner, my sister told us how much she enjoyed her job, teaching sixth grade at the nearby Sts. Peter and Paul School. Many Americans who have never been to San Francisco have nonetheless seen this parish church — in a…Continue Reading

The Wanderer Interviews Cardinal Burke (Part 2) . . . He Is With Us: Trusting In The Lord In Turbulent Times

January 8, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on The Wanderer Interviews Cardinal Burke (Part 2) . . . He Is With Us: Trusting In The Lord In Turbulent Times

By DON FIER (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Prefect Emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, recently visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis. On December 9, His Eminence graciously granted The Wanderer a wide-ranging interview and offered many illuminating insights on matters that concern the Church in the present time. Below is part two of this two-part of interview; part one appeared in the issue of December 26, 2019.) PART TWO Q. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, is the editor of a soon-to-be-published volume entitled Catechism of the Catholic Church with Theological Commentary (its publication has…Continue Reading

I Need A Drink…While You Fix My Car

January 7, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on I Need A Drink…While You Fix My Car

BY JOE SIXPACK An odd way of thinking has crept into the minds of Catholics over the last 45 or 50 years…one that is decidedly not Catholic. Actually, there are several philosophies most certainly not Catholic that have gained ground in our thinking in recent decades, but there is one we should all find disturbing because it has eternal implications. The thinking I’m talking about here is what happens immediately after our death; that is, the four last things: death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Traditionally we refer to only these as the four last things, but they actually imply much more — as is the case with a summary of most of the Church’s teaching. Just so you know where…Continue Reading

Hope For Parochial Schools

January 6, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Hope For Parochial Schools

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD The U.S. Supreme Court gave religious schools an early Christmas present on December 18 when it agreed to hear the appeals of two cases coming from California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Each involves the question of the classification of teachers in religious schools: Are they mere teachers or do they qualify as “ministers” under the Supreme Court’s Hosanna-Tabor ruling? Hosanna-Tabor, in case you forgot, was a 2012 case in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that religious groups are free to choose their own leaders. Hosanna-Tabor was an Evangelical Lutheran church in Michigan that had employed Cheryl Perich, a “commissioned minister,” to teach fourth-grade religion in its school. Perich was fired for…Continue Reading

Virginia Takes Center Stage As Democrats Take Control

January 4, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Virginia Takes Center Stage As Democrats Take Control

By CHRISTOPHER MANION Washington, D.C., usually gets the most attention from the political class, but 2020 might see the Commonwealth of Virginia taking center stage. Vladimir Lenin called his magazine “Iskra” — the “Spark.” And, while scholars can easily trace the causes of past revolutions, they find it much more difficult to predict when the “spark” will light the fuse of the next one. A year ago, few would have expected Virginia to merit the nation’s attention. Its scandals were local in color. Pictures of Governor Ralph Northam in blackface, alongside a man arrayed in full Ku Klux Klan regalia, appeared in February. Soon thereafter, blackface pictures of Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring also surfaced. If that weren’t bad enough,…Continue Reading

Is Philosophy Dead?

January 3, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Is Philosophy Dead?

Culture changes. We bid goodbye to somethings and welcome others. We do not miss the hula hoop or Nehru jackets, but we cannot do without email and compact discs. Most unfortunately, however, in the kaleidoscope of change, somethings that are indispensable are squeezed out. I am speaking here of the untimely dismissal of philosophy as the love of wisdom. Is philosophy really dead? The late Professor Lewis Samuel Feuer, a sociologist and professor emeritus of the University of Virginia, put it bluntly, “American philosophy is dead.” His stark pronouncement was reported in The New York Times, though not in the obituary column. The situation is “peculiar and even strange,” observed the distinguished philosopher Josef Pieper in The Future of Thomism…Continue Reading

All I Want For Christmas…

December 30, 2019 Frontpage Comments Off on All I Want For Christmas…

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD I think some of my fondest memories of my childhood center around Christmas. My dad always decorated the outside of the house, mom did the inside, and we always had a fresh green tree purchased from our parish’s Christmas tree lot. We’d have two weeks of school vacation and even the nuns — God love them — were in an extra good mood; in other words, no homework. We’d always go to the midnight Mass, come home and open family presents and then head to bed — not that we could sleep — and wait for Santa to bring the rest of our haul; and our haul was always pretty good. Kids were with their…Continue Reading

Why Worship God?

December 29, 2019 Frontpage Comments Off on Why Worship God?

BY JOE SIXPACK Personally, I think there are two things all Christians should be able to prove — especially Protestants. Our separated brethren claim strict adherence to the Bible as the end-all-be-all of divine Revelation, believing it to be the “inspired” word of God, yet none of them know how to prove the Bible is inspired. Well, I think they should have to prove that. Catholics too, for that matter. That is something we will cover in a future article. There is yet another thing all Christians should be able to prove . . . especially us. Perhaps one of the most puzzling things for me about most modern Christians is, they worship Someone they can’t prove. Obviously they all…Continue Reading

Christmas Cake, Cards, And Carols… How Some Christmas Traditions Began

December 28, 2019 Frontpage Comments Off on Christmas Cake, Cards, And Carols… How Some Christmas Traditions Began

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY The main focus for our Advent preparations for Christmas, should, of course, be on the Gospel accounts of the Nativity of our Lord. But there are also numerous traditions which have grown up around Christmas, which, while not essential, do encourage a Christmas spirit and contribute toward the celebrations. The word “Christmas” goes back almost a thousand years, and is an abbreviation of “Christ’s Mass.” This name, with its focus on the birth of Christ and the Eucharist, is partly a reflection of the fact that there are strong Eucharistic overtones in the Nativity accounts — Bethlehem means “House of Bread,” and Jesus was laid in a manger, a receptacle which was designed to hold fodder…Continue Reading

Will The Secessionist Epidemic Ever End?

December 27, 2019 Frontpage Comments Off on Will The Secessionist Epidemic Ever End?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Fresh from his triumphal “Get Brexit Done!” campaign, Prime Minister Boris Johnson anticipates a swift secession from the European Union. But if Britain secedes from the EU, warns Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland will secede from the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland, which voted in 2016 to remain in the EU, could follow Scotland out of Britain, leaving her with “Little England” and Wales. Not going to happen, says Boris. His government will not allow a second referendum on Scottish independence. Yet the Scottish National Party won 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Parliament, and Sturgeon calls this a mandate for a new vote to secede: “If (Boris) thinks…saying no is the end of the matter…Continue Reading