From Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 to Beijing 2022

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies. He is the author of over twenty books, including Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (1999), The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II—The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy (2010), and The Irony of Modern Catholic History: How the Church Rediscovered Itself and Challenged the Modern World to Reform. His most recent books are The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission (2020), and Not Forgotten: Elegies for, and Reminiscences of, a Diverse …

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The Immaculate Conception Revisited

Dr. Leroy Huizenga is Administrative Chair of Arts and Letters and Professor of Theology at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. Dr. Huizenga has a B.A. in Religion from Jamestown College (N.D.), a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University. During his doctoral studies, he received a Fulbright Grant to study and teach at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, Germany. After teaching at Wheaton College (Ill.) for five years, Dr. Huizenga was reconciled with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil of 2011. Dr. Huizenga is the author of The New Isaac: …

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The Personhood of the Fetus

Raymond B. Marcin is a Professor of Law Emeritus at The Catholic University of America School of Law. He has taught Constitutional Law for four decades and has co-authored The American Constitutional Order: History, Cases, and Philosophy (with Kmiec, Presser, and Eastman), 3rd ed. (Charlottesville, VA: LexisNexis, 2009). All but ignored in the Dobbs arguments was the issue of whether the living, developing, and growing human child in the womb of her mother has the right to life guaranteed to persons in the text of the Constitution as well as in the text of the Declaration of Independence. In the arguments before the United States Supreme Court in Dobbs …

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‘The Music of Christendom’: Why the World Should Thank the Church for ‘Classical’ Compositions

By Trent Beattie In addition to assembling Finding True Happiness, Trent Beattie is the author of Scruples and Sainthood and the editor for Saint Alphonsus Liguori for Every Day. He lives in Seattle, Washington. The Music of Christendom A History By Susan Treacy Ignatius Press/Augustine Institute, 2021 235 pages, $16.95 To order: ignatius.com It would probably come as a shock to many people today, but the Gregorian chant is the foundational music of the Western world. Although monophonic, this type of music is anything but monotonous. There is variety in the modes of chants themselves and in the various forms of music that have developed from …

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Is Christ Really Our King?

Msgr. Charles Pope is currently a dean and pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, where he has served on the Priest Council, the College of Consultors, and the Priest Personnel Board. Along with publishing a daily blog at the Archdiocese of Washington website, he has written in pastoral journals, conducted numerous retreats for priests and lay faithful, and has also conducted weekly Bible studies in the U.S. Congress and the White House. He was named a Monsignor in 2005. User’s Guide to Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 21, is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus …

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The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

John M. Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. He is especially interested in moral theology and the thought of John Paul II. [Note: All views expressed in his National Catholic Register contributions are exclusively the author’s.] “Grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.” As the liturgical year concludes, we also wrap up a year of Scriptures & Art. The purpose of this blog series was twofold: to recognize the breadth of cultural influence Catholic …

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‘Not a Happy Experience’: Pro-Abortion Sen. Dick Durbin on His 17-Year Communion Ban

Joan Frawley Desmond is the Register’s senior editor. She is an award-winning journalist widely published in Catholic, ecumenical and secular media. A graduate of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies of Marriage and Family, she lives with her family in California. Sen. Durbin complains that his pro-abortion voting record has kept him from receiving Communion in his home diocese, and a Catholic priest and journalist offers a sympathetic ear. Sen. Durbin complains that his pro-abortion voting record has kept him from receiving Communion in his home diocese, and a Catholic priest and journalist offers a sympathetic ear. Joan …

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Did Pope Paul VI Abrogate the Traditional Latin Mass?

Edward Pentin began reporting on the Pope and the Vatican with Vatican Radio before moving on to become the Rome correspondent for EWTN’s National Catholic Register. He has also reported on the Holy See and the Catholic Church for a number of other publications including Newsweek, Newsmax, Zenit, The Catholic Herald, and The Holy Land Review, a Franciscan publication specializing in the Church and the Middle East. Edward is the author of The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates (Sophia Institute Press, 2020) and The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family (Ignatius Press, 2015). Follow him on Twitter …

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Beware of the ‘Woke’!

Michael Warsaw is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, and the Publisher of the National Catholic Register. A NOTE FROM OUR PUBLISHER: Archbishop José Gomez’s timely observations point to the intrinsic shortcomings of these contemporary ideologies that lately have become so prominent in our national discourse. Michael WarsawPublisher’s NoteNovember 13, 2021 Recently, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered an important set of observations about the rise of new secular ideologies and movements for social change in the United States and the implications for …

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Countdown to Beatification of Martyred Italian Nun Begins with Eucharistic Adoration

Sr. Mainetti was murdered in 2000 by three teenage girls as part of a Satanic ritual. COMO, Italy — The celebrations in northern Italy for the beatification of Sr. Maria Laura Mainetti began Thursday night with Eucharistic adoration at a church in her hometown near Lake Como. Sr. Mainetti was murdered in 2000 by three teenage girls as part of a Satanic ritual. Pope Francis declared Sr. Mainetti to be a martyr, killed “in hatred of the faith,” last year. The diocese of Como has organized three days of events leading up to her beatification on June 6, the anniversary of her …

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