Bishop Daniel Flores — What Was Really the Case (Lamp 2022)

Bishop Daniel Flores of the Diocese of Brownville, Texas has a meditation bearing this title in the Assumption 2022 issue of The Lamp magazine. Editor Matthew Walther describes it as “one of the most affecting pieces of writing I have come upon in ages.” Here’s the opening: Hell and the judgment that would send me […]

Epigraph, In Defense of Philosophy, Josef Pieper

Many indispensable and important things, such as justice, are in themselves unprotected. They have to be defended by those in power, who in doing so, not only fulfill their duty but also find their own justification. The power of the mind, however, for good or evil, consists in argumentation.

The one, the few, and the many; scrambled by popular sovereignty.

The categorization of the one, the few, and the many is often used to describe configurations of rulers in a society.  The unit across comparisons is the same: “person.” The one refers to one person; the few refers to a few persons; and the many refers to many persons.   What happens, though, if we scramble […]

We don’t talk about Bruno

Not much, anyway. After a certain age, neither did St. Bruno do much casual speaking himself. But we do hear about, and pray for the intercession of, St. Bruno on this his feast day. For a taste of the monastic life of his Carthusian sons, you can watch a trailer for Into the Great Silence.

“America Loses a Judicial Giant” (Clement on Silberman)

Today’s Wall Street Journal includes a remembrance by Paul Clement of Judge Laurence Silberman (D.C. Cir.). Clement mentions multiple rulings showing Judge Silberman’s understanding that “disappointing those who view judicial decisions through a political lens was part of the job.”