At first glance, Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania hardly looks like a place to host a revolution. It is a suburb of Philadelphia, a quiet and upscale retreat from the stresses of city life. Its Belmont Hills Library is nestled in a park-like setting. Yet, revolutionary forces were very active there on the morning of … Read more
Upon his election in 1998, the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez launched a “Bolivarian Revolution” that would create “socialism for the twenty-first century” funded by billions of petrodollars. Chávez, an admirer of Fidel Castro, very clearly sought to transform Venezuela into a new Cuba. For the next twenty years, Venezuela has gotten … Read more
Identity politics requires each constituent group to be politically unified. In this way, activists can claim to speak in the name of a given oppressed identity group. Feminism has always had a problem with this unity. The woman’s movement claims to represent all oppressed women everywhere. However, Christians, pro-life women, homeschooling mothers … Read more
A Review of the Book Pius IX by Roberto de Mattei (Leominster, England: Gracewing, September 2004) Today’s problems often seem to be the worst ever faced by the human race. Thus, it is easy to be overwhelmed by focusing on the division, apostacy, scandal, and confusion of the current age. One … Read more
Pope Francis’s “Paradigm Shift”: Continuity or Rupture in the Mission of the Church? An Assessment of His Pontificate’s First Five Years. Pope Francis places Catholics in a dilemma. Many have the very understandable, indeed holy, desire to obey the Successor of Saint Peter. At the same time, Pope Francis seems … Read more
The devil would like to present man with a cultural vision of the universe that would destroy the very concept of being. However, absolutely speaking, he cannot destroy being. For example, it is not in his power to make the material in this table to stop existing. He can cause a man … Read more
Most people think of Communism—if they think about it at all—as a purely economic force. That is what we were taught in school and university; it is what we will hear in the rare instances when Communism is discussed honestly in the various media. That understanding may be correct as far as … Read more
A healthy, robust debate around the issue of land is clearly needed in South Africa today. Unfortunately, the nation finds itself right now in the midst of a persistent and belligerent invective against landownership. This threatens the future of the nation. The land reform offensive is led by Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom … Read more
Reading Church documents written in progressive jargon requires a lot of attention, patience, and analysis. That is because ideas in these documents are not expounded clearly and logically but rather with circumlocutions and contradictions; they are more suggested than affirmed. In addition, one must keep in mind the principles and methods of … Read more
Every revolution needs legends to capture the imagination of its followers. It needs some act of defiance in which a major character charges into the mouth of the lion and plants his manifesto for all to see. Such is the case of the October 31 commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary of Luther’s … Read more