Category: Essay

The Witness of a Suffering Church

In 1989, with the fall of what Ronald Reagan rightly called the “evil empire,” this magnificent Church of martyrs emerged from the catacombs of communism, not liquidated, not re-educated, but forged like gold in the furnace of persecution.

CPAC Hungary: Conservatives of the World, Unite!

Gone is the bombast of economic progress as a good in itself. It seems much of the Right has finally recovered from the hangover of an era in which it was necessary to evidence the superiority of Western capitalism over eastern Bolshevism.

The Last Steeplejack

Fred Dibnah, MBE, the late and great, was a steeplejack. He was also a self-taught engineer, a documentarian, and a daredevil who brought down exactly ninety disused industrial chimneys using—with rare exceptions—nothing but a hammer and chisel.

Nationalism from Maccabees to Modernity, Part I: Covenants over Conquerors

The champions of an imperial and of a national world order were and are sons to a mixed heritage. This essay explores the deeper compatibility of Europe’s Greco-Roman and Biblical inheritances, as well as of national political entities and broader universal commitments. 

A New Framework for Freedom

If a new framework for freedom is to emerge in the West, it must be recognizable. The stories of anchored freedom must be told, and they must be disseminated with the same adamance in mass culture, whenever and wherever possible, as the Boomer myth of freedom.

Criminalising ‘Conversion Therapy’ in a Liberal Democracy

How is it, we may ask ourselves, sexuality is widely deemed something fluid, unless its fluidity runs towards heterosexuality, and then all of a sudden sexuality becomes a binary phenomenon that cannot undergo any change?

Le Chambon

It is the ordinary nature of their goodness that makes the story of Le Chambon such a miracle. It was weathered men and women with brittle hands, shiny with callouses from backbreaking work, hard as oak and often gnarled with age, who did these things.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica: Counter-Revolution Incarnate

As I knelt to pray my rosary before the Blessed Sacrament, I was struck by the astonishing confidence required to build Sacré-Cœur. In 1789, France, the Church’s eldest daughter, declared herself no longer a disciple of Jesus Christ but an apostate.

Futurism, Feminism, and Faith: Musing on Valentine de Saint-Point

If Europe is to enter a new, restorative cycle, it will not do merely to push against contemporary ‘woke’ elites and the consequences of mass immigration. Her defenders must attend to what drove some of her most perceptive sons and daughters away.

Redeeming the Tyranny of Merit

Redeeming the Tyranny of Merit

Our institutions of higher learning nevertheless reveal how, even within a formal meritocracy, entrenched privilege can co-exist with an appearance of fairness. When the lower rungs of the ladder are kicked away by those already on top, social mobility grinds to a halt and the meritocratic promise loses its capacity to inspire.

November 18, 2021
The Culture War Against the Past

The Culture War Against the Past

The mere hint that a point of view is outdated serves as a signal that it need not be taken seriously. It can be legitimately vilified and condemned.

November 17, 2021
The Statesman: A Solitary Path of Courage

The Statesman: A Solitary Path of Courage

It is customary for a politician to chase popular opinions, putting partisan interests first and shying away from confrontation. However, Castlereagh was not a politician, but a statesman: an undaunted leader who took a stand when it mattered, carried the burden of power with pride and confidence, sacrificed everything for his country, and established Britain’s role for decades to come.

November 16, 2021
Papal Tyranny and the Order of St. John

Papal Tyranny and the Order of St. John

The picture that has been emerging of today’s papacy is one of a pope, with little or no regard for law and due process, governing a Church that has made disregard for law and tradition part of its ecclesiastical culture.

November 11, 2021
Graveyard of Empires: Three Centuries of Turbulence in Afghanistan

Graveyard of Empires: Three Centuries of Turbulence in Afghanistan

The “Graveyard of Empires” seems a fitting name for the nation. Afghanistan does not destroy them; it measures their willingness to fight for their interests and, thus, their vitality. It is the heart of Asia, it is a barren land of blood and dust, the ultimate test of ambition.

November 9, 2021
Pope St. John Paul II and the ‘Theology of the Body’

Pope St. John Paul II and the ‘Theology of the Body’

The ‘Theology of the Body’ focuses on the conjugal act and marriage and sees them as mutually inextricable. The conjugal act consummates marriage—and sex outside marriage is not conjugal.

November 7, 2021
The Hunt for Leadership

The Hunt for Leadership

Although I myself have not hunted for any game in decades save what can be found in restaurants, I do not approve of these limitations; in fact I cannot really trust any leader who does not hunt. It would be much better if they all did.

November 3, 2021
Vladimir Putin and Orthodoxy: A True Believer or Deceptive Opportunist?

Vladimir Putin and Orthodoxy: A True Believer or Deceptive Opportunist?

In Putin’s words, one can see the fusion, in his mind, of the roles of the Church and the state. I asked a number of Orthodox clergy as well as several Russian journalists what they thought Putin actually believed, and their answers amounted to a collective shrug.

November 2, 2021
Traditions, Liberation, and Meaning

Traditions, Liberation, and Meaning

The process of loosening, trivializing, and ultimately abolishing all the cultural institutions, expectations, and shared meanings of Western culture is the great project of Enlightenment liberalism.

October 31, 2021
Hello, Columbus!

Hello, Columbus!

October once more brought us that festival called in the United States Columbus Day, in much of Latin America the

October 30, 2021
Arsenic

Arsenic

One theory of Napoleon’s death is that he was poisoned by the arsenic in the wallpaper of Longwood House on St. Helena, accidentally or deliberately, as the case might be.

October 22, 2021
VOX at Viva21: Spain Still Lives

VOX at Viva21: Spain Still Lives

Vox is not against Europe but is in favor of truly sovereign states within the framework of Europe. It will stand with others against the intolerant “European Taliban” of the Left: “We will reconstruct what they destroy and rebuild what they demolish.” 

October 20, 2021