Sunday, July 20, 2025

Damsels in Distress (2012): A Film Review

Immediately before the credits roll, a notice appears on the screen to the effect that footnotes will follow. There are some, but they flash...

Six Organ Concertos By Handel

On this Laetare Sunday, where we may mitigate our Lenten practices somewhat, symbolized by the subdued colour of liturgical rose, and the organ may...

Brother John: A Monk, A Pilgrim, and the Purpose of Life

August Turak has written a delightful little book – and by ‘little’, I mean the term in a way similar to Christ’s usage of...

Mission Impossible: To Make a Real Movie

I finally got around recently to watching the fifth instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise.  As expected, it was slick and high-budget, with impressive...

Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes

No Pope is impeccable, even if, by virtue of their office, they are at times infallible – or, more precisely, a few of their...

Bach’s Christmas and Epiphany Oratorio

Between 1734 and 1735, J.S. Bach composed six Oratorios - or six parts of one long Oratorio - for the Christmas season, which the...

On the Beach, With Benedict and Hope

Pope Benedict XVI, in his second encyclical, the 2008 Spe Salvi (Salvific Hope) offers a distinction from the Letter to the Hebrews: We as...

Cobra Kai: A Nostalgic Adventure

Cobra Kai is the latest addition to the epic Karate Kid saga. It takes place 34 years (!!) after the 1984 All Valley Karate...

Saint Thomas’ Profundity: A Poem

(On this memorial of Blessed Duns Scotus, here is a poem on his near-contemporary, Saint Thomas, by high school senior, Brendan Brunet. If Mr....

Victoria’s Regina Coeli

A truly sublime rendition of the Regina Caeli Laetare, by Tomas Luis De Victoria (1548-1611), as sung by the ensemble Voces8. This work was...