St. Irenaeus of Lyons has always been a favorite saint of mine since I had my first deep dive into the Fathers almost 20 years ago. He was suggested to me by a Catholic friend of mine after I was…

“Restoration” is a tricky word. If we are talking about a work of art, that typically involves the painstaking, patient and brutally slow work of removing layers of paint, pollution and other alterations which hide the original beauty of an…

In September 2017, I arrived on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the city of Rome. I went for pranzo and then walked to the Quo Vadis Church, and up the Via Appia to Santa Croce…

People are one of the best things about life. They can also be one of the worst. Putting aside the realm of moral faults which we call sin, I have derived consolation from the concept that moral theologians once called…

Throughout my life, I have consistently been in awe of the relevance and power of Dante’s Divine Comedy, and how, like most great literature, it speaks to you, walks with you and even grows with you as you grow. When…

Whether it is the Sede Gestatoria or the Popemobile, our Papal ceremonies have always included provision for a very basic fact for popular public figures: people like to touch and reach out for them. This of course carries with it…

The United States America is, and almost always has been, a true “melting pot”, a society which has always been a mix of diverse ethnicities, nationalities, and religions. This arrangement has not been without its struggles. Although most immigrant groups…

A Blessed and Happy Easter to all readers of Scutum et Lorica. Like many Priests before and during Lent, I have been very occupied, but by no means have I stopped writing, and thinking. Most of my best thoughts come…

I have been very quiet lately, especially since the promulgation of Traditionis Custodes, both out of sorrow and out of meditation, as we have seen across the Catholic world the return of what Cardinal Newman famously called the “spirit of…