On a cloudy January day in 2007 a young man was walking along the Hudson River in New York. “Is this what life is?” he kept asking himself. The city he had moved to, that magical place where he thought he might “find himself,” could be so draining. The young man was single. Most of […]

For centuries, the Catholic Church was the last bulwark standing against the tidal wave of secularism, atheism, and moral decay that was sweeping the world. As converts like G.K. Chesterton gave witness, the Catholic faith was a fighting faith—fighting against the destructive ideas and moral rot plaguing society. Yet, something happened. The Church suddenly faced […]

As someone who sees perennial bachelorhood as a societal sickness, recommending Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry might seem counterproductive.  Jayber, Berry’s main character in the novel, is a small-town barber that finds himself an “ineligible bachelor,” as he puts it.  He never marries, never has kids, and in that way is “free” of the burdens […]

In the Gospel of Mark, when a scribe questioned Jesus about the most important commandments, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). Men, this is difficult to truly embrace. When you think about it […]

I have to be honest, there’s something so empty to me in big, grand Catholic evangelical efforts. You know the type – “transforming your family with 3 easy things;” “an evening workshop that will change your marriage forever.”  The more dynamic it claims to be, and the grander the promise of impacting the entire society, the […]