By IHE Graduate Fellow Jason Paone The anxious mystique that surrounds ‘big words’ is usually just a function of their unfamiliarity. We tend to call a word ‘big’ not because it is long or profound but most often because it is rare. By contrast, when a term is current enough that we encounter it often, […]

Over the summer of 1221, Saint Dominic’s health began to decline. Although the famous preacher was only middle-aged, years of frenetic activity had taken an irrevocable toll on his body. In early August, the ever-traveling but now ailing Dominic arrived in Bologna. There, under the prayerful watch of his brothers, the holy founder entered his […]

Late July brings one of my favorite celebrations in the Church year: the July 26Memorial of Saints Ann and Joachim, the parents of Mary, the Mother of God. I had some early biases toward this feast. I grew up in a New York parish named for Saint Ann. My parents gave me that moniker for […]

By IHE Graduate Fellow Father Gilbrian Stoy, C.S.C. In contemporary moral debates, personal experience has risen to be a supreme source for moral discernment. In order for a doctrinal teaching, interpretation of scripture, or logical conclusion to be valid, it must ultimately ring true to a person’s lived experience.  Christians shouldn’t be too alarmed by […]

By IHE Graduate Fellow Meghan Duke In his question on prayer in the Summa Theologiae,[1] Saint Thomas says that the first thing that is necessary for prayer is that we approach God and that the second is that we make a petition. We can do this, he says, in three ways: First, through an act […]

As both a mother and an academic, the month of May bears a special significance to my vocation. It is, of course, the month in which we celebrate Mother’s Day, but it is also a month devoted to Mary, the Mother of God. Mary was not only a good mother: she can also rightly be […]