Weekly Summary: 12/13/25
The week in review, from the perspective of a veteran Catholic journalist
This week my Substack subscribers saw a lot of quick notes, and not so many longer posts. That pattern is going to change with the arrival of the new year, as I take a new career step. Stay tuned for the announcement!
• The Vatican press office pronounced “satisfaction” with the installation of a new bishop in China, and the government’s official recognition of his predecessor, who’s now retired. But wait: that former bishop, longtime leader of the “underground” Church, is apparently still under house arrest. If that’s Beijing’s way of honoring the diplomatic accord, I question why the Vatican is satisfied.
• Cardinal Müller never pulls his punches, but even by his usual standards he was outspoken in a new interview.
• With Christians being killed by the thousands in Nigeria, there’s some debate as to whether the bloodshed qualifies as persecution. I reason that even if the Christians aren’t being killed because they’re Christians, it’s still a problem that they’re being killed!
• In Part II of my essay on “Why I am not (quite, yet) a Traditionalist,” I argue that, like it or not, the Novus Ordo isn’t going away, the vast majority of Catholics attend the “new Mass” regularly (if they attend Mass at all), and it’s essential to bear in mind that this liturgy, too, and sustain the spiritual lives of saints.
• In my Just-War Seminar, I pondered the question of terrorism. One part is straightforward: from a just-war perspective (or any sane moral perspective) terrorism is unjustifiable. But what about the battle against terrorism? Is it possible to combat terrorism effectively without violating moral laws?
• This week on the Home Front, Leila and I discussed:
- the desecration of a Nativity display, by a Catholic priest;
- a Vatican document on monogamy that misses a central point about marriage;
- the increasingly strenuous effort to justify a diplomatic deal between Rome and Beijing, in spite of the facts;
- a stunning book about the appearance of Our Lady of Gaudalupe, and the native traditions— going back for centuries!-- that prepared the way for conversions.
• My novel Ghost Runner has been selling nicely, even though Amazon still hasn’t started shipping the hard copy— for reasons I can’t understand. But the Kindle version is available, and I was delighted with the first Amazon review, as I explained here. Meanwhile the publishers tell me that they’re already planning a 2nd print run.
Which reminds me that if you’re near Nashua, New Hampshire, I’d love to see you Tuesday evening, December 16, when I’ll be discussing the book, and signing copies, at an event sponsored by the Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture at Thomas More College.