Blog
Overcoming Scrupulosity With Intellectual Conversion
In the 1957 movie, “12 Angry Men,” a dozen jurors are assembled for the purpose of determining whether a boy, accused with the murder of his father, is guilty of the alleged crime. The first ballot, though one-sided, lacks the required unanimity to convict: 11 guilty;...
Wednesday on the World: John Henry Newman is Declared a Saint
In this episode of Wednesday on the World, Father Spitzer discusses the life of John Henry Cardinal Newman, declared a saint by Pope Francis this past Sunday. Father Spitzer also shares 3 of Newman's books that had a personal impact on Father's life. Read Also: New...
8 Deadly Sins in Literature: Vanity
In many lists of the deadly sins, vanity is included within the sin of pride. However, some scholars—including the originator, Evagrius Ponticus—kept it separate due to its difference from pride’s lust for power and dominion. Though the cause of vanity and pride is...
New Series Featuring Fr. Spitzer: ‘Wednesday on the World’
We are excited to announce that the Magis Center will produce and share a weekly video called “Wednesday on the World with Father Spitzer” every Wednesday. The video will typically be three to four minutes and feature Father’s take on a topic from one of the following...
The Copernican Revolution – Differently
I once thought that the Copernican Revolution was about the modern scientific view of the universe displacing the old Earth-centered view. Consider Neil deGrasse Tyson’s 2014 re-make of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” TV series, with its animated sequence about Giordano Bruno...
St. Pope John Paul II on Why We Need Both Faith and Reason
“Faith and Reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of Truth.” These are the opening words of “Fides et Ratio,” St. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on faith and reason. In his encyclical, St. John Paul II addresses the vitally...
A Strange Anointing: Glory in Suffering
When God first began teaching me about suffering, I was a young, non-Catholic, and found the whole subject completely depressing. As a rule, most non-Catholics have no theology of suffering. I, personally, had no handle on the glory of suffering, and using those two...
Mountains on Mole Hills and Volcanoes in Strange Lands
They dominate the landscape; they can determine the weather nearby, and if steep and high enough, they offer the perfect challenge to many an adventurer. Formed most often by the crashing of tectonic plates millions of years ago or from the eruption of molten lava,...
The Padre Pio Miracle that Led to His Beatification
During his lifetime, Padre Pio performed a large number of miraculous cures. The following miracle is connected to Padre Pio’s beatification, meaning it was approved by a Diocesan Scientific Board, a Diocesan Theological Tribunal, a Vatican Scientific Board and a...
Great Resources for Learning about Quantum Theory (and Its Relationship to a Trinitarian God)
There is an enormous corpus of talks, articles, commentaries, and YouTube presentations that focus on one of the strangest discoveries of the 20th century: quantum mechanics and its startling attendant features, the principles of uncertainty and superposition. When...
