Author: charliej373

Charlie Johnston is a former newspaper editor, radio talk show host and political consultant. From Feb. 11, 2011 to Aug. 21, 2012, he walked 3,200 miles across the country, sleeping in the woods, meeting people and praying as he went. He writes on cultural, global and political issues from an orthodox Catholic perspective. He emphasizes that we find God most surely through the ordinary, doing the little things we should with faith and fidelity. His constant refrain is that, to live real joy, we must acknowledge God, take the next right step, and be a sign of hope to those around us. He lives in the Archdiocese of Denver in the United States.

The Beginning of Redemption

By Charlie Johnston (It is Christmas…the Advent Season is over, yet I think it begins the second “week” of the New Advent. I wrote this story 29 years ago. It had an unexpected effect that has been very useful to me over the years. People of deep and ardent faith seem to always love the […]

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Almost There

By Charlie Johnston (I think a lot, these days, of looking back to the manger with the hopeful anticipation that Israel looked forward to the manger. We are almost there for this great celebration this year. What a joy it is! I can’t help but think of it as prelude to 2026, the Year of […]

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Get the First Principles Right…and All Else will Flow Clearly

By Charlie Johnston I have always been a big believer in what I call “First Things,” foundational principles which you then use as your interpretive template on all extrapolations. (Imagine my delight when, in 1990, the late Fr. Richard Neuhaus founded First Things Magazine – a profoundly orthodox Judeo-Christian publication that often has profound intellectual […]

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Cast Out Into the Deep

By Charlie Johnston It is a peculiarity of modern life that a lot of people have a very superficial knowledge about many things, but no depth of knowledge on anything. Then we have cohorts who have extreme depth of knowledge on certain niche subjects (usually technology) but little general knowledge beyond that. Weirdly, this combination […]

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Prepare For a Great Blessing

By Charlie Johnston Long ago I saw that, at a decisive moment, our technology would fail. I’m no Luddite. I do not regard technology as either intrinsically evil or intrinsically good. It is just a tool which, like any other tool, can be wielded by its user for either good or evil. But we withhold […]

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Woe to the USCCB (Matthew 23:4)

By Charlie Johnston Well, the USCCB, which could not bring itself to making a loud, full-throated call to support life, oppose transgender ideology, promote the traditional family and Biblical definition of marriage, has finally found something it can be full-throated about: demanding that American taxpayers cover all expenses for illegal aliens and quit the “indiscriminate […]

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A Hope and a future

By Charlie Johnston (Though it covers some old territory as a preliminary, this is a foundational piece. If you read nothing else, please read the last paragraph of the first item. It is critical, going forward. Sorry it is so long. I just didn’t have time to write a shorter piece – CJ) When I […]

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In the Garden…of Gethsemane

By Charlie Johnston The Democrats swept the off-year elections on Tuesday. Of course, all they swept were in blue states and cities anyway, so that is some consolation. I had thought, however, that there might be a repudiation of Democrats in these areas. The contrast between the Biden years (which was just an extra term […]

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The Vine and the Branches

By Charlie Johnston I have written obliquely before of how disturbed I am at the rise of antisemitism in some quarters of the right and the traditionalist Catholic community. I’m going to be more blunt now. If you are afflicted with this, you have welcomed a demon into your counsels. Keep nurturing it and the […]

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We Are God’s Beloved

By Charlie Johnston There was a fellow I collaborated on five or six big campaigns with. It was a great partnership most of the time. He loved the administrative duties – which often weary me. I loved strategy and the field, meeting people, exhorting them, unifying them, laughing with them and fighting together with them. […]

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