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.

Epitaph

  I repeat today my little story from the original Holy Week What follows is fiction. I used the literary device of an archaeological find, but it is fiction entirely from my meditation on the Crowning of Thorns. This is NOT definitely what happened with Pilate, but merely my meditation on what MIGHT have happened […]

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Can You Hear Me Now?

By Charlie Johnston The symbolism in the fire that destroyed much of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on the first day of Holy Week is so starkly obvious that almost everyone, including secular commentators, have opined about it. It is a metaphor both for the faithlessness that stalks the Church and for the precipitous decline […]

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The Foundation of Authority

(While I am going to clear Desmond Birch’s scholarly response on St. Ambrose when he has finished it, this discussion on the validity or lack thereof of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s resignation and Pope Francis’ Papacy is now finished. I know it is earlier than I originally said, but it is clear to me that most […]

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Grace is Free, But Not Cheap

By Charlie Johnston Mine is an ordinary way: Acknowledge God, Take the Next Right Step, and Be a Sign of Hope to those around you. It is not a way developed casually through some focus group. It is the result of a process of boiling down what is critical and yet accessible to all over […]

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The Challenge Before Us

(I am out of town until Sunday. Perusing over some old articles, I thought this one – which I originally published on Dec. 31, 2014 – was worthy of a reprise. Interestingly, Susan Skinner – who writes the Veil of Veronica site, and I first met each other because we had basically the same vision […]

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