Abraham's Journey
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 […]
Read More Almost ThereBy 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 […]
Read More Get the First Principles Right…and All Else will Flow ClearlyBy 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 […]
Read More Cast Out Into the DeepBy 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 […]
Read More Prepare For a Great BlessingBy 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 […]
Read More Woe to the USCCB (Matthew 23:4)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 […]
Read More A Hope and a futureBy 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 […]
Read More In the Garden…of GethsemaneBy 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 […]
Read More The Vine and the BranchesBy 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. […]
Read More We Are God’s BelovedBy Charlie Johnston “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” – Galatians 1:8 When an organization is fractured by deep divisions, I usually encourage a “Don’t spook the horses” policy for about a year. That […]
Read More Spooking the Horses
A Sign of Hope 