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 End of The Beginning, Part I

By Charlie Johnston As this decade began, every leftist leader in America – and most of the world – was pointing to Venezuela under the guidance of strongman Hugo Chavez, as the icon of what we should all aspire to become. They were downright fawning over how Chavez had shown how a “just” society could […]

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The Parable of the Garden Hose

(Roman Cybak is a retired military man who lives near Charlottesville, Virginia. A regular reader here, he served as host and coordinator for my visit to Charlottesville a few years ago, just about a year before that town was victim of some nasty street theatre and ugliness. Charlottesville is a beautiful town, home of the […]

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Short Takes: The Battle for Life, an Early Feminist and…Go Chiefs!

By Charlie Johnston It is ironic that the most smugly self-righteous generation in our nation’s history will likely be looked at with revulsion by future generations for having knowingly perpetrated one of the great atrocities of history. Despite science proving that a child is fully human from the moment of conception, this generation insists on […]

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More From the Fathers

(Desmond Birch is one of the foremost living Eschatologists in the Church. He is, perhaps, best known for his great eschatological work, “Trial, Tribulation and Triumph: Before, During and After Antichrist.” Though meticulously detailed, it is a very accessible work for those who want to know what the Church formally teaches on this enigmatic subject. […]

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Best of the Fathers

(One of our regulars here, James I. McAuley, has come up with a basic list of readings from the Church Fathers, in order that we all may be more grounded in our faith. McAuley, an accomplished lawyer, has made a deep study of Church Fathers. As I have often emphasized here, you do NOT have […]

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Counsel for the New Year

By Charlie Johnston Throughout the world, we are not what we once were. Whatever we will be after the existential agonies of these times have past, it will be something new. Whether sublimely good or horribly bad, it will not be what we have ever been before. There are a host of perils that face […]

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The Longest Night

I don’t really want to write anything until after Christmas. Maybe just a few notes to tide you over. In the last month I have spoken to about a dozen people I much respect who have had their faith shaken badly by events of this last year. Some have abandoned faith almost altogether, hanging on […]

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A Little Christmas Story

(I wrote this story during Advent of 1996. I have gotten in the habit of reprinting it each year at this time. I hope you enjoy it – and Merry Christmas!-CJ) Joseph’s Way Posted on November 2, 2015, by charliej373 By Charlie Johnston The true son of true God was adopted by a man, that […]

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