Abraham's Journey
By Charlie Johnston One of the devil’s most brilliant successes has been to embed the pharisaical instinct deeply into the human psyche. Few want the mundane honor of being God’s good servant, preferring the romantic drama of being God’s enforcer. The latter is the wide gate that leads to destruction while, as Christ said, the […]
Read More One Bread, One BodyBy Charlie Johnston Up until I was in my late 40’s, I could not wear a watch. If I tried, within three days it would stop. Every time. If I took it off, after a few days it would start running again. But if I put it back on it would rarely last an hour. […]
Read More The Best of Times, The Worst of TimesBy Charlie Johnston When St. John Paul II died my father, then a Protestant Pentecostal Pastor, cried. When I asked him why it affected him so deeply, he told me that, from his perspective, John Paul had climbed up onto the cross with Jesus and stayed there with Him until Jesus called him home…that it […]
Read More Signs of Hope, Signs of ContradictionBy Charlie Johnston When I was running a group of Chicago-area weekly newspapers, I occasionally brought volunteers in to run polls on heated local races, under my supervision. It worked out well. The furthest we were ever off from the final result was less than 3 points. There is a bona fide science to classic […]
Read More We Were Polling Along…In the brief run-up to the American Civil war between Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration and the start of hostilities, the new president was visited by a host of “peace committees,” urging him to let the rebellious states go in peace, forming two countries from one. Lincoln believed such a peace would only be illusory, setting off […]
Read More Birthing PainsBy Charlie Johnston The feud between Pope Leo and President Trump is dominating a lot of Catholic headlines these days. Many are saying that the Pope has gone completely political and is outside of any legitimate authority he has. Others argue that faithful Catholics must do whatever the Pope says (God forbid he ever starts […]
Read More Appearance and Reality: The Triumph is on the HorizonBy Charlie Johnston I am repeating my traditional story of Good Friday today, “Epitaph.” But first I want to recall one of the two most odd Easter Masses I have ever participated in. It was 20 years ago at a parish in the far north suburbs of Chicago, a different one than I would usually […]
Read More Imitate HimBy Charlie Johnston A lot of people and commentators are deeply concerned the Republicans are going to blow the midterm elections. It is not an irrational concern. Wobbly Republicans have blown a lot of elections over the years. With too many Republicans in the Senate taking the “20” side of the 80-20 issue of voter […]
Read More Midterm MadnessBy Charlie Johnston I think I gave the wrong impression when I wrote passionately about Pope Leo’s formulaic statement opposing American action on Iran, where he said that negotiation is the only answer and that violence never solved anything. Both were trite, nice-sounding platitudes that are easily and quickly disproven. But it did not signal […]
Read More Do Whatever He Tells YouBy Charlie Johnston The candidate whose campaign I was managing, Kat Wall, was defeated in her bid to oust a liberal Republican incumbent on Tuesday, March 3. In the process, though, she helped spark and add to a vitally important reform movement in Texas. Two very bright spots happened on that Tuesday night. My old […]
Read More The Emerging New World Order
A Sign of Hope 