Recently I finished reading Neil Gaiman’s children’s horror novel, Coraline. I remember seeing the movie as a child, and suffice it to say, it left me petrified. I’ve watched many horror movies since, but it’s undeniable: that stop-motion horror flick still gives me the creeps. Personally, I found the movie far scarier than the book,…

For some time now, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of the Oratory. I’d heard the word pop up in various readings about the lives of the Saints, such as John Bosco, John Henry Newman, and Frère André Bessette. It was only when I visited the Toronto Oratory that my curiosity was piqued, and I…

I’ve always been proud of my English heritage. So much so that when I began to consider converting to Catholicism, I felt uneasy. After all, English history this past half of a millennium has been littered with anti-Catholicism. To be Catholic, I felt, is to be very un-English. Moreover, many well-revered “heroes” of English history…