Perhaps we should ask what kind of culture is forming young men who feel untethered from reality.
Podcast: Sarah Cain, The Crusader Gal
Announcement: A New Show
You’re listening to a podcast dedicated to narrations of my written work, and that will continue. I’ve also started a separate daily podcast with my co-host, Jakob Kraft, where we comment on the news. To check out that show, visit RiseRight.org.
The War on Truth, in the Name of Empathy
Hillary Clinton has written an op-ed for The Atlantic that is permeated with moral indignation. She decries “MAGA’s War on Empathy” and then engages in a one-woman war on Truth.
Snowfall and the Lie of Modern Man
A snowstorm has a way of reminding us how small we are. For all our technology, we wait and hope just as our forebears did.
Outrage Is Not a Moral Vision: Lauren Southern’s Regret
Lauren Southern’s memoir shows how the populist right devolved, destroying its main actors and leaving audiences lost. We can’t build a civilization on outrage. https://writings.crusadergal.com/p/outrage-is-not-a-moral-vision-lauren
There’s No God in Chess
We exhaust ourselves trying to plan futures we were never given grace to survive. There’s no God in chess, but there is in real life. https://writings.crusadergal.com/p/theres-no-god-in-chess
When a Diocese Undermines Its Own Vocations
A diocese’s seminarians reflect its spiritual ecology. So why dismantle what was working? The Diocese of Charlotte is delaying ordinations and stripping seminarians of their cassocks, while forcing them into a year of lay work mid-formation. Read the article: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/when-a-diocese-undermines-its-own-vocations
Unworthy of justice: When ideology determines victims
There is a growing ideological trend that seeks to deprive those broadly considered to being “on the right” of any and all rights, through dehumanization and the systematic exclusion from key institutions. I lived this reality in a small way when I was made a victim of a minor crime in an American city. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/01/04/unworthy-of-justice-how-ideology-determines-victims/
The Claim Christianity Makes at Christmas
Christianity has never been a faith of mere sentiment. From the first century onward, it has made a claim on the whole person, and it comes into sharp focus at Christmas. Read the article: https://writings.crusadergal.com/p/the-claim-christianity-makes-at-christmas
Five Books That Can Change Your Soul
Five books stood out this year. In an age of excess, noise, and content masquerading as wisdom, these were rare companions: books that changed the way I think, pray, judge, and remember. From Boethius on suffering and providence, to C.S. Lewis’ medieval imagination, to ecclesial indifference, and the loss of ritual, these are books worth keeping and rereading. Read this article instead: https://writings.crusadergal.com/p/five-books-that-can-change-your-soul
