About Casey Chalk

Casey J. Chalk is an editor for the ecumenical website "Called to Communion." A graduate student at the Notre Dame Graduate School of Theology at Christendom College, he holds a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Teaching from the University of Virginia.

Don’t Wait for the Teachers

By |2022-08-29T10:17:50-05:00August 20th, 2022|Categories: Catholicism, Classical Education, Family, Western Tradition|

Ultimately, the two catecheses—of our Faith and our civilization—should go hand-in-hand. That’s the way it’s always been: the West informed our Faith, and our Faith has indelibly formed the West. If we want both to survive, and perhaps flourish in America, our children will need the intellectual and cultural tools and imagination that a true [...]

Will They Come for the Homeschoolers?

By |2021-03-03T09:18:05-06:00March 2nd, 2021|Categories: Education, Homeschooling|

As our society becomes increasingly religiously unaffiliated, the voices contending that traditional Christian teachings on sexuality and gender are inherently oppressive, and even abusive, will get louder. Perhaps I was wrong. Just a few weeks ago, right after the presidential inauguration, one of my wife’s close friends, another parent in our homeschooling co-op, expressed her [...]

Liberty, Religion, & Woke Progressivism

By |2021-01-10T17:17:54-06:00January 10th, 2021|Categories: Liberty, Progressivism, Religion|

The pride of place that cultural Christianity once enjoyed in America is increasingly sidelined by a new, woke progressivism which, though purporting to be neutral and science-based, is in fact a competing religious ideology. The more that it dominates our cultural and political institutions, the more it can misuse the coercive powers of the state [...]

The Southern (Catholic) Tradition

By |2020-11-21T16:31:24-06:00November 21st, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Catholicism, Christianity, History, South|

Part of the South’s charm is an ability to recognize the good, true, and beautiful in traditions other than its principally Protestant identity and heritage. And Kevin Starr’s excellent history reveals that American Catholic identity is deeply Southern. Continental Achievement: Roman Catholics in the United States, by Kevin Starr (330 pages, Ignatius Press, 2020) When [...]

The Early Church & the Origins of Religious Liberty

By |2021-01-15T18:13:02-06:00June 28th, 2019|Categories: American Founding, Christianity, Freedom of Religion, Politics, Religion|

From Tertullian, a North African Christian writer of the early third century, to the Reformation, there is a significant Christian tradition that affirms religious freedom. The origin story of religious liberty commonly cited in college courses and museums, informed by proponents of the so-called Whig view of history, goes something like this. In the West, [...]

When Everybody’s an “Expert”

By |2019-09-17T14:09:37-05:00April 2nd, 2019|Categories: Education, Liberal Learning, Wisdom|

America’s everybody-gets-a-trophy syndrome has apparently made its way deep into the corridors of academia. Many times I’ve run into those who profess expertise in some field, only to scratch the surface and discover their academic credentials to be less than stellar. Ambrose Bierce defined education as “that which discloses to the wise and disguises from [...]

Why America Needs Thomas Aquinas Now

By |2024-01-28T07:54:20-06:00February 9th, 2019|Categories: Aristotle, Catholicism, Christianity, St. Thomas Aquinas, Theology|

Who can save us amid our current intellectual messiness? I would offer Aquinas. His philosophy doesn’t get as much attention as other philosophers, but it was he who synthesized the ancient Greek into a unified Western philosophical system that will stand the test of time. The 2016 data breach of the personal Gmail account of [...]

Our Unknown Neighbors & the Fate of Community

By |2019-07-23T12:51:09-05:00September 27th, 2018|Categories: Community, Friendship, Happiness, Social Institutions|

The last Saturday morning in August, my wife noticed that some of our neighbors had a moving truck outside their home. After watching with the kids for a minute or two, she acknowledged that she had never seen the people before. I recognized the man, though I had never spoken to him—he seemed to purposefully [...]

The Augustine Option: A Third Way?

By |2021-08-27T15:57:47-05:00September 8th, 2018|Categories: Christendom, Christian Humanism, Christianity, Conservatism, Culture, St. Augustine|

If we are indeed witnessing the nadir of American politics—or at least its accelerating decline—we should listen closely to Augustine. The “Augustine Option,” meaning a life lived in the final years of Rome, can offer key insights into how we should understand and address these tumultuous times. To the continued debate over whether religious Americans [...]

Why We Need “Too Many” Firefighters

By |2021-05-03T16:38:53-05:00August 29th, 2018|Categories: American Republic, Civil Society, Community, Culture, Economics, Social Institutions|

Firefighters’ role in the perpetuation of the common good in American communities is significant, even in surprising and unexpected ways. At a time when America is suffering a decline in community service and volunteerism, we should be grateful for firefighters serving our communities in other ways. As wildfires rage across California, the state has once [...]

“A Time To Keep Silence”

By |2018-02-27T14:55:20-06:00February 25th, 2018|Categories: Poetry|

In Honor of Cardinal Robert Sarah On weekend strolls at dusk Or lonely morning drives Do we let silence sink in, Or rather, run and hide? Blaring music or conversations, From synthetic plastic to our ears, It matters not, we console ourselves As long as the quiet not draw near We prefer our gods be [...]

The Sons of Remus and the Question of Western Identity

By |2018-06-21T23:33:03-05:00November 15th, 2017|Categories: Books, Culture, Europe, Featured, History, Rome, Western Civilization|

The Sons of Remus provides a window into not only how European identities were formed, but how all societies engage in a constant process of negotiation and renegotiation in determining who they are, where they came from, and where they are going… The Sons of Remus by Andrew C. Johnston (432 pages, Harvard University Press, 2017) Our conception [...]

The Wisdom of T.H. White

By |2019-05-14T17:21:09-05:00October 31st, 2017|Categories: Christianity, History, Just War, Literature, Love, Virtue|

T.H. White’s The Once and Future King is far more than a tale for children. It is also one of the more humble and respectful modern literary interpretations of medieval culture, as well as a source of poignant reflections on subjects as diverse as political and social mores, love, and religious faith… One of the [...]

Right or Left: Who Presents the Greater Threat to Islam?

By |2019-10-15T14:36:48-05:00November 13th, 2016|Categories: Islam, Secularism|

One of the more popular themes dominating media and social media in the last week have been fears that America’s multicultural project will be reversed, and exhibited by increased prejudice and discrimination against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. One protester in Chicago told The Washington Post: “It’s a bad time to be a Muslim or [...]

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