For the Whole Christ
Writings by Dr. John C. Rao

About Dr. Rao

Dr. John C. Rao, D. Phil. Oxon., is Associate Professor of History at St. John's University and Director of the Roman Forum (also see the Roman Forum Facebook page). A well-regarded speaker as well as writer, Dr. Rao presents lecture series on Church history in New York and as part of the Roman Forum's Summer Symposium at Lake Garda in Italy. The New York lecture series is open to the general public, and applications for the Summer Symposium are available through the Roman Forum's website. Tapes of those and other lectures are available from Keepthefaith.org.

Writings

Books and longer pieces

Books and longer pieces available online include:

• He Who Loses the Past, Loses the Present: Putting Dignitatis Humanae in its Full Historical Context (Norcia Conference on Dignitatis Humanae, October, 2015). 17,512 words.
• Black Legends and the Light of the World: The War of Words with the Incarnate Word (The Remnant Press, 2011). It's very long (350,000 words), so you might prefer the free pdf or the paperback available from the publisher.
• Periphery. One man against pluralism: a novel of rage and reason. (Note: it deals with present-day life in New York and so includes coarse language.) 262,076 words.
• Americanism and the Collapse of the Church in the United States (Remnant Press, 1984; Updated, Tan Books, 1995. Also published as “L’americanismo e la crisi della chiesa negli Stati Uniti”, Contrarivoluzione (Florence, July-October, 1991, pp. 16-20; March-June, 1992, pp. 15-20). The illusions of pluralism, Catholicism and American patriotism. 15,293 words.
• Secular Italy and Catholicism: 1848-1915 (A chapter in Models and Images of Catholicism in Italian and Italian American Life Forum Italicum of the Center for Italian Studies at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook, 2004, pp. 195-230). Liberalism, nationalism, socialism and the romantic idealist temptation. 14,424 words.
• The Black Legends and the Timeless Drama of Truth (A Series of Essays Based on the Gardone Lectures, 1993-2004). 13,171 words.
• Portugal, Austria and Catholic Counterrevolution in Interwar Europe (Faith and Reason, Spring, 1985, pp. 1-25). 10,603 words.
• Louis Veuillot and Catholic “Intransigence”: A Re-Evaluation (Faith and Reason, Winter, 1983, pp. 282-306). 10,247 words.
• The Unrepentant Catholic's Cautionary Calendar. Extensive but incomplete -- if you've got a date to add, send it in! 25,227 words.

Books in print include Removing the Blindfold: 19th Century Catholics and the Myth of Modern Freedom (Angelus Press).

Shorter pieces

• Braquemart and the Prince von Sunmyra. Two aspects of the Americanist problem. (The Angelus, January, 2017.)
• See How Hopeless These Christians Are? (The Angelus, November, 2016.)
• Corruption, Courage, and Constructive Rage. (The Angelus, September, 2016.)
• Rediscovering the Obvious. Having Christ as king requires a Catholic social doctrine. (The Angelus, July, 2016.)
• Fighting the Papal Fetish to Win Back the Papacy. The papacy is part of something bigger. (The Remnant, September 26, 2016.) 2390 words.
• The United States, "the People", and Populism. (A Talk Presented in Spain, May, 2016.) 6631 words.
• Visions of Western and European Order: Highways From Christendom to Nowhere. (A Talk Presented in Mexico, April, 2016.) 8313 words.
• For Everything There is a Season: The Synod as optimal friend and miserable foe. (The Angelus, March, 2016.) 2245 words.
• The Mystical Body of Christ is a Kingdom---Not a Road. Against the evaporation of social and ecclesial realities. (The Remnant blog, January 27, 2016.) 1117 words.
• A Traditionalist New Year's Resolution. To be "Speakers of the Greatest Words and Doers of the Greatest Deeds" (The Remnant, December 31, 2015.) 2133 words.
• A Very Different Francis on a Christmas Long Ago. A Brief Meditation on the Messages of the Creche and Modernity. (The Remnant, December 15, 2015.) 2974 words.
• Half a Millennium of Total Depravity. 1516, Luther, and the imminent apotheosis of willful ignorance. (September, 2015.) 1435 words.
• Hail the Conquering Hero!! A willful America prepares to adulate a willful pope. (The Remnant, September 25, 2015.)
• Chartres, the Sacred Heart, and a League to Un-Locke America. (The Remnant website, June 15, 2015.)
• All Borrowed Armor Chokes Us? Americanism and Christian Democracy. (A chapter of a book on Christian Democracy and the Americas, to be published in Spain. April, 2015.)
• Monarchy as the Enemy of Oligarchy. (A talk delivered April 2015 in Spain, to be published in the Spanish magazine Verbo.)
• A View From Rocco's. A series from The Remnant:
  • The End of History and the Reign of Francis. Can believers escape their country club existence? (March 15, 2015).
  • Who are We to Judge Young, Exceptional Venetians? (April 30, 2014).
  • What Goes Around Comes Around (January 31, 2014). Plus Ça Change…
  • Good Old Advice for a Drab New Year (December 31, 2013). "When You Come to Serve the Lord, Prepare Yourself for Trial." (Sirach, 2,1).
  • A Meditation on Three Troubled Christmas Seasons (December 25, 2013).
  • Now, More than Ever, Every Man at His Post! (December, 2013).
  • On Revolution, Globalism, Traditional Catholics, & the Roman Forum (February 28, 2010). Global upheavals, Americanism, and how to thread the needle. 2221 words.
  • Professor Gradgrind's Magisterium & Recent Catholic Modernism (November 15, 2009). Giving Catholic economism the Dickens. 3277 words.
  • Habemus Papam! (March 15, 2009). We've got the real thing now. 2447 words.
  • George Weigel and "The Happening" (February 15, 2009). Trying to keep the Locke lock locked. 3357 words.
  • The Advent of Their Discontent (January 2009, not published). As the worm turns. 3451 words.
  • More of the Same? Or The Desert of the Tartars? (September 15, 2008). What is the winning strategy? 3269 words.
  • Chartres, Dr. James Hitchcock & the Social Kingship of Christ (June 15, 2008). 4291 words.
  • Gardone 2008 (April 15, 2008). Are beauty, camaraderie, and talk really expendable? 2381 words.
  • The Libido for the Thesis and the Traditionalist Challenge (March 15, 2008). 3459 words.
  • On Strength, Popes, and Holy Week Crises (February 15, 2008). 3942 words.
  • This Too Shall Pass (December 31, 2007). 2758 words.
  • A Post-Enlightenment Advent? (December 25, 2007). 3451 words.
• Is the Papacy in Turmoil? - Call in the "Outsiders". (Rorate Coeli, February 16, 2015.)
• He Who Lives by Modernity Dies by Modernity. Hooray for the Syllabus! (The Remnant Weblog, December 9. 2014.)
• "If You Try to Understand Francis, You Will Lose Your Reason." The word from Argentina. (The Remnant Weblog, November 20. 2014.)
• A Brief Meditation on November 11th. The National Catholic War Council, & Why God "Stays His Hand." (The Remnant, November 11, 2014.)
• Smug Whig Mindlessness and Modern Mental Illness. (The Remnant weblog, November 4, 2014.)
• "Rocco's" at the Front. A view of the situation via Rome, London, and Oxford. (The Remnant, October 26, 2014.)
• Calling Stones Bread. A secret synod’s predictable development of the tragedy of modernity. (Rorate Coeli, October 13, 2014).
• Charlemagne and the Long Frankish Pilgrimage to the Just War. (The Angelus, October, 2014.)
• Innocent III, Marriage, and Militant Christendom. (The Angelus, August, 2014.)
• The Question of the Res publica Christiana in Postconciliar Catholic Doctrines. Was John Courtney Murray really on the right track? (Conference Paper from Spring 2014, to be published in the Spanish journal Verbo).
• The American Mirage. Pluralistic illusions. (From Église et politique: Changer de paradigme, ed. Bernard Dumont--Artege, 2013.)
• Dancing on a Corpse ... and Liking It. (The Remnant, April 29, 2014).
• Why Catholics Cannot Defend Themselves---Revisited. An ancient Chinese reproach to modern assassins of the past.
• Causes For Joy; Causes for Worry. (Angelus Press, November, 2013).
• Dialogue with the Living Dead. A deadening moment in the Civiltà’s present critiqued by its living past. (The Remnant, October, 2013.) 4533 words.
• Mary as Malleus hereticorum: A Brief Historical and Scriptural Meditation. (Angelus Press, September, 2013). 2225 words.
• La democracia representativa: génesis y desarrollo. An address delivered in Spain in April 2013. (English version.) 4221 words.
• The Holy Spirit and Catholic Truth. Now and Forever---One and Unambiguous. (The Remnant, April 15, 2013). 2503 words.
• Roman Catholics - Extremist Terrorists. The Southern Poverty Law Center is actually on to something. 1715 words.
• Fleeing the More Effective of the Two Evils. A Renewed Appeal “To All Men Free and Strong.” (The Remnant, February 28, 2013). 5877 words.
• From Marcellus II to Benedict XVI and Beyond. A personal reflection on two eras of crisis, sorrow, and rage. (Rorate Caeli, February 26, 2013). 3752 words.
• When Private Penance is Not Enough (The Angelus, November, 2012). 1834 words.
• Christophobia, Catholic Action, and Christophilia (The Angelus, June, 2012). 2302 words.
• The Individual, the Family, and Catholic Corporate Society (The Angelus, March/April 2012). 2103 words.
• Catholic Social Doctrine (The Angelus, January 2012). 1887 words.
• Interview with Dr. John Rao, by the Cornell Society for a Good Time (October, 2008). 4124 words.
• From Hoboken to Eternity. (October, 2008). The value of Catholic traditionalism in the life of one traditionalist: an unpublished memoir. 6819 words.
• Let Us Separate Church and Air! (The Remnant, August 31, 2008). A satirical squib, with an appended contribution to the Songbook of the Catholic Blues. 571 words.
• The Exotic Liberation Theology of Fr. Neuhaus & Dr. Hitchcock (The Remnant, November 15, 2007). Enlightenment ideology at war with faith, reason and The Remnant. 5045 words.
• The Tallinn Lectures (TriaLogos Festival, September 24-28, 2007):
  • Introduction. 2606 words.
  • Sophist Blindfold Or Escape From the Cave? The basic either-or option. 5051 words.
  • Christianity and Naturalism. The European pursuit of Heaven and Hell. 8793 words.
  • Vitalism & Americanist Pluralism. Smiling as Christian Europe dies. 6131 words.
• The Freed Mass, the Formless Society and the Second Front (The Remnant, September 15, 2007). After the battle for the Rite, the battle for the Right. 2843 words.
• The Soul Man (The Remnant, August 15, 2007). Climb every mountain with the motu proprio. 3182 words.
• Catholic Social Thought:Europe (An entry for Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Scarecrow Press, July 2007). The 19th century and onward. 4097 words. 4121 words.
• Civiltà Cattolica (An entry for Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Scarecrow Press), July 2007). A brief account of the mid-19th century Jesuit periodical. 561 words.
• Feet, Fathers and Catholic Fraternity (The Remnant, June 30, 2007). Reflections on sore feet and the brotherhood of pilgrims.
• The Last Crusade (The Remnant, May 31, 2007). The battle for the Papal States. 6745 words.
• Regalist Breakfasts, the Sounds of Silence and Speaking to the Future (The Remnant, May 15, 2007). To whom can I speak today? 3323 words.
• The Waiting Game: The Twenty-First and Eleventh Centuries Compared (The Remnant, April 15, 2007). The motu proprio in perspective. 5106 words.
• Freemasonry, Naturalism and the Anti-Semitic Purge (The Remnant, March 31, 2007). Some specific explanations actually work. 2638 words.
• The Twisted Crosses on Which Catholics are Being Hung (The Remnant, March 15, 2007). The Eternal Return of the Black Legend as total environment. 3664 words.
• The Smear Reports. (The Remnant, November 30-December 15, 2006). Straining at gnats and swallowing camels in the Catholic blogosphere. 7950 words.
• Is the Pope Greek?. (The Remnant, November 15, 2006). Foreign interventions sometimes make sense. 3268 words.
• An Open Letter to Miloslav Cardinal Vlk (September 25, 2006) in response to a public statement from His Eminence condemning the "extremism" of a talk Dr. Rao gave in Prague under the auspices of St. Joseph Institute and Katolik Revue on "Novus Ordo Seculorum and the War on Terror." 3135 words.
• Blinded by the Right: "Conservatives" & the Carpet Bombing of Christendom. (The Remnant, August 31, 2006). Shock, awe and the disorientation of the Old World by the New. 5483 words.
• When the Catholic Church Makes Merry (The Remnant, June 30, 2006). A pilgrimage reflection from an Internet cafe in Rome. 1296 words.
• Uncle Tom's Catholics (The Remnant, April 30, 2006). What price buckwheat cakes at the National Prayer Breakfast? 3419 words.
• Can Traditionalists Learn From the Opera dei Congressi? (The Remnant, April 15, 2006). A Call for a Temporary Confederation of Independent Traditionalist Organizations. 2254 words.
• On David, Goliath and Adequate Slingshots (The Remnant, March 31, 2006). Doing battle with the pluralist Philistine. 5656 words.
• Why the Moslems? (The Remnant, February 15, 2006). Why isn't it the Catholics who take the struggle for their faith seriously? 1990 words.
• Great Western Schism (1378-1417/1429) (Seattle Catholic, February, 2006), Part I and Part II. Lessons for the troubled Catholic present from its chaotic past. 8634 words total.
• Founding Fathers vs. Church Fathers: 666-0 (The Remnant, January 2006). Some final reflections on Founderology--the game Catholics love to lose. 4289 words.
• A Message From Bethlehem: Lord Acton Tends to Corrupt (The Remnant, December 31, 2005). 2576 words.
• The New Millennium and Traditionalists. (The Remnant, December 25, 2005). Reflections of a purged Una Voce President.
• Interview (August, 2005) with Una Voce Columbus on "The State of Tradition" in the United States.
• All Borrowed Armor Chokes Us (Seattle Catholic, July 9, 2005). An historical introduction to the problems of Catholic Action.
• Two Popes, Saint Benedict, and the Soul of the West (Seattle Catholic, April 20, 2005). Thoughts on the election of Benedict XVI.
• The Gods are Ever Near (The Remnant, May, 2005). Who says paganism is dead? Historical reflections on the unending crisis in the Church. 2491 words.
• What Will They Make It All Mean? (The Remnant, April 15, 2005). Spin and the death of a pope. 1785 words.
• Dr. Eric de Saventhem and Christian Nobility (Una Voce America Newsletter, Spring, 2005). 1981 words.
• School Days (Seattle Catholic, March 15, 2005). The 19th c. Roman School.
• Lamennais, Rousseau, and the New Catholic Order (Seattle Catholic, February 1, 2005). The birth of modern vitalism.
• To Promote Dialogue, Fight American Pluralism (Mut zur Ethik, Zurich, 2005). 3728 words.
• Cardinal Ratzinger Discovers America (The Remnant, December 15, 2004). Was Benedict too impressed with The American Way?
• Half the Business of Destruction Done (Seattle Catholic, December 28, 2004). Eighteenth century dechristianization.
• Post-Conciliar Catholics: Islam's Next Converts? (The Remnant, November 30, 2004). 5308 words.
• Lose the Past, Lose the Present (Seattle Catholic, November 1, 2004). Catholics and how history is told.
• Michael Davies and the Movement: One and Inseparable (The Remnant, October 15, 2004). 1029 words.
• The Venetian Interdict of 1606-1607 (Seattle Catholic, September 21, 2004).
• Can We Talk? (The Remnant, September, 2005). Some eclectic reflections on the pitfalls and promises of dialogue. 2518 words.
• The Worst Pontificate in History (The Remnant, August 31, 2004). 3035 words.
• What's Past is Prologue (Seattle Catholic, August 16, 2004). Post-Trent forerunners of post-Vatican II problems.
• The Ancient Roots of the Anti-Catholic Mentality (Una Voce America Newsletter, Summer, 2004; Spring, 2005). An introduction to the history of the "Black Legends." 5446 words.
• Decadent, Belligerent, and Incorrigible (For Neo-Conned, IHS Press, Norfolk, Virginia, 2005). Who says America is a youthful country? 5253 words.
• Can Anything Good Come from France? (The Remnant, December 31, 2004). Did the 17th century dévots have the right idea? 4198 words.
• The Sack of Rome: 1527, 1776 (Seattle Catholic, April 27, 2004).
• Forty Acres and an Indult? (Una Voce America Newsletter, Spring, 2004). There's a long way to go. 2688 words.
• Destroying What Other Men Cherish (The Remnant, March 15, 2004). The Great Mother cult and common sense emasculation: what we do to ourselves for the sake of our idols. 2102 words.
• Little Men, What Now? (The Remnant, January 31, 2004, February 15, 2004). 3457 words.
• I Lied, I Captured, I'm Right: A Brief Introduction to The Novum, Novum Organum (Seattle Catholic, December 29, 2003). More on the Iraq war and its philosophical background.
• Una Voce and the Interregnum (Una Voce America, Winter, 2003). How to deal with the local warlords. 3509 words.
• On the Rocks (Una Voce Newsletter, Summer, 2003). 1944 words.
• The "War of Liberation": An Unmitigated Catholic Defeat (Seattle Catholic, April 9, 2003). Comments on Iraq.
• Saved by Sophism; Doomed by the Familiar (Una Voce Newsletter, Spring, 2003). 2259 words.
• War Propaganda and Youth (Mut zur Ethik, 2003). 1919 words.
• Pluralia and the Danse Macabre (Latin Mass Magazine, Winter, 2002. Revised). 3004 words.
• Drinking the Dregs (Una Voce Newsletter, Winter, 2002). 1882 words.
• Roma e Mia Homa. A short musical comedy, presented on the tenth anniversary of the Roman Forum Summer Symposium, April, 2002.
• Una Voce and the Habit of Error (Una Voce Newsletter, Spring, 2002). 2341 words.
• Nowhere to Run (Una Voce Newsletter, Winter, 2001). 1753 words.
• The Bad Seed: The liberal-fascist embrace – and its post conciliar consequences (Latin Mass Magazine, Fall, 2001). The triumph of vitalism.
• The Good War. (Latin Mass Magazine, Spring, 2001.) 3988 words.
• Change and Changers (Una Voce Newsletter, Spring, 2001). 951 words.
• Curial Commission or Soviet-Style Bureau? (Altered name of a Report on the FIUV Conference in Una Voce Newsletter, Spring, 2000). 2230 words.
• Letter from Dr John C. Rao to His Eminence Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez (September 23, 1999).
• Charting a Course for Una Voce America (Una Voce America Newsletter, Summer, 1999). 1536 words.
• Dr. William A. Marra: Traveler on a Catholic Roman Road (A Eulogy in Una Voce Newsletter, Slightly Altered Name, Spring, 1999). 1067 words.
• Teacher Sees Italy Turning From Tradition (Staten Island Advance, February 8, 1997). 475 words.
• The Divinization of Democracy and the Question of Human Rights (Mut zur Ethik , 1997, pp. 311-312). 2892 words.
• Die Einheit von Individuum und Gesellschaft (Mut zur Ethik 1996, pp. 410-412). 1655 words.
• Plato: Wer Ist Denn Das? (Zeitfragen, July/August, 1995). 1238 words.
• Dreaming the Dreams of the Eldest Daughter (The Remnant, June 30, 1995). Reflections on pilgrimage, among Cluniacs and among us today. 3725 words.
• Das Verschwinden der Vernunft (Zeitfragen, May, 1995). 2248 words.
• Why Catholics Cannot Defend Themselves: The Religious and Cultural Suicide of a Conquered People (The Remnant, January 15th/31, 1995, Diocese Report, March 19, 2003).
• Why America Needs Blessed Pius IX (Discourse Adapted to Americans, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, in Rome, on May 14, 1992). 1684 words.
• Why the Pontifical Tridentine Mass is Especially Valuable for America (Program for the visit of Alfons Cardinal Stickler to Inaugurate the Dietrich von Hildebrand Institute, February 23, 1992). 918 words.
• La Crisi delle Missioni (Atti del XII Convegno Nazionale di Civitella del Tronto, Florence, 1992, pp. 129-132). 1247 words.
• American Dream: Catholic Nightmare (Published, in badly butchered form, as “I dogmi degli USA”, in Trenta Giorni, Rome, April, 1991, pp. 58-62). 4617 words.
• Pox Americana (Unpublished Letter to the Times of 1991). 835 words.
• "Blindfold" series, from The Remnant:
  • I. Open Up the Jewel Box! (November 15th, 1990). 934 words.
  • II. Nice and Easy Does It (December 15, 1990). 3668 words.
  • III. Climbing Mount Tabor (January 15, 1991). 2033 words.
  • IV. Identifying the Enemy (January 31, 1991). 2032 words.
  • V. The Reign of Fraud and Force (February 28, 1991). 3284 words.
  • VI. Enlightened Minds Versus Minds Darkened by Enlightenment (March 15th, 1991). 2880 words.
  • VII. Catholic Before All Else (April 15th, 1991). 2018 words.
  • VIII. Words! Only Words! (April 30, 1991). 1129 words.
• Christmas, 800 (The Wanderer, December 25, 1984). 3894 words.
• The Theatines and the Question of Catholic “Renewal” (The Wanderer, October 20, 1984). 6404 words.
• L’Altra Faccia dell’America (La Settimana, September 16, 1984). 904 words.
• Reflections on the Decline of Masculinity (Lay Witness, September, 1984, pp. 5-11). 4140 words.
• Cluny and the Reform of the Church in the Middle Ages (The Wanderer, February 2, 1984). 4085 words.
• The Barren Harvest of Protestantism (Unpublished article of 1984). 5596 words.
• The Abortion Mentality and the Spirit of the Times (For an unpublished work on abortion of 1984). 3796 words.
• Reflections: A Book Review of The Wanderer, Winter 1983 and later. 2358 words.
• Catholicism, Liberalism and the Right: A Sketch From the 1920’s (Faith and Reason, Spring, 1983, pp. 9-31). 9409 words.
• Inquisitions: Then and Now (Social Justice Review, November-December, 1982). 6195 words.
• Der Vergebliche Kampf (Criticon, Munich, January-February, 1980, pp. 27-28). 2137 words.
• John Henry Newman and the Problem of Obedience (Unpublished article of 1979). 3513 words.
• Education For Peace Versus the "Grand Coalition of the Status Quo" (unpublished). 5129 words.
• The Fight for the Traditional Mass: Vocal, Varied & Coordinated (unpublished). 676 words.
• An Introductory Anti-Capitalist Manifesto (unpublished). Do Enlightenment capitalist ideology and Catholicism really mix? 3502 words.
• Letter to the Editor, Latin Mass Magazine (not dated). We need schools. 2024 words.
• Letter to the Editor, The Remnant (not dated). 745 words.
• Louis Veuillot: Icon and Iconoclast (unpublished). 2165 words.
• March for Life, Not For Bush (unpublished). An urgent appeal to participants in the 32nd Annual March for Life. 1683 words.
• The Table Monster (unpublished). Bad company, inclusiveness and Cousine Bette. 5147 words.
• The Triple Whammy (unpublished). Arguments against tradition and reason. 3897 words.

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Last updated January 30, 2017.