Light From the East
One of the more jarring transitions in the liturgical year is the rapid switch from the beautiful pastoral exhortations of the First Letter of Peter, which the Office of Readings
Liebe Europäer
In a recent article in Die Zeit, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt confessed that he wants to “love America again.” He listed 10 conditions for a lovers’ reconciliation, each
Anonymity and Remembrance in Berlin
I’d not been in Berlin since 1987 — before the Wall came tumbling down — so I eagerly accepted an invitation to speak at an international conference there this past
Enjoying the Big Questions
It was a very peculiar place in which to find one of the world’s most distinguished philosophers: the hard-currency bar of the Hotel Europa in Moscow, a basement dive full
One Party Can’t Defeat Jihadism
Campaign vows of “bipartisanship” are like New Year’s resolutions to eat less and exercise more: ubiquitous, well-intentioned and usually forgotten. Yet if anything has become clear since 9/11, it’s that
An Islamic Leo XIII?
There’s been a lot of chatter since 9/11 about Islam’s need for a Martin Luther, a Muslim reformer who would accelerate this great world religion’s acceptance of two key planks
Among the Fallen
VALLE DE LOS CAIDOS, SPAIN — Judged by the standards of a century replete with political slaughter, the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 can seem a relatively tame affair. Tens of
A Disappointing Call for Dialogue
On October 11, at the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, 138 Muslims from around the world addressed a letter to Pope Benedict XVI and numerous other Christian leaders.
China’s One-Child Self-Destruction
A real piece of work: back in the day, that’s what we’d have called my friend Nicholas Eberstadt. By his own confession, Nick left Harvard a convinced Maoist — only
Poland after John Paul II
When you add it all up, I’ve spent more than a year and a half of my life in Poland. My Polish adventures began 16 years ago, when I went
The Holy See and the U.N.
Several years ago, Catholics for a Free Choice, a Potemkin village of an “organization” created by pro-abortion American foundations to muddy the waters of American politics and to harass the
Martyrdom and the Christian Future in Iraq
In early June, I received a forwarded e-mail from a correspondent who’s done several tours in Iraq. He, in turn, had just heard from an Iraqi fellow-Catholic, a former translator
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Back in the USSR
Churchmen of the Year
