Revisiting the Modernist Wars
I’ve long had a high regard for Pope Benedict XV, least-known pontiff of the 20th century, whose slight, stooped figure masked a diplomatic and historical intelligence of the first caliber.
Camelot Revisited
John F. Kennedy would now be 90 years old — a circumstance virtually impossible to imagine, for those of us alive on November 22, 1963. When Lee Harvey Oswald’s bullets
Cardinal Lustiger, R.I.P.
Visitors to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris will soon be able to ponder a commemorative marker carrying this inscription: “I was born Jewish. I received the name of my
The Ripken Ethic
In Men at Work, George F. Will began his celebration of baseball defense with a tale of Cal and Bill Ripken turning a rally-killing double-play while their father watched from
Chairman Gioia Makes NEA Work
Tradition tells us that baseball is the national pastime. Economics tells us that it’s pro football. Casual conversation makes it clear that the America’s favorite sport is complaining about government.
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926–2007)
In the early 1950s, or so I’m told, two young men who would later come to world prominence attended some of the same political science lectures at the Sorbonne. One
California Dreamin’, Missin’ the Real Deal
Ah, the summer of 1967. A gangly young Australian priest named George Pell turned up at my Baltimore parish and became a family friend; none of us imagined him 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
Christ First, Last and Always
A few weeks back, Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, and I were invited by Doubleday to help launch Pope Benedict XVI’s new book,
Papa Ratzinger at 80
On April 16, 2005, the staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith hosted a small party for the congregation’s prefect, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Cardinal Ratzinger turned 78
Pope Benedict XVI: The Master-Teacher
Joseph Ratzinger came to the Chair of St Peter late in life, a 78-year-old man who could look back (although he rarely, if ever, chose to do so) on decades
Demythologizing Father Drinan
Before the gossamer threads of mythology being woven around the memory of the late Father Robert Drinan, S.J., harden into what some might take for facts, a visit to the
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