The Catholic Difference is a weekly column syndicated by the Archdiocese of Denver.
A nation-defining election
Not all presidential elections are equal. It made a lot of difference to America’s future that Andrew Jackson beat John Quincy Adams in 1828, that Abraham Lincoln bested Stephen A.
The Gospels and anti-Semitism
During John Paul II’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2000, I had breakfast in Jerusalem with an immensely learned and kindly rabbi, an American who had moved to Israel
The National Review Board and authentic Catholic reform
When attorney Robert Bennett asked me to testify before the “causes and context” committee of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board (NRB) , I told him that, once the tape
The grittiness of Catholic faith
What do Chartres Cathedral and St. Mary’s Church in Greenville, South Carolina have in common? Or the Sistine Chapel and Chesterton’s favorite pub? Or Baltimore’s “Old Cathedral” and John Henry
A life risked for freedom
In early December 1980, Warsaw Pact infantry and armored divisions, most of them Soviet, moved into position along Poland’s borders. Three months earlier, the Solidarity movement had sprung to life
Looking forward to death: a Lenten meditation
The late, great Father John Courtney Murray, S.J., was a man of aphorisms, many of them paradoxical. Thus “a gentleman is never rude, save intentionally.” After a year abruptly punctuated
“Young fogeys” and disappointed liberals
Just a year ago, when it was edited by the late Michael Kelly (who died in Iraq in the first weeks of the war), The Atlantic could publish an article
Gridirons and virtues
After another NFL season in which game after game featured self-congratulatory end zone shenanigans, readers below a certain age may find it difficult to believe that professional football was once
Italian lite
Roberto Pazzi has written two novels about the Vatican. His recent op-ed piece in the New York Times, “Why the Next Pope Needs to Be Italian,” suggests that Mr. Pazzi
Decisions in Dallas
Decisions of great consequence for the future of Catholic higher education will be made over the next weeks and months by the board of trustees of the University of Dallas.
The election and the Supremes
A British officer, reflecting ruefully in 1781 on the colonies Britain had just lost, remarked that “these Americans are a curious, original people; they know how to govern themselves, but
“Marriage”: A word with consequences
The proposed federal marriage amendment begins with this straightforward affirmation: “Marriage in the United States is exclusively a union of one man and one woman.” Some pro-family critics of the
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