The Marriage Debate II: What States Really Can’t Do
In his acute analysis of the character and institutions of the United States, “Democracy in America,” Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th-century French liberal, stressed the importance of what we call
The Marriage Debate I: Confusions about "Equality" and "Discrimination"
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 guarantees that the debate over marriage will be
The Church and the Mandate
As the Catholic Church and the Obama administration approach the first anniversary of what has become the most serious confrontation between the Church and the federal government in U.S. history
Good Catholic, Good American
Luis Antonio Tagle, the boyish 55-year-old archbishop of Manila, was the media star of Pope Benedict XVI’s November 24 consistory, in which six new members of the College of Cardinals
The Crisis of a Second Obama Administration
President Obama’s re-election and the prospect of a second Obama administration, freed from the constraints imposed by the necessity of running for re-election, have created a crisis for the Catholic
Sifting Through the Wreckage
The most inane insta-pundit commentary had it that the 2012 election “hadn’t really changed anything,” what with President Obama still in the White House, the House still in Republican hands,
Campaign 2012 — What Voting Means
American political campaigns have never been for the squeamish. With the sole exceptions of George Washington’s two uncontested elections, every presidential campaign has seen its share of vulgarity, skullduggery, and
Catholic Reflections on the Endgame of 2012
For several decades now, Catholic thinkers influenced by the late Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar have been arguing that beauty can be a window into the true and the
Campaign 2012: What Kind of Country Do You Want?
In his speech to the Democratic National Convention, nominating President Obama for a second term, former president Bill Clinton said that the choice before America was a stark one: What
Campaign 2012: Economy and Empowerment
In his 1958 book, “Reflections on America”, the great French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain (who took refuge in the United States during World War II) claimed that Americans, for all
A Game Changer for the Abortion Debate
Pro-life commentary on the October 11 veep debate understandably centered on Vice President Joe Biden’s duplicitous (or, if you prefer, grossly ill-informed) attempt to square the circle and be a
Campaign 2012: America and the World
The foreign policy debate in the United States has often been peculiar, in that it’s not infrequently about the United States rather than the world. Throughout history, other great powers
