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
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
Church and State
According to the shared wisdom of the punditocracy and the blogosphere, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney badly needed a “JFK moment” when he flew into College Station, Texas, to deliver
Civility, Charity and Truth-Telling
Thoughtful Americans across the spectrum of political opinion are rightly concerned about the degree to which our national politics has degenerated into the manipulation of consumer desires and passions, often
Please Pass the Ontology
A philosophically-minded young friend recently sent me a fine rant, after having watched a presidential candidates’ cattle call on CNN. The discussion had focused on religion. Several candidates, who identified
What We Can’t Not Know, Six Years After 9/11
Six years after 9/11, there are certain things we can’t not know. We may wish these things weren’t true. We can try to ignore them. But safe passage through a
Spin and Professionalism
The press was even more an unruly beast in 1787 than it is today; yet the Framers of the Constitution gave the fourth estate extraordinary latitude, convinced that the robust
Clinical Notes
The day after the Supreme Court upheld the federal partial birth abortion ban by a 5-4 vote, the pseudonymous “Diogenes” offered a rather chilling commentary on the Catholic World News
Tragedy? Or Wickedness?
At Mass on the morning of April 17, hours after a shooting spree at Virginia Tech had left dozens dead (including the shooter), the homilist spoke of the “tragedy” that
The New Yorker Spins the Pope
The New Yorker was once famous for the ferocity of its fact-checking and editing. No more. Any magazine whose editors give a pass to falsehoods (e.g., Catholics believe that “heaven,
Presidential Spring Training
In late December 1959, Senator John F. Kennedy was annoyed by a news report that he was committed to running for president. Which, of course, he was — as everyone
Nancy and Me
Nancy Pelosi and I grew up in the same Baltimore, in the days of May Processions and Forty Hours’ devotions, of Baltimore Catechisms and nuns in starched wimples, of Catholic
Popular Articles
Another Coalition for Religious Freedom?
What Went Wrong
