“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
What to do about defiant Catholic legislators
Writing with an eye toward the 2004 election, a friend had the following, arresting thought: “The sad fact of the matter is that, if every Catholic elected official in the
Pope John who?
It’s an old habit in American presidential politics: when your campaign is going sour, attack the Vatican. The Know-Nothings tried it with some success in the 1840s. James G. Blaine
Marriage=(man+woman)=injustice?
When Dr. Johnson famously suggested that patriotism was the last refuge of scoundrels, he wasn’t demeaning patriotism. Rather, he was criticizing clever rhetoricians who, to advance their own political agendas,
God-talk and our European cousins
Nothing more graphically illustrates the cultural gap between the United States and western Europe than the recent flap over President’s Bush’s public references to God, to good and evil in
The end of “I’m personally opposed, but…”
In an editorial issue marking the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the National Catholic Reporter urged the U.S. bishops to “find a way to work productively with pro-choice Catholics
Roe v. Wade at 30
Eighteen years ago, when all-purpose leftist Barbara Ehrenreich announced in the New York Times that her “one regret” about her abortions was that “they cost money that might otherwise have
The peace that is possible
John Paul II’s message for the January 1 “World Day of Peace” gives everyone a chance to think carefully about the peace that is possible in this world – a
Pro-life wins and trouble for Catholic Democrats
Media commentary on last month’s elections has generally ignored one important fact: many pro-abortion political action committees saw their candidates get clobbered, while pro-life forces registered significant gains. NARAL, the
Dallas, Rome, and beyond
Single-issue advocacy groups have a long history in American public life. Those who imagine that the Church is another kind of political community celebrate the role of advocacy groups in
Just War and Pre-emption: Three Questions
As the debate over Iraq has intensified, three basic questions about pre-emptive military action and the just war tradition have emerged. The questions are not easy, the situation is fraught
A Saint from Richmond?
On All Souls’ Day last year, I accompanied several priests and students of Rome’sPontifical North American College to a Mass being offered at the college mausoleum in Rome’s great cemetery,
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