Our 747 breaks through the clouds off the western coast of Italy. I can see the grey waters of the Mediterranean below. The Italian countryside comes into view, verdant and green, dotted here and there by a few old farmhouses and, closer to the airport, by new apartment complexes. Seen through the filmy mists of … Read more
Among several of my friends, Sheldon Vanauken’s essay on capital punishment in our September issue [“The Death Penalty: What Should Be the Christian Attitude?”] has stimulated some sharp and passionate comments. This is as it should be. For — let’s be blunt — we are talking about deliberately putting human beings to death. Is that … Read more
I recently attended a remarkable conference in San Francisco on new birth technologies, with special emphasis on in vitro fertilization. The attendees were drawn from a wide variety of professions, including philosophy, moral theology, journalism, public policy research institutes, psychiatry, genetics, neonatology, pediatrics, pro-life organizations, and law. What united this diverse group was commitment to … Read more
A profoundly disturbing note in the debate on the conflict in Nicaragua was sounded in a nationally televised debate in March. Appearing on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour as an opponent of U.S. aid to the contras, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton refused to offer a shred of sympathy or support for Managua’s embattled archbishop, Cardinal Obando y … Read more
On August 6, 1945 the United States of America, at war with the Empire of Japan, dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Captain Robert A. Lewis, the copilot of the Enola Gay, viewed the explosion over Hiroshima from the window … Read more
Intellectual divisions are sometimes deceptive. They are not always so exclusive as they appear. Take, for instance, liberals and conservatives; they are polar opposites, aren’t they? Well, not on everything. Consider the question of the moral status of the American regime. On this there is a curious convergence of sentiment between otherwise opposing camps. Both … Read more
Gov. Mario Cuomo’s lecture at Notre Dame University last month, “Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor’s Perspective,” was a significant event. It was perhaps the most detailed and thorough attempt by a major Catholic office holder to set forth a reasoned “pro-choice” position on the abortion issue. As a rhetorical exercise, Mr. Cuomo’s … Read more
C. S. Lewis once remarked that when Christianity instructs us to feed the hungry it does not provide us with lessons in cooking. Prior to considering the moral purposes to which the culinary art may be put, one must master cooking as a separate art with rules of its own. Christianity, Lewis continued, “was never … Read more
Late in December I packed up my family and all my worldly belongings and drove 600 snowy miles from Washington, D.C. to South Bend, Indiana. I was induced to undertake such a foolhardy thing by Ralph Mclnerny’s gracious offer to become managing editor of Catholicism in Crisis, a position I enthusiastically assume with this issue. … Read more
Having completed work on their pastoral letter on nuclear deterrence, the nation’s Catholic bishops now prepare to turn their attention to the U.S. economic system. It is crucial that this system be described accurately. In particular, an appreciation of the contribution to our understanding of the American political economy by American statesmen is essential if … Read more