Francis Canavan, S.J.

A prominent Catholic intellectual and political theorist, Francis Canavan was born in New York City in 1917, joined the Society of Jesus in 1939, and was ordained in 1950. After receiving his doctorate from Duke University in political science in 1957 (where he studied under John H. Hallowell), Canavan taught at St. Peter’s College and served as associate editor of America before joining the faculty of Fordham University, where he taught from 1966 until his retirement in 1988. He died in 2009.

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Ireland to the Left

Ireland is a small country on the other side of the ocean, and of no great interest to most Americans. But a recent “Letter from Dublin” published in The New Yorker (April 3, 1995) may be of interest, not for what it tells us about Ireland, but about the liberal agenda, which is much the … Read more

Crises, Tidings, and Revelations: A Child is Born

This past Christmas, I was struck by a meaning that had not occurred to me before in the antiphon, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Every Christmas is a celebration of the great central doctrine of our faith, that God took on Himself our human nature and became a … Read more

Apostle of Religious Freedom: Murray and the Council

Religious freedom in the United States is popularly supposed to be guaranteed by the separation of church and state. In fact, the phrase “separation of church and state” appears nowhere in the Constitution of the United States (it is a private observation from the later correspondence of Jefferson). But it is useful for pointing to … Read more

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