Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more
Rise Up, Rise Up for Sr. Carol Keehan
Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more
The Rigorist Menace to Faith
The threats to the Church don’t always arise where you expect them. As C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape advised young tempters, the Enemy’s best strategy is to catch us off guard and keep us there, focused on dangers in the rear-view mirror and ignoring that silly “Do Not Enter” sign up ahead. The devil, Lewis wrote, … Read more
Christianity Has Become Too Worldly
IC readers likely will agree with the above statement. But hey, the argument is gaining traction, or it is if Luke Timothy Johnson , Ross Douthat , and Rod Dreher are an indication. Over at my blog at True Slant, I argue that Christianity’s materialistic turn has had positive and negative effects: To be fair, … Read more
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
The beatitude teaches us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). Â The gospel calls us to a paradox in its teaching on poverty. First, it bids us recognize in the face of the poor the face of Christ. Our culture is resistant to this idea and … Read more
But What about My Toys?
My church in downtown Nashua is a reverent, slightly battered Irish parish, with painted wood that bravely substitutes for marble, a bathroom that always smells funky, and a mostly empty rectory. Built for ten or twelve, the red brick fortress houses two of the best priests in our diocese, who offer the Latin Mass twice … Read more
Abortion, Human Trafficking, and the Left’s Double Standard
Every social problem we face today — from racial discrimination to abortion — is tied to other underlying root causes. It makes sense, then, for society not to neglect long-term proposals when trying to check these matters. But such strategies are never a ready substitute for fighting social problems in the near term. And that’s … Read more
Fighting the New Tyranny
America, though a wealthy nation, is nevertheless becoming socially stratified — so much so that those at the fringes of life have lost touch with those at the top. The rich refer to the “poverty problem,” and the poor, in turn, blame the rich for all their woes. This rift opens a door for the … Read more
Songs of Absurdity
To worship God at all is to find oneself on a very odd frontier. Here we are, addressing all sorts of fervid sentiments into the ether — or so it might seem to a chance observer. A passerby might ask, “To whom are you talking, pray? God? But you have never once seen him nor … Read more
How Obama’s Catholics Will Dodge the Infanticide Question
When Obama’s Catholic supporters attacked Catholic League president Bill Donohue for his criticism of their candidate, they did not mention Obama’s support for infanticide. The question will inevitably arise for the distinguished group of Catholics supporting Obama as to how they can defend his preference for infanticide in cases where a child survives a botched … Read more
How the UN’s Global Poverty Plan Robs the Poor
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals were ushered in with global fanfare and media hoopla in 2000. It is nothing short of an ambitious renovation of the political, social, and economic structures of the world. Of course, it’s not billed as Development of a Planetary Parliament; it is presented to the world as an … Read more
Today’s Abolitionists
Late last month, 33 sisters from 26 countries met in Rome at the invitation of the U.S. embassy of the Holy See and the Italian Union of Major Superiors. The weeklong meeting was no ordinary gathering of nuns; it was the launch of an international, intercongregational religious network of sisters to counter the scourge of … Read more
How the English-Speaking Peoples Saved Civilization — and Will Do It Again
If you read reviews no further than the first paragraph, you need read only this: Buy this book, read it, keep it, set it as required reading for your children. Andrew Roberts has penned a splendid, episodic account of the triumph of the English-speaking peoples in the 20th century, charting not only their political and … Read more