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Articles
Newman, Augustine, and Leo XIV
The day the conclave opened, as the cardinals were swearing their solemn oath, I came upon a sermon preached by St. John Henry Newman while still an Anglican. Whether...
Trinitarian Intimations in Bach’s The Art of Fugue
In his magisterial study Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, Christoph Wolff treats at length Bach’s The Art of Fugue. He writes: “The Art of Fugue, though linked to...
What Henri de Lubac Would Think of the Synod on Synodality
Henri de Lubac, S.J., one of the twentieth century’s greatest Catholic theologians, was among the prominent figures in the ressourcement movement that prepared the way for Vatican II. Indeed,...
A Bodily Faith
Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego recently published a long and provocative article in America magazine. It has already garnered both grateful praise and pointed criticism. Count me among...
What Benedict Saw
Through successive waves of “downsizing,” and painful parting with many treasured books, I have carefully retained one volume: number 17 of the formidable series published before and during Vatican...
Philosophy Perfected by Christ
The Unchanging Truth of God?Crucial Philosophical Issues for Theologyby thomas g. guarinocua, 264 pages, $34.95 Monsignor Thomas Guarino, emeritus professor of theology at Seton Hall University, is well-known to...
Soli Deo Gloria
Austrian-born conductor Manfred Honeck is the father of six and a devout Catholic. He attends Mass several times a week and prays before each concert. Since 2008, he has...
Praying with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
In book ten of the Confessions, Saint Augustine explores the mystery of memory. At one point he exclaims: “Great is the power of memory, a thing, O my God,...
The Hour of Jesus
Jesus Becoming Jesus, Volume 2:A Theological Interpretation of the Gospel of John: Prologue and the Book of Signsby thomas g. weinandy catholic university of america press, 484 pages, $34.95 Fr....
The Infidelity of the Present
It did not require great perspicacity to predict some of the fevered negative reactions to the recent statement of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declaring the...
Providential Transfiguration
On August 6, 1964, the Feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Paul VI issued his first encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam—a deeply personal meditation on the Church and its mission in the...
On Being Truly Dogmatic
I confess to being not well-versed in Chesterton. I did delve into some “Father Brown” in high school. And then in college an idiosyncratic Jesuit (a pleonasm?) coerced us...
The Principled Ambivalence of Pope Francis
Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is rightly considered the inaugural address of his pontificate. In it, he sets forth the major themes and directions that have characterized the...
Stages on Life’s Way
Reading Dante’s Purgatorio, one can’t help wondering what terraces await one at the conclusion of the terrestrial journey. I pride myself that I may avoid the second terrace, reserved...
Post-Pentecostal Depression
Having celebrated with music and incense the glorious Pentecostal feast, I suddenly found myself unceremoniously dumped into “The Ninth Week in Ordinary Time.” Or at least that is what...
