B. D. McClay

In today’s On the Square , Janet Smith wonders: is she obsessed with social issues? Her answer is “yes,” but she doesn’t consider that a criticism: A few paragraphs from Pope Francis’ famous interview in America have unsettled people for many reasons. My reason for . . . . Continue Reading »

The problem isn’t that Pope Francis doesn’t understand our context , nor that we don’t understand his allusions to St. Vincent of Lérins . . . but that we don’t understand his audience , says Elizabeth Scalia in today’s On the Square : Pope Francis has redefined . . . . Continue Reading »

The problem isn’t that Pope Francis doesn’t understand our context, says Thomas G. Guarino in today’s On the Square ; the problem is that we don’t understand his theology: Throughout his work, however, Vincent ardently insists that “development” can never mean a . . . . Continue Reading »

In today’s On the Square , R.R. Reno argues that the trouble with Francis is that we don’t understand his context . . . and he doesn’t understand ours: Such comments by Francis do not challenge but instead reinforce America’s dominant ideological frame. It’s one in which . . . . Continue Reading »

From evangelical megachurch to Catholic cathedral, Timothy George traces the history of the Crystal Cathedral in today’s On the Square : This amazing structure, designed by famed architect Philip Johnson, boasted 10,661 silver-tinted windows supported by a filigree of steel. The windows . . . . Continue Reading »

In today’s On the Square , Glenn T. Stanton wants to talk about The Youth—or, rather, the misrepresentation of the youth by others: Popular doom and gloom media reports also do not make a distinction between young people leaving the church and young people simply converting to other . . . . Continue Reading »

In today’s On the Square Gerald R. McDermott weighs with his own contribution to the Paul-and-performance-anxiety discussion : In these pages recently Stephen Webb suggested that the apostle Paul had stage fright. This would be remarkable, given his history of traveling throughout the Roman . . . . Continue Reading »

In today’s On the Square , Pete Spiliakos says: If you want to be the party of Reagan, you need to master the Reagan art of storytelling: I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance and I asked them what Romney was for. This person was stuck and finally said that Romney was for cutting . . . . Continue Reading »

Three On the Square posts for you today! I hope you have an extra-long lunch break ( and don’t forget about Helen Rittelmeyer ). First, we’ve got George Weigel’s continued meditations on Poland : John Paul II had a keen insight into the way in which the two totalitarianisms of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Helen Rittelmeyer’s back! Here she is on “Winning the Distraction War, Losing the Distraction Peace” : In the last six months I’ve eliminated from my reading life everything that felt like empty carbs. The rule of thumb was: In a year, will I look back and think that this was . . . . Continue Reading »