David Mills

It’s not an opening you want to see in a news story: Lawyers for a Manhattan executive charged with murdering her 8-year-old son are attempting an unusual defense: They claim Gigi Jordan had no choice but to kill the boy, and was completely in her right mind when she did it. Jordan had . . . . Continue Reading »

A very interesting exchange between Robert Miller, a contributor to “First Thoughts” and to the magazine, and the Distributist writer John Medaille, published by the online magazine Dappled Things : On Truth and Trade: Economics and the Catholic Vision of the Good Life . Miller defends . . . . Continue Reading »

The letter, with “Senator Orrin Hatch” written in large capital letters centered across the top, told me that on behalf of the National Republican Senatorial Committee the senator was sending me my “Republican Strategy Ballot” (the name was printed in boldface in the letter). “Your immediate response is critical,” he told me, or rather the “fellow American” to whom the letter was addressed. The letter followed the standard form for conservative fundraising … Continue Reading »

A priest I know, responding to my A Great and Glorious, But Debated, Assumption , sent one observation worth sharing both as an addition to the argument and an illustration of the difficulties of ecumenical exchanges, for those who care. ”I would make one observation,” he wrote. . . . . Continue Reading »

Years ago, I lived near a church that was one of six scattered along the New England coast whose pastors and members believed themselves all ( all ) that was left of the Church in the world. One of my housemates started going to this church, though he never joined, and after a few months dragooned . . . . Continue Reading »

In response to the lead paragraph of my A Great and Glorious, But Debated, Assumption , an Eastern Catholic friend wrote of those Churches’ “refusal to bend to worldly reality”: Today is a “day of obligation” (we would prefer to say “day of precept”) for . . . . Continue Reading »

One reader responds to my “On the Square” column for today, A Great and Glorious, but Debated, Assumption , with the old Bultmannian criticism about the alleged incompatibility of the Ascension (against which it’s usually made), which he extends to the Assumption, with . . . . Continue Reading »

Today is not a holy day of obligation for American Catholics, even though today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, because feasts that are normally days of obligation are not obligatory when they fall on a Saturday or a Monday, apparently because someone thinks people shouldn’t have to go to church two days in a row, which ignores the fact that obligations are only useful if they are, you know, obligatory, and not sometimes choices or options. Holy days are supposed to disrupt your regularly scheduled programming… . Continue Reading »

Orthodox and Anglicans interested in Orthodox-Anglican relations will want to know about the North American conference sponsored by the Fellowship of Ss. Alban and Sergius. It is being held from September 8th to 10th at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonker’s, just . . . . Continue Reading »

Supporters of human dignity as Christians and others understand it will know about the irreplaceable Human Life Review , and (I hope) subscribe. It is edited by our friend Maria McFadden Mafucci, who was working for this magazine at its beginning. You may want to know about the Review ‘s . . . . Continue Reading »