Joseph Bottum

Sometimes I dream I’m flying just above the plain” the world in wheat beneath me, the rivers rich with rain. And there I hear the murmur of what the old land knows: all journeys need an ending, all circles want to close. . . . . Continue Reading »

First Things is holding its annual fundraising drive . As Richard John Neuhaus writes, “I well know that some of our readers have very limited means. Even a small gift is a real sacrifice. Others, however, have been blessed with very considerable means. To all I say: Please give as you are . . . . Continue Reading »

In “ The Pro-Life Movement as the Politics of the 1960s ”¯the opening essay in the January issue’s Public Square¯Richard John Neuhaus writes: Whatever else it is, the pro-life movement of the last thirty-plus years is one of the most massive and sustained expressions of . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s almost impossible not to know how it opens. “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has been filmed at least forty-two times and dramatized for the stage in dozens of versions¯the first almost . . . . Continue Reading »

There was a woman screaming on Park Avenue, flecks of saliva spraying from her mouth as she raged into her cell phone, “It’s not my fault.” Over and over, like the high-pitched squeal of a power saw cutting bricks: It’s not my fault and a run of foul names, It’s not my fault . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and a long-time activist in Washington, has passed away . A sad loss. May God welcome him home. . . . . Continue Reading »

Just a quick update, since many of you have asked and all of you were so kind: My daughter Faith is home from the hospital. She’ll still be bed-ridden for a week or so, but she’s now out of danger. Some strange, life-threatening virus had attacked her lungs—you really don’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Avery Cardinal Dulles was one of the greatest thinkers in the modern Roman Catholic church and perhaps its most distinguished representative in the United States. The first American to be named a cardinal soley for his theological work, and for his last two decades a professor at Fordham University, . . . . Continue Reading »

Thanks to all who’ve written or called about my daughter Faith. She’s in the intensive-care wing of the pediatrics ward at NYU hospital, but the doctors are fairly confident they have the situation under control. Your prayers are more than welcome. . . . . Continue Reading »

Word has reached us that Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., died here in New York early this morning. Created cardinal for his theological work by John Paul II, Avery Dulles was one of the great figures of the twentieth century: a theologian, an intellectual, a teacher, a writer, a lecturer, and a kind . . . . Continue Reading »