Meghan Duke

The people have spoken, the results are in. Pluralities or majorities in eighteen of twenty-two countries surveyed for the Pew Global Attitudes Project think that Americans are not religious enough. According to the report “this is especially true in all three Arab nations surveyed—Jordan . . . . Continue Reading »

A few years ago, Joseph Bottum lamented the loss of the swallows at Mission San Juan Capistrano , comparing the loss of the swallows to the loss of a vibrant—if quirky—Catholic Culture: There’s a figure in all this—a metaphor, perhaps, or a synecdoche—for the condition of . . . . Continue Reading »

For a hot summer day, the New York Times brings us the history of ” cool ” Already by the time of “Beowulf,” a millennium ago, the original low-temperature meaning of cool had veered into the realm of human emotion — or rather the lack thereof. From Old English to the . . . . Continue Reading »

Agenzia Fides , the Vatican’s missionary press agency, has published the names of Catholics killed while on mission in 2009. According to the report, 30 priests, 2 religious sisters, 2 seminarians, and 3 lay volunteers were killed last year—nearly twice the number killed in 2008. The . . . . Continue Reading »

An interesting article in the New York Times on the decline of black congregations in Harlem: All Souls’ Church, on St. Nicholas Avenue, and any number of the traditional neighborhood churches in Harlem that had for generations boasted strong memberships — built on and sustained by . . . . Continue Reading »

The USCCB has  announced that it will have to cut its ties (a paid membership) with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights after the LCCR endorsed President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice . . . . Continue Reading »

On Friday, the  New York Times reported on the “chilling and ghoulish” case of William  Melchert-Dinkel, a Minnesota man who haunted pro-suicide websites and coached at least two people to their deaths all for the “thrill of the chase,” in his own words. Today I . . . . Continue Reading »

When the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle was completed in 1885, it fulfilled the dream of the founder of the Paulist Fathers—Servant of God Fr. Isaac Thomas Hecker—to build a noble basilica. The Gothic exterior reflected European influence and continuity with the past, while the interior . . . . Continue Reading »

The anniversary of the Pill is, as Gail Collins phrased it in her celebratory  op-ed , a moveable feast. The FDA actually approved the Pill on June 23, 1960, but it announced its intentions to do so on May 9 and a Mothers Day celebration of the Pill was just too good for the media to resist. . . . . Continue Reading »

Balmès believes that babies, like good bourbon, are best served neat. Continue Reading »