Ralph McInerny

1 Where are words when not yet spoken: on the tongue, in the mind, perhaps in air, nowhere? Their meanings, more elusive still, unbreathed await articulation, though I have heard in the beginning was the word. 2 Mutes and dentals shape the air that tongue addresses to the ear: speech is the mystery . . . . Continue Reading »

It is the rare reader of fiction who does not at some time or other consider becoming a writer. It comes and goes over the years for many, and some carry it about forever as an unredeemed promissory note to themselves. In their heart of hearts, they regard themselves as writers. When my first novel . . . . Continue Reading »

Many years ago Mortimer Adler took me to lunch at Antoine’s in New Orleans and introduced me to patates soufflées. The occasion was the publication of my first novel, and we were attending the annual convention of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, an organization of which . . . . Continue Reading »

Catholicism and the Renewal of American Democracy by george weigel paulist press, 218 pages, $11.95 Forty years ago, Evelyn Waugh wrote a piece for Life magazine entitled “The American Epoch in the Catholic Church.” In a manner only mildly condescending and with controlled admiration . . . . Continue Reading »