Richard John Neuhaus

As long-term readers know, every August at the cottage in Quebec I give myself the assignment of reading or rereading some major chunk of our civilization’s ­tradition. Last year it was Augustine’s City of God. Among other subjects in earlier years were Thomas’ Summa, the complete plays of . . . . Continue Reading »

Last Saturday, the British magazine The Economist , sponsored a debate on this resolution: "Religion and politics should always be kept separate." There was an audience of about a thousand, and at the beginning of the debate the vote was about five to one in favor of the resolution. This . . . . Continue Reading »

This week, the school-voucher referendum went down to a crushing defeat in Utah. It was a very ambitious proposal, covering absolutely everyone. Some supporters thought it too ambitious. In any event, the state and national teachers unions, plus other public-employee unions, predictably poured tons . . . . Continue Reading »

Is “human dignity” a useful concept in bioethics? Does it shed important light on the whole range of bioethical issues? Or is it instead a useless concept—a slogan that camouflages unconvincing arguments and unarticulated biases? The President’s Council on Bioethics recently asked me . . . . Continue Reading »

As Long As They Spell Our Names Right We are incessantly told that we live in a celebrity culture, and it is in large part true. If a celebrity is defined as someone who is well known for being well known, then publicity is the lifeblood of a celebrity culture. Any publicity is good publicity. As it . . . . Continue Reading »

All Souls Day, November 2, is for the ordinary folk. The "faithful departed" means all our brothers and sisters in Christ, including evangelical Protestants. (Some are less faithful than others, and, of course, the same is true of Catholics.) Evangelicals are seen as the especially . . . . Continue Reading »

Work hard, play by the rules, and go to church. The result will be that, by every measure of human well-being, you and your family will be better off. But you knew that. The problem is how to get people to do that. Sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia reports on recent . . . . Continue Reading »

Walter Benjamin’s is a name to be conjured with in the academic disciplines where "theory" is king. A Jew and a Marxist, he was killed in 1940 while trying to escape Germany, having been rather late in catching on to what the Nazis were up to. Benjamin is not for bedtime reading. . . . . Continue Reading »

The streets of New York are clergy-friendly. In my limited experience, more so than other world cities. Of course, Rome doesn’t count. There one might get the impression that the Church is suffering from a superfluity rather than a shortage of priests. Greet all the priests and sisters you . . . . Continue Reading »

It has been suggested to me that this wedding homily might be of more general interest. Perhaps you will agree. I might add that Gwyneth is the daughter of George and Joan Weigel. She and Robert are now serving medical internships at Johns Hopkins. In the Name of the + Father, and of the Son, and . . . . Continue Reading »