Richard John Neuhaus

“The Christ-haunted South.” Flannery O’Connor’s phrase came to mind, said a friend, upon reading this report from UPI: “Unconsecrated communion wafers are growing in popularity as a snack food throughout Quebec, alongside potato chips and popcorn on supermarket . . . . Continue Reading »

In a December 30 posting in this space, I commented on some intemperate and inaccurate remarks by Jeffrey Hart of Dartmouth. Referring to the F IRST T HINGS symposium, “The End of Democracy?”, he described me as a “Jacobinical priest” and “easy chair . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Square Back in May 2001, I wrote in this space, under the title “Bible Babel,” about the translation that is the unfortunate New American Bible (NAB). It is a subject that should not be dropped. Not, mind you, that I expect anybody to do anything about it any time soon. But some day, . . . . Continue Reading »

One more word on that long searched-for Chesterton quote. And since Dale Ahlquist is, after all, the president of the American Chesterton Society, perhaps this can be the last word. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with a find that has eluded so many others. Mr. Ahlquist writes: Dear Fr. . . . . Continue Reading »

Jeffrey Hart of Dartmouth, assuming the mantle of Edmund Burke, had an essay in the Wall Street Journal opining on the meaning of conservatism today. Along the way, he declared that the unlimited abortion license established by Roe accords with the social “actuality” of modern life and . . . . Continue Reading »

At the 7:45am Mass this morning (the fifth day of Christmas, by the way), a parishioner said she was resigned to spending most of the day at Macy’s trying to return a sweater three sizes too small. Such is the madding crowd. In the course of discussing the recent “Christmas war” . . . . Continue Reading »

The third day of Christmas and my true love sent to me . . . As it happens, I didn’t get anything. Except the posting below by Michael Novak, which I commend to your attention. This is also the day of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. My parish in Brooklyn was St. John the Evangelist, which . . . . Continue Reading »

The 16th century Reformation claim was that the doctrine of justification is the article by which the Church stands or falls. The Joint Declaration between the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican, plus the statement by Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), “The Gift of . . . . Continue Reading »

This is the second day of Christmas, and also the day of St. Stephen, proto-martyr. Never mind that the traditional twelve days of Christmas have been tossed into a cocked hat by our venerable betters in cone hats who decided that Epiphany, January 6, is to be observed on the nearest Sunday. This . . . . Continue Reading »

While the ACLU and Americans United for a Naked Public Square were holding a press conference that was described as a “victory party,” others were more carefully reading the court decision in the Dover, Pennsylvania, case about Intelligent Design. There is, for instance, this by William . . . . Continue Reading »