Thomas G. Guarino

By now, virtually everyone has heard of the Rolling Stone fiasco, with its explosive article, “A Rape on Campus,” having been unmasked as deeply flawed. Although the magazine featured a long story about campus sexual assault, the police found no evidence to substantiate the allegations of rape at the University of Virginia. Perhaps fewer are familiar with the case of Alan Dershowitz, the well-known Harvard Law professor who tells his own frightening story of a false accusation. Dershowitz’s reputation for integrity, built over the course of a lifetime, was recently threatened by an uncorroborated allegation of sex with an underage woman. While that accusation has now been stricken from the record, Dershowitz notes that “you can’t unring a bell.” His sterling career and good name having been called into question. Continue Reading »

I would like to begin by thanking Mark McDowell, the editor of Reformation 21, for commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) in the pages of this journal.

Father Edward T. Oakes, S.J., professor of dogmatic theology at Mundelein Seminary and University of St. Mary of the Lake, has gone to God, dying on December 6, 2013. Readers of First Things know Fr. Oakes well. Over the course of two decades he has been intimately linked with the journal, publishing essay after essay on subjects that extended from Shakespeare to original sin, from the latest movie, to the nature of evolution… . Continue Reading »

The bishops in the United States have worked very hard to make the Catholic Church the safest institution for children in the entire country. They have systematically rooted out sexual predators, suspending them from the exercise of priestly ministry. Their determination in this regard has been steadfast and their intentions should be warmly and universally applauded. . . . Continue Reading »

Pope Francis’ recent interview generated headline after headline about abortion and gay marriage. But more significant in the long run are the theological accents found in the interview, accents with important ecclesiological implications. … Continue Reading »

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus papam: We have a pope! And so Pope Francis walked out on the balcony, spoke humbly of his mission, asked for the prayers of all people, and blessed the city and the world. It was a climactic moment, coming after weeks of speculation and interviews… . Continue Reading »

It is well nigh impossible to offer an appreciation of Pope Benedict XVI’s theological accomplishments in a short column. But on the occasion of his resignation, perhaps a few of his noteworthy achievements can be highlighted. Although we are formally speaking of Benedict’s initiatives as pope, it is probably best to discuss the theological body of work he produced from 1981 to 2013, rather than simply his last eight years as bishop of Rome… . Continue Reading »

It was an extraordinary moment at the Republican convention last month when Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher turned politician, criticized Barack Obama for insisting that people have to “violate their faith and conscience in order to comply with what he calls health care. Friends … let me say it as clearly as possible, that the attack on my Catholic brothers and sisters is an attack on me.” … Continue Reading »

Chuck Colson, who passed away last week, famously went to jail for crimes related to the Watergate scandal and, during his time in prison, discovered the healing mercy and love of Jesus Christ. Colson dedicated the remainder of his life to the redemption he found in Christ, seeking to communicate the good news of the Gospel in a variety of settings: through Prison Fellowship, a vast radio network, and innumerable books and lectures… . Continue Reading »

Unsurprisingly, when in November 2009 the Holy See announced the establishment of personal ordinariates (similar to dioceses) for those Anglicans and Episcopalians entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, the standard journalistic account cast Pope Benedict’s outreach in . . . . Continue Reading »