Various

I am glad that First Things asked Edward T. Oakes to review my book The Wedge of Truth (January) because I have admired his essays. Moreover, there are a number of compliments in the review for which I thank him. Hence I write not to complain, but rather to clarify. I fear that the review may give . . . . Continue Reading »

Ingathering my frail smocked son he says: don’t squeeze. Absolution by poison has made him into papier maché; They kill him then redress the balance, Befuddle his blood to save the valved heart. If the worst of life connives such weakness How can I plot to sidestep The slow grinding dust . . . . Continue Reading »

The Spirit of the Liturgy. By Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Translated by John Saward. Ignatius. 232 pp. $17.95 The Church is called together to worship and adore the Triune God. Such is the theme of Cardinal Ratzinger’s thoughtful meditations on the Liturgy. Just as ancient Israel was called as . . . . Continue Reading »

In “Evangelicals in the Church of Mary” (December 2000), Daniel P. Moloney addresses the problems involved when evangelicals actively evangelize in Roman Catholic venues. He states that a genuine commitment to Christ is more important than the location of one’s ecclesiastical home. While this . . . . Continue Reading »

Here lyeth . . . (Sarah?) Drake beneath the floor, a Persian carpet lapped across her stone so all you see is “rah, and Cambridgeshire, and that she was the cherished wife of someone who caused her to sleep before the altar like Samuel, given up to night and God. Mutely, being dead, she bears . . . . Continue Reading »

Democracy in America . By Alexis de Tocqueville. Translated, edited, and with an introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop. University of Chicago Press. 722 pp. $35 cloth. Political philosophers (and husband and wife) Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop have given us a major work of . . . . Continue Reading »

Richard John Neuhaus says that my assertion in the (London) Sunday Times regarding Pope John Paul’s disability and early retirement to bed, etc., was a lie ( While We’re At It, June/July 2000 ). I was given the information about the Pope on what seemed to be good authority at the time, . . . . Continue Reading »

I could buy a garden gargoyle And set it out relentlessly scowling Toward the kitchen window of the woman Who flings dead branches from her yard to mine Because they’ve fallen from my willow trees. I would love a garden gargoyle. But there are outdoor angels, too. Perhaps if one stood serenely . . . . Continue Reading »

The Camel Knows the Way. By Lorna Kelly. Self“published, available on Amazon.com. 266 pp. $18 .95 . Lorna Kelly has given us a book about Mother Teresa that shows the essence of what she really was about: being fully human by embracing humanity with all its foibles. The author, after . . . . Continue Reading »

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