Matthew Schmitz

Tim Powers In our August/September issue , Randy Boyagoda expresses a fatigue that many avid readers can relate to: “I’m sick of Flannery O’Connor. I’m also sick of Walker Percy, G. K. Chesterton, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Even as the rest of the country has grown more accepting of same-sex marriage, Evangelicals have held firm. Over the past ten years, Evangelical opposition to same-sex marriage has stayed constant—-even slightly increased - —according to a new report from the Barna Group : In 2003, 12 . . . . Continue Reading »

One-hundred and fifty years ago today, Gen. John F. Reynolds made the crucial tactical decisions that would start the Battle of Gettysburg, then became one of its first fatalities. Reynolds was widely admired for his personal qualities and military skill—-we have found no recorded negative . . . . Continue Reading »

Polygamists are celebrating the Supreme Court’s marriage rulings, Buzzfeed reports : The Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of same-sex marriage Wednesday were greeted with excitement by polygamists across the country, who viewed the gay rights victory as a crucial step toward the . . . . Continue Reading »

In a press release today, the Catholic Bishops led by Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Salvatore Cordileone call the Court’s DOMA ruling “tragic” and also lament that it failed to uphold Prop 8: Today is a tragic day for marriage and our nation. The Supreme Court has dealt a profound . . . . Continue Reading »

Steven Pinker (l) with stuffed panda (r). Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker has sent a letter of protest  regarding the University of Miami’s dismissal of Colin McGinn for harassing a female graduate student. “Such an action,” says Pinker, “would put a chill on . . . . Continue Reading »

At the five-minute mark of this video, we see a sort of ersatz secular liturgy done with all the intelligence of Richard Dawkins and all the taste of Charles Saatchi. Next time your church music director’s choices tempt you to atheism, remember the sort of liturgy that awaits you on the other . . . . Continue Reading »

Speaking before 2000 young people upon his recent arrival in Ireland, President Obama raised the old canard that religious education is divisive : If towns remain divided—if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another . . . . Continue Reading »

Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the vibrantly orthodox Church of Our Saviour in midtown Manhattan, is being reassigned to St. Michael’s Church in Hell’s Kitchen. In his latest weekly column , Rutler acknowledges a quiet campaign against the reassignment: I was gratified that so many wanted . . . . Continue Reading »

The  Weekly Standard ‘s outstanding John McCormack asked Nancy Pelosi to identify “the moral difference between what Dr. Gosnell did to a baby born alive at 23 weeks and aborting her moments before birth?” (Pelosi opposes legislation that would ban the latter.) “As a . . . . Continue Reading »