Matthew Schmitz

Many writers (including, ahem, one guest poster to this blog) have fretted that the 47 percent of Americans who pay nothing in income taxes are freeloaders who pose a threat to the nation’s moral fabric. This worry has issued recently in the unusual spectacle of a Republican presidential . . . . Continue Reading »

Stephen Colbert has conducted a brilliant interview of two representatives of Occupy Wall Street. One of them, a committed and articulate young woman, describes herself as a “female-bodied person”: (Skip ahead to the 5:15 mark for the quote.) How did such radical body-self dualism . . . . Continue Reading »

Christopher White points out that contraception is not the most powerful way to promote maternal health: What about those women and girls in Africa who, as Kristof mentions, “have never heard of birth control”? Won’t they be faced with unwanted pregnancies and possibly die during . . . . Continue Reading »

Is the fight to protect the unborn as misguided”and ultimately as passing”as the push for Prohibition? So suggested David Frum in a recent column for CNN. After I objected to his column, Frum said that I, along with all pro-life advocates, should be willing to accept a regime where abortion is safe, legal and rare … Continue Reading »

In an interview with Utah’s Deseret News,  New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan expresses hope in the wake of the New York marriage defeat: If traditional marriage advocates can find the right tone in making their case, Archbishop Dolan believes they will ultimately come out on top, . . . . Continue Reading »

Good news today out of South Bend. Carter Snead is the newly appointed head of Notre Dame’s Center on Ethics and Culture. The center takes up the central truths of Catholic moral and social teaching in order to build a culture where, “the dignity of human life is respected, the . . . . Continue Reading »

Regarding the recent Vatican document on the financial crisis,  David Gibson writes: “Conservative Catholics continue to trash the Vatican’s new document calling for global financial regulation: “Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish,” says George Weigel. But . . . . Continue Reading »

The recent note on the financial crisis from the Vatican’s Council on Justice and Peace offers us yet another chance to reflect on the Church’s longstanding social teaching. It is the kind of document that is meant to advance a conversation rather than settle questions, and it will no . . . . Continue Reading »

The Atlantic Wire reports on Steve Jobs’ belief in an afterlife: I remember sitting in his back yard in his garden one day, and he started talking about God. He said, “Sometimes I don’t. It’s 50-50. But ever since I’ve had cancer I’ve been thinking about it more, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Frank Gehry’s proposed design for an Eisenhower Memorial—-featuring large screens surrounding a statue of Eisenhower as a barefoot boy—-has drawn a great deal of controversy. This came to a head in a recent public meeting when Gehry was confronted by an audience member. From . . . . Continue Reading »