Elizabeth Scalia on the idea of American Catholicism :
Russell Shaw argues that the present struggles of the Church to be who she is amid governmental mandates and the ascendant “state religion” of secular humanism are the legacy of Baltimore’s Cardinal James Gibbons and other early churchmen who found America to be so accommodating to religion as to warrant a reciprocal accommodation to nationalism.
Also today, Peter Wood describes the liberal arts at Bowdoin College :
What a college teaches is more than what happens in the classroom. It includes what happens at student orientation, in the dorms, in student activities, and sports. It includes the disciplinary rules, the parties, and the subcultures. It includes student speeches, and the steps taken by administrators to promote “values.”
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…