We have just come through a year with the Supreme Court in which the defenders of religious freedom racked up a string of famous victories. Famous, at least, to those who rejoiced in the outcomes and hoped that they foretold something lasting. But there are grounds to be less than cheered when we . . . . Continue Reading »
The American religious tradition has consistently affirmed a national belief in God—but not a national belief in a particular religion. Continue Reading »
Just weeks after the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Fr. Anthony Giambrone, O.P. published an article in America Magazine warning that Catholics inclined to celebrate the life and service of the late Supreme Court justice should not be so inclined to celebrate his judicial philosophy. Fr. . . . . Continue Reading »
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13 – unexpected and, for many reasons, tragic – draws a curtain on the life and public service of one of the most important Catholic figures in America over the past half-century. Justice Scalia was regarded, by admirers and detractors alike, as . . . . Continue Reading »
When Jessica Mitford first published The American Way of Death in 1963, she unleashed a broadside against the entire funeral industry in this country. She criticized the way funerals were done in America, including cosmetic excrescences and high expenses stemming from the greed of morticians. Some . . . . Continue Reading »
We are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more; a man loved by many, scorned by others; a man known for great controversy, and for great compassion. That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.It is He Whom we proclaim: Jesus . . . . Continue Reading »
The sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia forces us to reconsider the role that the Constitution plays in our rhetoric and in our imagination. Our constitutional system is more fraught than most of us had dared admit, even as our politics has leaned ever-more-strongly on the Constitution to unify . . . . Continue Reading »
To redeploy a phrase from President Ford, our “long national nightmare”—in this case, the semi-permanent presidential campaign—will be over in eleven months, or at least suspended for a year or so. It’s not been an altogether edifying show to date; one may hope that, as the fields get . . . . Continue Reading »
Richard Posner, a judge of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in a New York Times op-ed co-authored December 2 with Law Professor Eric Segall, takes Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to task for threatening America with a “majoritarian theocracy” because of his repeated . . . . Continue Reading »
On June 1, 1925, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Pierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The decision responded to two appeals brought by Walter Pierce, the governor of Oregon, about the Oregon Compulsory Education Act of 1922, a voter-passed . . . . Continue Reading »