Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Failed Leaders

Suicides among Americans aged ten to twenty-four increased by more than 50 percent between 2007 and 2017. The suicide rate for all ages rose by nearly 30 percent between 1999 and 2016. This is not an isolated trend. Life expectancy in the United States is falling, a shocking trend for a rich . . . . Continue Reading »

Dem Bones

Ossa Latinitatis Sola ad Mentem Reginaldi Rationemque: The Mere Bones of Latin According to the Thought & System of Reginaldby reginaldus thomas foster and daniel patricius mccarthycatholic university of america, 831 pages, $39.95 A recent online video shows a math teacher expounding the . . . . Continue Reading »

Singing Aquinas in L.A.

When I was a child in parochial school, we began each morning with ­daily Mass. My mother worked nights, and no one in my family was an early riser. I inevitably arrived late to church. The nuns stared disapprovingly as I slipped in among my more punctual classmates in our assigned pews. This . . . . Continue Reading »

At the Concert

There! He’s one of the first onstage! A less disheveled crowd than usual . . . Under those lights he probably can’t see us. His son took his place on the top row of risers. . . . sheepishly enduring the scattered applause until the other choristers had filed on. The conductor is grey-haired. A . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles