To Desire Like a Little Child
by Colin RedemerTrevor Merrill, in his delightful novel, asks what it would take for underground men to mature into surface dwellers. Continue Reading »
Dignitas Infinita Is a Muddled Failure
by Mark ShiffmanDignitas Infinita's weakness as a magisterial document is that it is insufficiently clarifying to serve as a teaching. Continue Reading »
Faithful and Invisible
by Robert A. SiricoOn December 18, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which granted permission for Catholic priests to bestow blessings upon couples in “irregular situations” and same-sex couples. Discussions surrounding the meaning and implications of . . . . Continue Reading »
The New Midlife Crisis
by Matthew SchmitzCheck all the boxes, then chuck it all aside at forty to follow your muse. Play by the rules and win, only to decide that you don’t want the prize. Most of the rebellions were minor. The devoted housewife informed her husband that she would not be cooking dinner for the family on Tuesday and . . . . Continue Reading »
Hope for the Organization Kid
by Joshua P. HochschildTwenty-three years ago, David Brooks published in The Atlantic a long essay based on interviews with Princeton undergraduates. He found the students busy: overscheduled, achievement-oriented models of meritocratic success. They were “extraordinarily bright, morally earnest, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Renewing the Covenant
by Liel LeibovitzGood news, fellow Americans: It’s civil war time! The violence, praise the Lord, unfurls exclusively on the silver screen, where the tortured protagonists of Alex Garland’s new blockbuster—unimprovably named Civil War—watch America being torn apart in a hail of bullets. Who’s . . . . Continue Reading »
The Last Sanctuary
by Ronald W. DworkinDuring my first year in medical practice, some of the older doctors criticized me for not wearing a tie to the hospital. “What’s the point?” I shot back. “I just change into scrubs anyhow.” But it was 1989, and the older doctors made me fall into line. Around the same time, the hospital . . . . Continue Reading »
Theology of Immigration
by Brad LittlejohnSpeaking to a gymnasium full of high schoolers in 2015, Angela Merkel sought to explain why Germany needed to close its borders to the tide of Syrian refugees. She was brought up short by Reem Sahwil, a refugee girl facing deportation. The girl’s tears accomplished what no lobbyist or newspaper . . . . Continue Reading »
Damaged Goods
by Sebastian MilbankWhat is the purpose of the Christian life? Or of any life? Ephraim Radner proposes an answer: “mortal goods.” These he defines as “the sustained realities and possibilities of birth, growth, nurture, generation, weakening, caring and dying.” The tending and conservation of these goods, . . . . Continue Reading »
The End of Prestige
by James F. KeatingFor most of the Church’s history in the United States, Catholics have sought to demonstrate to their often suspicious neighbors the possibility of being a faithful Catholic and a patriotic American. This has been no easy task, given the modern and Protestant character of the nation’s founding . . . . Continue Reading »
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