Speaking 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 »
Pope Francis has denounced capital punishment in recent years, and responses from concerned Catholics have focused largely on whether the Holy Father’s words represent a faithful account of the Church’s fundamental teaching. Amid this debate, most have overlooked the fact that Francis’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Futurists exclaim that brain-integrated, silicon-based “hardware” memory will be used to augment our natural memories. Count me unimpressed. Continue Reading »
Vatican II's heavy reliance on St. Thomas Aquinas is sadly often overlooked. Continue Reading »
H. L. Mencken famously defined Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Puritans, and Calvinists more generally, have a reputation for harboring an ungenerous suspicion of even the most innocent delights as sinfulness in disguise. Though this reputation is not . . . . Continue Reading »
It's time to be grateful for the good things of the past year.
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We are called daily to engage in the fight against curiosity as we explore ever more deeply the one question that truly matters: “Who do you say that I am?” Continue Reading »
Economists make a point of speaking in conditionals, not categoricals. They never just say: “Do this!” They say: “Do this, if you want that. If these are your ends, this is what you must do to secure them. As for those ends themselves, they’re up to you.” This modesty is, paradoxically, . . . . Continue Reading »
Here are some resources that can help redeem the rest of Lent and the upcoming Easter season. Continue Reading »
In The River of the Immaculate Conception, James Matthew Wilson confirms his vocation as a public poet. Commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute, this poem sequence of seven parts leads us through the lives of St. Juan Diego, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Père Marquette, with interludes on . . . . Continue Reading »
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