Last Friday, on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (September 14), Pope Benedict’s motu proprio (a genre of decree indicating the pope is acting "on his own initiative") titled Summorum Pontificum took legal effect. I cannot predict at this early date how much of a demand there . . . . Continue Reading »
During the summer of 1502, the young Republic of Florence appeared fated to die as quickly as it had been born. Only four years earlier, the citizens of the Italian city-state had installed a democratic government after decades of oligarchic rule, first by the Medici family and then by the . . . . Continue Reading »
On July 31, I posted here " A Respectful Word on Episcopal Competence ." Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, Florida, who is head of the bishops’ Committee on International Policy, then offered an equally respectful response on August 7. In his response, he underscored what he described . . . . Continue Reading »
Impossible, irrational, delusionary, absurd, untrustworthy, fictitious, imaginary: You can’t read much about religion today without encountering these adjectives, each intended to leave religious belief with a tired, messy, belittled sort of look.You see it most with those who claim to be . . . . Continue Reading »
A curious teapot tempest of the sort one only finds in the hothouse of Extremely Earnest Conservative Christianity has been going on for several years, ever since the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the subsequent popularity of the Potter phenomenon. Various concerns . . . . Continue Reading »
The word competence has several meanings, most of which congregate around ability and authority . It is not clear which meaning is pertinent to the announcement that the national bishops’ conference will be meeting with congressional Democrats who are Catholics in order to devise a way to . . . . Continue Reading »
The October issue of First Things is out, at last. I’ve spent the morning browsing in it, and I’ve just about decided that my favorite pages are where Richard John Neuhaus takes up, in his monthly column The Public Square , the pope’s much-discussed motu proprio on the Latin Mass, . . . . Continue Reading »
The unfortunate publicity and distortions to the point of calumny that have surrounded the publication of the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light , edited by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., the postulator of her cause, have caused confusion to many and much pain to the Missionaries of Charity and . . . . Continue Reading »
G.K. Chesterton once described lunatics as people who have lost everything but their reason. What he meant was this: When human reason cuts itself off from conscience, experience, and common sense, it subverts itself. It becomes a logical-sounding form of lunacy. The results are usually bad. This . . . . Continue Reading »
In the October issue of First Things (which hits newsstands today), I draw attention to the powerfully persuasive new book by Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford). One billion of the world’s population are rich; four . . . . Continue Reading »
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