While We’re At It

♦ Anglicans refer to the last Sunday before Advent as “Stir Up” Sunday. This puzzled me as a child, as it suggested cooking instructions. I later learned that in the old Book of Common Prayer the collect for the day begins, “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people.” It evokes the Church Militant. On the last Sunday before Advent, we ask to be called to arms (and armed) by the king who is coming. Compare this summons with the present worship of the Catholic Church. The collect for the Feast of Christ the King, on the final Sunday before Advent, does not evoke Church Militant. Instead, it suggests a cosmic “Christogenesis” of the sort theorized by Teilhard de Chardin: “Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the universe, grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.” The faithful are not encouraged to see themselves as soldiers gravely wounded by sin, begging their commander to heal and rouse them so that they may march with their Lord to victory. 

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♦ In his “Friday Update” newsletter, Mike Woodruff relates a wonderful reflection by the great biblical commentator Matthew Henry (1662–1714) after he was mugged: “Let me be thankful: first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took all I had, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” 

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♦ In early November, I visited Mike’s church in Lake Forest, Illinois, to participate in an evening event at the Lakelight Institute, a ministry of Christ Church that seeks to build up the body of Christ through biblically informed education. He sat me down for a wide-­ranging conversation about faith in the public square. I’ll let you know when the podcast version is available. 

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♦ Germany legalized marijuana in April 2024. Summarizing a report in the European Conservative, ­Lauren Smith writes: “The data show that, between April 2024 and April 2025, hospital admissions for ­cannabis-related disorders like schizophrenia, severe anxiety, major depressive episodes, and addiction has risen 40%. . . . Cases of cannabis-induced psychosis have almost doubled.” Along with online sports betting, marijuana legalization is an instance of the grotesque misgovernance by leaders in the West. Instead of promoting the welfare of citizens, our elites accommodate our ­vices. More than that, they turn them into industries and revenue producers. Historians writing of this ­period will note that the policy response to catastrophically high levels of drug overdose deaths was to legalize marijuana. And the response to the inability of younger people to buy homes (the “affordability crisis”) was to legalize easily accessible and addictive gambling. 

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♦ At the time of its founding in 1915, the American Association of University Professors issued a “Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure.” As William Inboden notes (see “Restoring the Academic Social Contract,” National Affairs, Fall 2025), the declaration “contained a prescient warning”: 

If this profession should prove itself unwilling to purge its ranks of the incompetent and unworthy, or to prevent freedom which it claims in the name of science from ­being used as a shelter for inefficiency, for superficiality, or for uncritical and intemperate partisanship, it is certain that the task [of policing professors] will be performed by others [outside of academia].

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♦ I was recently at an event during which a panelist accused conservatives of harboring a “nihilistic” attitude toward higher education, seeking only to destroy the universities. His claim ignored the Trump administration’s October 2025 “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” One certainly may debate the ten points that make up the compact. But none are “nihilistic.” The administration undertakes to do what the 1915 Declaration suggests must be done when university faculty and administrators refuse to perform their duties: not to destroy higher education, but to save it. 

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♦ Female hostility toward marriage is on the rise. Pew research shows that twelfth-grade girls are now less likely than boys to say they want to get married. In 1993, 83 percent of girls said they are likely to get married eventually. Seventy-six percent of boys gave the same response. Thirty years later in 2023, 61 percent of girls saw marriage as a desirable future, while boys had dipped only slightly to 74 percent. The polling results are striking. More than one-third of girls coming of age today do not have marriage in their plans for the future. 

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♦ A friend serves on the board of a Christian classical school. He reports that, during the last decade, the school’s leadership formed a consensus about the need to help boys become men. A boxing program was implemented. Retreats were organized to talk to the high school boys about the responsibilities of men, especially those of a husband and father. When it comes to girls, however, no consensus has been possible. Even in a conservative Christian environment, a substantial number of parents believe that the most important goals for their daughters are independence and a career. 

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♦ Tim Bass of Farmington, Missouri, would like to form a ROFTers group in his area. You can reach him at twc.bass@gmail.com.

The ROFTers group in Sacramento, California, seeks new members. To join, contact Kyle and Diane Smith: sacramentorofters@gmail.com.

The ROFTers group in Buffalo, New York, is also seeking new members. Contact Sandra Ham: sandra.ham3@gmail.com. 

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♦ We’ve launched “The Fourth Watch,” a special newsletter devoted to matters Catholic and written by James Keating, a regular First Things contributor. You’ll want to subscribe by signing up at fourthwatchcatholic.com. We’re grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for funding this initiative.