Fr. George Rutler

Reflecting on the last day of the State Visit, I indulge a couple of personal thoughts. First, the Rite of Beatification took place near Coventry which, as Pope Benedict mentioned in his homily, suffered from the blitz of November 14, 1940 (there were earlier raids in July and August of that . . . . Continue Reading »

On May 31 1906, King Alfonso XIII married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (“Ena”) in the Royal Monastery of San Geronimo in Madrid. Ena, a granddaugher of Queen Victoria and niece of King Edward VII, had scandalized some of her family by becoming a Catholic before the marriage. . . . . Continue Reading »

Scotland Yard did its job in arresting five “terrorists.” The press has not been so alert. First reports spoke of “London street sweepers” as though they might have been from a chorus of My Fair Lady or Mary Poppins . Then they had to allow that they are Algerians. Very . . . . Continue Reading »

The graceful and even elegant beginning of the state visit has only been made trying by the incessant banter of commentators who think themselves obliged to fill in every second of air time with streams of talk, occasionally informative, but mostly banal. “When I met the Holy Father . . . . . . . Continue Reading »

As the papal trip moves from theory to fact, and the mental clock begins to strike: it is about to happen. Up to now, all has been the anticipation and anxiety of speculation. The media have tried every possible way of dramatizing a man biting a dog. This has been less like reporting reality and . . . . Continue Reading »

Under the avalanche of commentary on the new translation of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, just approved by the Vatican, I poke my head above the erudite criticisms, to speak as a man whose entire priesthood has been in parishes… . Continue Reading »

The past year has not been abundant with fortune for the world or our nation”which made it precisely a time when one ached for commentary from Richard John Neuhaus. We waited, by an instinct that thought he would reply quickly. But there was an uncharacteristic silence.… . Continue Reading »

An Anniversary
01.08.2010
Robert Louis Wilken

In 1961, Richard John Neuhaus was installed as pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Brooklyn. Several days later he wrote me. “Installed Misericordias Domini”much pomp, ceremony, and incense.” It was the last word I heard from him for almost six months… . Continue Reading »

One assumes that The New York Times would have been glad to receive an Op-Ed article from the new Archbishop of New York. The Archdiocese of New York is responsible for a very important part of the city’s educational, medical, and charitable life. The newspaper refused to print it. Such . . . . Continue Reading »

Salve Iosephe , Litterae de lingua latina scripta in Res Primae accipio tuus qui post-electronica fero. Ut praeclarissimus magister Mantuae dixit, ut mihi iam verum videatur illud esse quod non nulli litteris ac studiis doctrinae dediti quasi quiddam incredibile dicere putabantur. Promoveo linguam . . . . Continue Reading »

A Challenging Reform: ­Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal, 1963-1975 by Piero Marini Liturgical Press, 205 pages, $15.95 (paper) To young people today, Vatican II reposes in a haze with Nicaea II and Lateran II. Their guileless ignorance at least frees them from the animus of some . . . . Continue Reading »