Matthew Schmitz

In an interview with Utah’s Deseret News,  New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan expresses hope in the wake of the New York marriage defeat: If traditional marriage advocates can find the right tone in making their case, Archbishop Dolan believes they will ultimately come out on top, . . . . Continue Reading »

Good news today out of South Bend. Carter Snead is the newly appointed head of Notre Dame’s Center on Ethics and Culture. The center takes up the central truths of Catholic moral and social teaching in order to build a culture where, “the dignity of human life is respected, the . . . . Continue Reading »

Regarding the recent Vatican document on the financial crisis,  David Gibson writes: “Conservative Catholics continue to trash the Vatican’s new document calling for global financial regulation: “Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish,” says George Weigel. But . . . . Continue Reading »

The recent note on the financial crisis from the Vatican’s Council on Justice and Peace offers us yet another chance to reflect on the Church’s longstanding social teaching. It is the kind of document that is meant to advance a conversation rather than settle questions, and it will no . . . . Continue Reading »

The Atlantic Wire reports on Steve Jobs’ belief in an afterlife: I remember sitting in his back yard in his garden one day, and he started talking about God. He said, “Sometimes I don’t. It’s 50-50. But ever since I’ve had cancer I’ve been thinking about it more, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Frank Gehry’s proposed design for an Eisenhower Memorial—-featuring large screens surrounding a statue of Eisenhower as a barefoot boy—-has drawn a great deal of controversy. This came to a head in a recent public meeting when Gehry was confronted by an audience member. From . . . . Continue Reading »

If you haven’t already noticed,  Public Discourse , the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute, has had a banner week: Robert P. George on pornography and law, William Carroll on science and ethics, Helen Alvaré firing back at Linda Greenhouse, Maggie Gallagher bringing some . . . . Continue Reading »

For the past few years, one of the highlights of my Fall has been the Love and Fidelity Network’s annual conference on “Sexuality, Integrity, and the University” at Princeton University. The two-day event, taking place this year November 4-5, provides college students and recent . . . . Continue Reading »

Charles Moore, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph , the Sunday Telegraph , and the Spectator , notes the commitment of the UK’s Conservative Party to gay marriage and registers an objection: Arguments on these subjects are tricky to make, particularly in the rough world of . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve started a Twitter account, from which I’ll be offering links and updates on matters of interest to First Things readers. You can follow me at @matthewschmitz . Of course, there are other members of the First Things family on Twitter. You would do well to follow  Alan Jacobs . . . . Continue Reading »