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Death Beds

I have been called to numerous death beds, and I would like to say I have learned many things about the dignity of Christian death, but I cannot say so. Death is an indignity of the first order; that’s all I know.My feelings are complicated by an acute sense of inadequacy for the occasion. Something noble and fearless should arise to match the solemnity of the moment, but rarely does… . Continue Reading »

The Present State of Our Polygamous Future

In an interview on the science in science fiction, novelist William Gibson noted, “[T]he future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” What Gibson meant was that the innovations in science fiction could already be found—at least in embryonic form—in our current ideas or technology. Much the same could be said about future social and legal norms concerning the institution of marriage—they are already here, they’re just not evenly distributed yet… . Continue Reading »

Michael Novak, Founding Father

Twenty years ago, the American Catholic thinker Michael Novak put his head together with his friend Rocco Buttiglione, a distinguished Italian thinker, to see what might be done about educating a new cadre of young Catholic leaders in the social doctrine of the Church. John Paul II’s recently released social encyclical, Centesimus Annus, seemed an ideal intellectual anchor for such an enterprise, given its rich development of the social doctrine and its bracing challenge to build free and virtuous societies in the 21st century… . Continue Reading »

Catholic Charity in Secular America

I would like to offer three reflections that focus on the “Catholic” identity of Catholic Charities and, by extension, the identity of all Catholic social work. First: What we do becomes who we are. A man who does good usually becomes good”or at least better than he was. A man who struggles with his fear and overcomes it and shows courage gradually becomes brave. And a man who steals from his friends or cheats his company, even in little things, eventually becomes a thief… . Continue Reading »

Adult Catechesis and the Sword

Recently a reader at my blog asked me what it would take for me to call “heresy” on someone else. Apparently, to refuse to lightly j’accuse is to be continually vomited out of Jesus’ mouth in a lukewarm stream, but I may find redemption if only I will carp endlessly about how the world is ending and the church is dying, and lay the fault for it at the feet of the bishops and possibly of me, myself… . Continue Reading »

Michele Bachmann, the Anti-Christ, and the Political Theologian

Michele Bachmann was once committed to bigotry. Or so claims The Atlantic’s Joshua Green in what seems to be an attempt at the classic “gotcha” article. (Republicans had attacked Barack Obama for his pastor’s rants, and now one of their own has been embarrassed by her religion.) Green doesn’t get her, but she still needs to explain herself, because even the finer points of a candidate’s theology matter, though even religious politicans don’t want to admit it. … Continue Reading »

The Excellence of the Latin Novus Ordo

As a convert to Roman Catholicism from old Prayer Book and High Church Anglicanism, I resolved to tolerate the current translation of the Novus Ordo (the Latin Mass as revised after Vatican II) because it was the Church’s, not because it was edifying or beautiful. After recently translating the Ordo Missae for use at Christ the King Chapel at Franciscan University of Steubenville, I have become convinced that the Novus Ordo contains much that is beautiful and edifying… . Continue Reading »

The Politics of the Family and the Lies Our Culture Tells

Thank you for asking me to speak this evening in support of the Love and Fidelity Network and Grupo Solido. I so admire the young people who have poured their hearts into this work, which is so important to the future of our two countries, and to the health of truly human culture everywhere. I am, I fear, a poor spokesman for the cause to which we are devoted here. By training and experience I am a political scientist, studying laws and institutions, courts and legislatures, political theories and constitutional frameworks… . Continue Reading »

A Principled Charity

The basis of Catholic social doctrine is quite straightforward. Speaking to Caritas International earlier this year, Raniero Cantalamessa said that “Christianity doesn’t begin by telling people what they must do, but what God has done for them. Gift comes before duty.” In other words, our love for God and our love for neighbor begin as responses to love we’ve already received… . Continue Reading »

To Live Each Day with Dignity

The euthanasia movement in our country is gaining strength and momentum. The reasons for this are complicated, but at its root, this movement is driven by fears that many of us share. The fear of pain, suffering, and death. The fear that one day we might lose our mental capacity or bodily functions. The fear of becoming a burden on others. Or of being left alone to die in some institution, hooked up to expensive machines… . Continue Reading »

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