David Mills

I commend to you Ross Douthat’s latest column, Ideas From a Manger . The classic manger scene is “an entire worldview in a compact narrative,” he writes. It’s about the vertical link between God and man — the angels, the star, the creator stooping to enter his creation. . . . . Continue Reading »

Two old stories, but I just saw them, about a priest in the Bronx with unusual but attractive expressions of his calling: as a grower of hops and a provider of work making fashionable clothes. He also keeps bees for honey. Here is Brad Miner of the Catholic Thing on Father O’Connor . . . . . Continue Reading »

“The Marxist ideology is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended,” says Pope Francis, in answer to a question about how he feels about “ultraconservative” critics of his  Evangelii Gaudium calling him a marxist. . . . . Continue Reading »

The satire may be a little heavy-handed in an Onion article on the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy , but it does get at the way some people feel about Jews. Or, as some of them would put it, “the Jews.” (That definite article is important.) Or, at a strategic rhetorical distance, . . . . Continue Reading »

A lovely and imperative meditation on Christmas from  America on   The Terrifying First Christmas . The First Christmas, we tend to forget, rattles a marriage. It exiles a family. It endangers lives. And it provokes a madman to murder. The brisk descriptions in the New Testament fail to . . . . Continue Reading »

An interview with our own Dr. Boli and his invented alter ego Christopher Bailey. For example: PETE: Dr. Boli, do have any words to describe your relationship with your persona, Chris Bailey? DR. BOLI:  What bicentenarian gentleman would not wish to imagine himself, even if only for a moment, . . . . Continue Reading »

Father Edward Oakes, S.J., distinguished theologian, gifted writer and teacher, generous ecumenist, and our friend, has died, of pancreatic cancer, at 8:00 this morning. The announcement from the Academy of Catholic Theology, of which Father Oakes was president, reports: Father Oakes entered . . . . Continue Reading »

Compare Patrick Deneen on Pope Francis with Adam Shaw  on Pope Francis. The titles are similar, the content very different. . . . . Continue Reading »

“Why are we compelled to dismiss him simply because the truth regarding the history of Zionism may be uncomfortable?” protests a commenter on reading my Greek Archbishop Speaks, Doesn’t Help . He argues that the criticism of the archbishop’s words—mine and the Greek . . . . Continue Reading »

•  “If the Catholic Church did what it taught, it’d be a great religion,” said the man of the middle-aged couple holding hands—itself a rare sight—shuffling along in front of me on the crowded sidewalk. But he’d decided that “Buddhism is the best religion. It’s all about the . . . . Continue Reading »