Kevin Staley-Joyce

Dissenting Catholics in the public square seem to unite around at least two principles. One is their dogged pursuit of the appearance of ideological consistency. However grave the division between their public and private beliefs, persuading the public of their supposed unity of mind is a priority often pursued with rhetorical acrobatics… . Continue Reading »

One tumultuous year into his presidency, President Obama remains a man without a mission. Without a mission to space, that is… . Continue Reading »

Occasional Poetry and John Updike’s Endpoint
02.02.2010
Micah Mattix

That John Updike wrote poems as well as novels is news to few people who follow contemporary poetry. Before his death, a common view of Updike’s poetry was that it was light, entertaining stuff that he wrote to refresh himself after the serious work of fiction. After his death, however, a number of critics have hailed it as the elephant in the room of contemporary American poetry… . Continue Reading »

There’s been a flurry of reports on President Obama’s intentions for our space program—in particular, the Constellation human spaceflight venture. Conceived with the intention of replacing the aging space shuttle and possibly returning humans to the moon, the program is a phantom of . . . . Continue Reading »

The fractured nature of Christianity in America points soberly to the need for Christian unity. Still more difficult to bear is the demise of Christian groups that lose sight of the integrity of the gospel and the tradition that authored it. “ Christianity Lite ,” as Mary Eberstadt coins . . . . Continue Reading »

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” These words from one of mid-century America’s best-known preachers, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, still resonate with those who are taken with the modern gospel of self-help that he popularized in his most famous work, The Power of . . . . Continue Reading »

Churches always seem to outlast the frenetic change in the world around them; this symbolic contrast between the permanent and the fleeting is never more apparent than in inner-city churches. One such case in New York is Holy Cross Church, which describes itself, appropriately, as the church . . . . Continue Reading »

There’s hardly a more disquieting and grotesque topic than pedophilia, but, as Mary Eberstadt reveals in her essay on “ pedophilia chic ,” it has not always been given the condemnation it deserves, even—as it were—in America. Present unanimous disapproval comes from the . . . . Continue Reading »

It should be no surprise that the language of same-sex marriage is just as controversial as the arguments for it. The rhetorical choices of same-sex marriage proponents—especially their use of rights language—have been effective in winning over the minds of many young people. While . . . . Continue Reading »

There’s a widespread idea amongst political commentators that mere persuasion can amount to coercion. It’s nothing new that leftists have fallen prey to the postmodern trap of subjectivism, and it’s surely this pitfall that helped coin the now tired line, “don’t impose . . . . Continue Reading »