R. R. Reno

First Things seeks to create something new out of the moral ruins of our age. Continue Reading »

It is up to religious and social conservatives to restore the fabric of our country. Continue Reading »

The decline in life expectancy in the United States is a symptom of a failing culture. It is driven by deaths of despair: Suicide rates are up, as are drug overdoses and alcohol-related diseases. Those are hard, cruel facts. There are other signs of failure, more auspicious ones. We read about young . . . . Continue Reading »

No serious American statesman has imagined that liberalism is sufficient. Something else is always needed. Continue Reading »

In the early 1880s, Henry James set out to write “a very American tale.” The result was The Bostonians, serialized in a magazine in 1885 and then published in a single volume in 1886. The novel features activist meetings, conversations sprinkled with references to the cause of women’s . . . . Continue Reading »

The Catholic Church in the West is full of corruption—financial, sexual, and spiritual. We are forced to face this hard reality, not the least because the weak pontificate of Pope Francis offers so little of substance. The corruption that afflicts us does not arise from overpowering lusts. Our . . . . Continue Reading »

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has unexpectedly intervened in today’s unhappy Church politics.  Continue Reading »

Virginia governor Ralph Northam had a tough February. Soon after he made brutal remarks about the fate of children born alive after attempted abortions, his medical school yearbook page surfaced, showing one person in blackface and another in a KKK outfit. The Twitter mobs rushed in attack. Northam . . . . Continue Reading »

Lots of folks are calling for civility these days, an understandable response to a shrill and polarized political climate. In his First Inaugural Address, as the Civil War loomed, Abraham Lincoln spoke of “the better angels of our nature.” He wanted to smooth the way for reconciliation. . . . . Continue Reading »

The current regime in Rome will damage the Catholic Church. Pope ­Francis combines laxity and ruthlessness. His style is casual and approachable; his church politics are cold and cunning. There are leading themes in this pontificate—­mercy, accompaniment, peripheries, and so forth—but . . . . Continue Reading »