Richard John Neuhaus

You usually know that somebody is losing the argument when he loses his cool and resorts to bluster, abuse, caricature, and the invocation of authorities who agree with him. The New York Times Book Review , for reasons that surpass charitable explanation, gave Michael Behe’s most recent book, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Square The Senate’s “comprehensive” immigration bill has been sidelined for a time but will surely return in one form or another in the near future. Everybody recognizes that there is a very big immigration problem, but disagreements over how to define and how to remedy the . . . . Continue Reading »

The New American Bible (NAB), an unfortunate translation episcopally imposed upon Catholics for readings at Mass, has prompted earlier comment in First Things (see here and here ). The problem keeps coming back, not least in pastoral counseling. Take the woman who had had it with her husband’s . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the more deft moves in Benedict’s apostolic letter motu proprio , titled " Summorum Pontificum ," is in referring to the 1962 form of the Roman Rite as the Mass of Blessed John XXIII. It is not the Tridentine Mass or the Mass of Pius V but the Mass of John XXIII. It is the . . . . Continue Reading »

David Brooks is a most congenial fellow and as bright as a freshly polished penny. We were both born in Canada, and he grew up in Stuyvesant Town here in New York, which is in my parish. We have given his wry and insightful cultural commentaries, such as Bobos in Paradise , major attention in First . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1967 the great Methodist theologian Paul Ramsey published a book with the above question as its title. It was an incisive critique of aberrations in the ecumenical movement and of the World Council of Churches in particular. Ramsey was fond of observing, with his usual wry grin, that it was an . . . . Continue Reading »

The following homily was delivered by Fr. Neuhaus at the annual Memorial Mass of the Military Vicariate at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on the Feast of the Ascension, 2007. The Scripture texts just read are for this day, the Feast of the Ascension of Our . . . . Continue Reading »

I returned last Tuesday from a week in Rome, which is always an instructive, and frequently an edifying, experience. From numerous conversations over leisurely meals with Vatican officials, one gets the impression of quiet satisfaction with the pontificate of Benedict XVI after the first two years. . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Square Yes, I know. I had promised a commentary on Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict’s apostolic exhortation based on the 2005 synod of bishops on the Eucharist. His exhortation was issued in March, and the reason I have been putting off this reflection is that we have all been . . . . Continue Reading »

Rudy Giuliani and abortion? No big deal. As he told the folks in Iowa, we have to "get beyond" those divisive questions. The Wall Street Journal recently echoed that line of argument , so to speak. It’s not as though abortion matters the way that, for instance, corporate tax rates . . . . Continue Reading »