Richard John Neuhaus

In Rome, the station church today is St. John Lateran, the parish church of the Bishop of Rome. I remember walking the station churches with the seminarians of the North American College. It was done with convivial solemnity, recalling what is to be recalled this day, reenacting what was enacted . . . . Continue Reading »

Moving to less controversial topics, George Will had a thoughtful column Sunday before last on new efforts to gin up the panic about global warming. He notes that Time magazine has this big issue declaring, “Be worried. Be very worried.” Will is amused by the piquant presumption that . . . . Continue Reading »

Mondays and Tuesdays are Joseph Bottum’s turns at this site, but he is sick in bed. Please join me in praying for his rapid recovery. Herewith an excerpt from a fine opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by Fr. Thomas Williams, a seminary rector in Rome, on the kerfuffle over the National . . . . Continue Reading »

When these holy days roll around, segments of the media, as reliably as clockwork, roll out the latest alleged debunkings of historically recognizable Christianity. There was, for instance, an item a few days ago about a climatologist who opined that back in the old days Galilee experienced cold . . . . Continue Reading »

Some tough words from the usually understated and scrupulously cautious Mark Chopko, general counsel of the U.S. bishops conference. Surveying legislative and regulative initiatives impinging upon various medical, social, and educational ministries, he says religious institutions are being . . . . Continue Reading »

For several years now there has been a raft of books and articles aimed at debunking notions of “American exceptionalism.” With respect to the last century of “secularization theory,” that debunking is necessary. In that theory, the vitality of religion in the United States . . . . Continue Reading »

Last Monday was another gathering of the Dulles Colloquium. We’ve been doing this for more than fifteen years. The colloquium is named, of course, in honor of Avery Cardinal Dulles (and was started long before he was elevated to the College of Cardinals). It is one of a number of groups of . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Square Going on five years since September 11, 2001, and many, if not most, Americans seem very uncertain about what it means that we are at war—or whether we really are at war. There is a nearly unanimous agreement that there are “terrorists” out there, and maybe some among us, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Two of the most influential theologians of the last century, Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr, shared the distinction of not having earned doctorates. Niebuhr was a mite uneasy about that and at times turned it into the virtue of not being an academic. In a new book by Martin Halliwell, professor of . . . . Continue Reading »

Steven Waldman is editor-in-chief of Beliefnet, and is working on a book on religion and the American founders. He writes: Contemporary religious conservatives can certainly find quotes from Founding Fathers to support their claims that government should aggressively support religion. They’ll . . . . Continue Reading »