Richard John Neuhaus

“To understand all is to forgive all.” It’s a beguiling French adage, although of doubtful truth. Senator Barack Obama, we were told, has invited America to engage in a “national dialogue about race.” This morning’s paper describes the dialogue as “last . . . . Continue Reading »

Yes, I know today is officially Saint Patrick’s Day, its having been transferred from next Monday because nothing takes precedence in the Church’s calendar over Holy Week. That makes sense. I thought of doing an item on how Irish Catholicism, which Tom Cahill tells us once saved . . . . Continue Reading »

Do not be put off because it is published by Prometheus Press, the source of a seemingly endless flood of secular humanist and anti-religious propaganda. Nor by the fact that the book is endorsed by the notorious Peter Singer, Princeton’s contribution to helping us make our peace with . . . . Continue Reading »

Clerical Scandal and the Scandal of ClericalismRussell Shaw admits that some people think he has become a nag on the subject. He has written several books and many more articles on the evils of clericalism. Charmingly titled is his 1993 book, which plays off the answer of an English bishop who was . . . . Continue Reading »

Steven D. Smith, professor of law at the University of San Diego, has an admirable review of Martha Nussbaum’s Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality in the February issue of First Things . Since I agree with everything Professor Smith said, it is . . . . Continue Reading »

The more cynical may say it is a small price to pay for achieving the stature of intellectual celebrity, but Francis Fukuyama took some very hard knocks after the publication of his 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man . Some critics took the “end of history” part of the title . . . . Continue Reading »

We all complain at times about the tiresome discussions of the shifting meanings of left and right , liberal and conservative . Every publishing season, or so it seems, somebody comes along with a book that proclaims “and now for something completely different.” Such books appear under the . . . . Continue Reading »

Many years ago, well before Roe v. Wade , this young man was asked to serve on the board of Americans United for Life, a Chicago-based organization, at the urging of such honored seniors as Henry Hyde and Paul Ramsey. AUL continues to be on the leading edge of campaigns for the culture of life, . . . . Continue Reading »

Father John Christopher Aidan Nichols, O.P., is a figure to be reckoned with. Aidan Nichols, as he signs himself, has written extensively and authoritatively on the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar and has also authored the very useful volume The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger . He has collaborated . . . . Continue Reading »

That’s a grim metaphor, maybe too grim. It’s from an endorsement of Philip F. Lawler’s book, to be published next week, The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture (Encounter). The endorsement is by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, who says: “Lawler’s . . . . Continue Reading »