On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

George Weigel on his late friend, Charles W. Colson ; Back in the days when Chuck Colson was willing to run over his grandmother for Richard Nixon, I would have happily done the same to Mr. Colson. Well, that was then, and this is now. And over the past 20 years, I never met a more thoroughly . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Elizabeth Scalia on marriage as an Office : We talk about vocations and “one’s state in life,” but I wonder if we would not better serve both clarity and charity by considering that beyond baptism we are called to an Office. Since all Offices are callings, then all servants are equal . . . . Continue Reading »

The June/July Issue Has Arrived

From Web Exclusives

The 2012 June/July issue is now available online. What does this beige issue contain? R. R. Reno opens the magazine by reflecting on psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s new book The Righteous Mind and what it tells us about the limitations of contemporary liberalism … Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Robert P. George explains why the Constitution doesn’t settle the marriage debate : A key question, perhaps the key question, this Court is being called on to address is whether the Constitution of the United States chooses between competing moral understandings of the nature, value, and . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Allison Peller on the photography of Lia Chavez : Our lives are centered and built upon innumerable complex relationships, which subconsciously we are constantly analyzing, changing, and developing. Although these moments of cross-examination frequently remain unacknowledged, they are the driving . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Russell E. Saltzman on the residue of death : The dead are not really dead. They hang around to pester us. Not as ghosts, no; I don’t believe in ghosts. Nor do I mean the dead “live on” in our memory and in our hearts, nor even necessarily—as I’ve noted before—that . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

George Weigel on biblical illiteracy and Bible Babel : One of the disappointments of the post-Vatican II period has been the glacial pace of the growth in Catholic biblical literacy the Council hoped to inspire. Why the slowdown? Several reasons suggest themselves. The hegemony of the . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

James R. Rogers on his appreciation for Charles Colson : I never met Charles Colson. But the ministry he started played a pivotal role in my life. I don’t know that I would ever have gotten involved in prison ministry some 20 years ago were it not for Prison Fellowship. At that time I was a . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

William Doino Jr. on sex and the seamless garment : In his now-famous address at Fordham University, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, the late archbishop of Chicago argued that “the pro-life position of the Church must be developed in terms of a comprehensive and consistent ethic of life.” . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Peter J. Leithart on the God who is worldly : Summarizing a central argument of his Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics , Ross Douthat told Ken Myers in a recent interview, “A lot of the most influential theologies in American life today are theologies that take various worldly . . . . Continue Reading »