Thomas G. Guarino

At the end of last year, Msgr. Charles Kavanagh, who held several significant positions in the Archdiocese of New York, was laicized at the age of seventy-three for an incident of abuse that occurred over thirty years ago. I do not know all the details of the Kavanagh case and will not, therefore, comment on its specifics… . Continue Reading »

When Avery Cardinal Dulles died on December 12, 2008, the Catholic Church lost its most distinguished American theologian, a man who combined the virtues of scholarly inquiry with faithfulness to Christ and the Church. It is far too soon to evaluate his long-lasting contributions to Christian . . . . Continue Reading »

Christianity and the Secular by Robert A. Markus. University of Notre Dame Press, 99 pages, $15. In Hoc Interim Saeculo “In this transitory world,” St. Augustine says in the City of God , referring to the subject of his long meditation. What is the nature of this world? How are Christians . . . . Continue Reading »

Faculty wags have long wisecracked that contemporary Catholicism specializes not in apologetics but in apologies. Unfair as this quip may be, Catholicism does appear at times to have abandoned a robust defense of Christian faith and doctrine in favor of corporate acts of contrition for past errors . . . . Continue Reading »

Karol Wojtyla: The Thought of the Man Who Became John Paul II By Rocco Buttiglione. Translated by Paolo Guietti and Francesca Murphy. Eerdmans. 368 pp. $35 With the translation of Rocco Buttiglione’s text, the definitive commentary on Karol Wojtyla’s philosophy is now available in . . . . Continue Reading »

The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Edited by Richard P. McBrien. HarperCollins. 1,349 pages, $45 A legendary story at Seton Hall University records this conversation between two freshmen: “What dorm are you in?” “Cabrini Hall.” “Who’s Cabrini?” the . . . . Continue Reading »