Genovese’s Question

A note from a friend led me to an article by the late Eugene Genovese, published in Dissent in 1994 and famous in leftist circles (judging from some of the articles published after his death) if forgotten by nearly everyone else. Described by the editors as “an open letter to the . . . . Continue Reading »

Don’t Believe? Don’t Receive.

Is the Catholic Church showing a sincere and admirable respect for the free will of individuals and encouraging personal responsibility or is she unnecessarily turning away her members who suffer a great degree of doubt about certain Church teachings? Steve Shiffrin’s article at Mirror of . . . . Continue Reading »

Debates Matter; Babies Matter More

While the country digests Governor Romney’s unexpectedly good showing at Wednesday’s presidential debate, Roger Clegg at National Review calls us back to higher things . This week the CDC released its 2011 report on births in the United States and the numbers paint an ugly picture . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 10.5.12

Jacques Maritain and the Failure of American Pluralism Thaddeus Kozinski,  Ethika Politica Life After TED April Dembosky, Financial Times History as Narcissism James Bowman, Arma Virumque On St. Francis of Assisi Fr. George W. Rutler, Church of Our Saviour The Lasting Legacy of Cardinal Jean . . . . Continue Reading »

So I’m Proud to be a Republican…

This sampling of the Lee Greenwood classic country tune IS what many a supporter of Romney felt yesterday in Floyd County, GA. Lots of people—random people in town, students, and the very few faculty who intend to vote Romney—came up to me just to ask “Did you SEE the . . . . Continue Reading »

Jean Bethke Elshtain on Judging

As readers likely know by now, the eminent University of Chicago professor and political philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain will deliver our annual Erasmus Lecture  on Monday, October 8. Her topic is the “Nature and Meaning of Loyalty.” I’ve been preparing for the event by . . . . Continue Reading »

Mormonism and Politicized Religion

Robert P. George yesterday wrote about the phone calls allegedly made by the group Catholics for Obama to ask voters questions like “How can you vote for a Mormon who does not believe in Jesus Christ?” The Obama campaign denies the charges, according to an editor’s note in . . . . Continue Reading »

Catholics for Obama

It is, writes Julianne Wiley, “a good example of the usefulness of academics in the production and distribution of moral equivocation” in her amazon.com review of Voting and Holiness . (It’s now the third on the list.) The book is a collection of essays by Catholic heavy-hitters, . . . . Continue Reading »