First Thoughts

Upcoming Events—2.26.15

“The Art of the Beautiful,” a Lenten Evening of Recollection, and more.

First Links — 2.26.15

The Bells of Ordinary Time
Tessa Carman, Fare Forward

The Loss of Faith Made Music Mute
Oliver Rudland, Standpoint

Endless Love
James Parker, The Atlantic

The Newest Doctor of the Church

The newest Doctor of the Church was not a Catholic. Continue Reading »

Stand with Barronelle Stutzman

In the ongoing cultural disputes that pit a person’s sexual “identity” against a person’s religious liberty, it’s not often that you see eye-popping courage and conviction. Continue Reading »

First Links — 2.25.15

The Novel as Protestant Art
Joseph Bottum, Books & Culture

Patriarch Urges Prayer After at Least 90 Christians Kidnapped in Syria
Elise Harris, Catholic News Agency

Interviews: Philip Larkin, The Art of Poetry No. 30
Interview by Robert Phillips, The Paris Review

Richard Linklater Might Make an Actual Boyhood Sequel
Matt Wayt, A.V. Club

Godly Radicalism

How Massachusetts Bay bred a religious Anglo-American political radicalism of lasting importance. Continue Reading »

The Tool Is Not Benign

In the debate over the plusses and minuses of social media, it is common to hear a point that changes the terms completely. I’ve witnessed it in forums dozens of times: “We have to remember that these are just tools. It all depends on how you use them.” Continue Reading »

First Links — 2.24.15

On Secular Society and Allure of ISIS
William E. Carroll, The Catholic Thing

Saturday Night Lights
Jake Meador, Fare Forward

Thomism in the 21rst Century: Q & A With Father Romanus Cessario, O.P.
Sean Salai, S. J. America

Don’t Make Down Syndrome A Death Sentence

In her Yahoo! Parenting article “I Terminated My Baby with Down Syndrome,” Sophie Horan is not shy about painting her abortion as choice made with her baby’s interests in mind. She claims her unborn baby “deserved better than a life of struggle and frustration due to a condition that he or she would never be able to change.” Bad news, Sophie Horan, this is true for all of us, Down syndrome or no. Continue Reading »

First Links — 2.23.15

The Twee Tribe
Anna Katharina Schaffner, The Times Literary Supplement

Virtue, Family, and Community
Micah Mattix, The University Bookman

Assaulted by Moscow and Abandoned by Rome
Sandro Magister, Chiesa