This September, the Roman Catholic Church will canonize Mother Teresa, the great nun and humanitarian, in a vivid reminder that saintliness continues in our contemporary world. Less well known in the West—and unknown to me before I converted to Eastern Orthodoxy—are the many Orthodox saints who demonstrate the same truth. Continue Reading »
When I think of the generation of survivors—not only of the horror they endured during the Holocaust and its recollection, not only of the nobility or heroism many of them achieved, but of the virtually impossible small and great steps they were compelled to make to rehabilitate their lives and ours—it is Wiesel’s voice that underlies and often amplifies theirs. Continue Reading »
The people who take an active interest in religious-liberty controversies are many, but they are also a minority. And they are a minority that faces hostility from America’s media and lawyer elites. If that minority cannot appeal to the apolitical majority, it will lose. Continue Reading »
The Council at Crete turned out to be different from what both optimists and pessimists had expected. It did not resemble any icon of the Ecumenical Councils that we usually imagine. It was a council with a lot of pain and anxiety, before and during the event. But it was a true conciliar event.Continue Reading »
That summons to strive for heroic virtue—don’t settle for second-best; no matter what others ask of you, ask the best of yourself—was one facet of John Paul II’s remarkably magnetic appeal for young people. Continue Reading »
Remembering God’s Mercy draws upon Holy Scripture and the great Catholic spiritual masters—particularly Jesuit saints such as Ignatius of Loyola and Peter Faber—to discuss painful memories through the lens of Christ’s Passion. Continue Reading »
I tell friends: Nobody with a riding lawnmower needs to be justified. My 42-inch Sears Craftsman gives me all the salvation I can handle. Continue Reading »
His adaptation of Lady Susan downplays a key fact: Austen’s women jockey among themselves for status and power. Men may be the prizes, but they’re not the point. Continue Reading »