Of all people to present “The Sound of Music,” Lady Gaga, affectionately nicknamed “Mother Monster”—and best known for her rebellious anthems and provocative attire—is surely one of the most unexpected. Yet, present she did, as onlookers held their breath. Continue Reading »
At the end of this month, Terri Schiavo will be ten years dead. But she is far from forgotten. Everyone reading these words knows the story, and everyone has an opinion. What began in 1990 as a private tragedy—a vivacious young woman stricken in the prime of life with a severe cognitive . . . . Continue Reading »
This past Sunday evening, I learned the awful news that Matthew Baker, my friend of ten years, a priest of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston and a Ph.D. candidate in Theology at Fordham University, was killed in a car accident on the way home from Vespers. His six children were in the car with . . . . Continue Reading »
Some months after my son-in-law, Rob Susil, died, a longtime friend asked me, in a gentle but point-blank way, “Are you still fighting God?” The only honest response was, “Yes.” At which my friend said, simply, “You’re not going to win, you know . . .” Continue Reading »
A Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church has been scheduled for 2016. In March of 2014, the leaders of all the autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Churches met in Istanbul, the sacred see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which historically (since at least the fifth century) coordinates such . . . . Continue Reading »
Perhaps the most heatedly denounced work of a distinguished scholar is Harry Jaffa’s occasional writing on homosexuality. The passions surrounding the issue distort understanding of these essays, but his purpose in them follows that of the rest of his mature corpus—the recovery of natural right and the great intertwined questions of reason and revelation. Jaffa’s writings on the topic need to be approached from the moral-political perspective from which they were intended. Continue Reading »
If the Church is going to face the challenges of this new century, she will have to face them as a united Church. Nothing has so weakened our witness as our tragic divisions. Nothing has made the Gospel so implausible, if not preposterous. Division has deprived us of the weapons we need for the spiritual battles that are on the horizon. Continue Reading »
Earlier this month, a website called Veterans News Now (VNN), removed James M. Wall from its editorial board, where he was listed as “associate editor” and moved his name to a list of the site’s “frequently featured writers.”
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We just had a revolution—a polite one. Continue Reading »
When I started graduate school in English in the early 90s, I thought that a certificate in Women’s Studies would widen my training and help my career. My university happened to have a famous professor in the field, a pioneer in academic feminism who had created one of the first graduate degree programs in Women’s Studies. A tough, learned woman with exacting standards, she did not suffer fools or histrionic students lightly. She was also a conservative. Continue Reading »
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