Matthew Schmitz

Thomas More College now has posted the video of a recent talk R.R. Reno gave on the ancient roots of today’s liturgy: You can find related videos by people like Anthony Esolen and George Rutler on Thomas More College’s video channel . . . . . Continue Reading »

Readers of First Things may be interested in a new documentary on sperm donation called  Anonymous Father’s Day .  The film had drawn high praise from some diverse sources. Here’s Kathleen Sloan of the National Organization of Women: Anonymous Father’s Day  gives a . . . . Continue Reading »

A study by British researchers has found that men and women are unable to detect any difference between statements on women made by convicted rapists and those drawn from so-called “lads’ mags.” More from the University of Surrey: The research due to be published in the British . . . . Continue Reading »

In an interview with Terri Gross, Jimmy Fallon weighs in on liturgical innovations: GROSS: Do you still go to church? Mr. FALLON: I don’t go to – I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was kind of struggling for a bit. I went to church for a while, but it’s kind of, . . . . Continue Reading »

“The season of Advent often gets combined with Christmas, thanks to retail and academic calendars encroaching on the liturgical calendar and a general love for celebration and excess. Our duty as preachers and teachers, however, remains to remind our people that Advent is a time of quiet and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Christian Leadership Center at the University of Mary in North Dakota—-which is led by frequent On the Square contributor Leroy Huizenga—-is launching a new website on homiletics. An ecumenical endeavor involving Protestants and Catholics, it includes treatments of the Gospels, . . . . Continue Reading »

Today President Obama performs the annual light-hearted tradition of the turkey pardon. But behind the fluff is a chillingly stingy record of pardons for actual, you know, people . Brandon Watson lays it out: [T]he Office of the President has over the past several administrations been absurdly . . . . Continue Reading »

The Washington Post  has come out with a piece on Mitt Romney’s role as a leader in the Mormon Church (retreading an earlier piece in the Times ) that is already being picked up by modern-day anti-Mormon zealots. On Twitter, Chloe Angyal of Feministing describes it thus: In which Mitt . . . . Continue Reading »

Many writers (including, ahem, one guest poster to this blog) have fretted that the 47 percent of Americans who pay nothing in income taxes are freeloaders who pose a threat to the nation’s moral fabric. This worry has issued recently in the unusual spectacle of a Republican presidential . . . . Continue Reading »

Stephen Colbert has conducted a brilliant interview of two representatives of Occupy Wall Street. One of them, a committed and articulate young woman, describes herself as a “female-bodied person”: (Skip ahead to the 5:15 mark for the quote.) How did such radical body-self dualism . . . . Continue Reading »