R. R. Reno

I ran across a bizarre story today. The poor fellow wanted to change the channel on the TV, and his wife and children attacked him, evidently banging his head against the wall. End result: death. Yes, strange, but what’s stranger is the reason the family reacted so violently. Evidently . . . . Continue Reading »

Pope Benedict devoted the talk at yesterday’s general audience to a full throated commendation of the theology of St. Thomas. After detailing the way in which the Angelic Doctor gets the relation of faith and reason just right, the Pope concludes : St. Thomas offers us a wide and enduring . . . . Continue Reading »

Ozzy Osbourne’s genome is being mapped by scientists to find out how he survived decades of substance abuse. Forget the substance abuse, I want my genome mapped so that I can figure out how I survived Ozzy’s music during the dolorous 1970s. . . . . Continue Reading »

You’ve always wanted to visit Rome, but your spouse dreams of hiking in the Alps. Your teenage son wants to go to London, while your daughter lobbies for Paris. But although everybody has substantive reasons for their preferred destination, nobody says so, and you end up in a more and more tedious argument about which place has the most convenient flights… . Continue Reading »

Take a look at this version of the program for the recent Catholic Theological Society of America meeting. Preliminary Program 2010 It’s very funny because so very believable, and sad too, for the same reason. . . . . Continue Reading »

For a delightful romp through the academic groves, see a satirical effusion from Jason Peters over at The Front Porch Republic:  The Way to Bliss. Part David Lodge, part Jonathan Swift, part John Kennedy Toole, this collegiate reverie has some wickedly funny moments: feminist archeologists who . . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday I encouraged readers to take a look at a column by David Rieff over on The New Republic website.  Today’s Wall Street Journal reports some changes in the Obama administration’s efforts to support dissidents in Iran. The details are interesting, and readers will . . . . Continue Reading »

In an important and insightful essay over at The New Republic , David Rieff makes some particularly astute observations about larger implications of the diplomatic crisis that erupted in the wake of the Israeli confrontation at sea with the Free Gaza flotilla. There is little doubt that, as a . . . . Continue Reading »

The folks at  lifesitenews.com report that David Coppedge is litigating against NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab for harassment and threats of termination.  His offense: talking to co-workers about Intelligent Design.  I’m not a big fan of the ID arguments, and it seems that Mr. . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve been reading John Cassian’s Conferences lately, a work that along with his Institutes were written at the beginning of the fifth century. Cassian’s goal is to convey to his Latin-speaking readers the spiritual wisdom of early Egyptian monasticism, and he lived with the monks . . . . Continue Reading »