A Response to Archbishop Victor Fernandez
by Luma SimmsIf the whole world, including our Protestant brethren, accepted divorce—which they have—yet should the Church stand contra mundum. Continue Reading »
Remembering Kevin Starr, Catholic Historian
by Stephen SchwartzFor most of his career, Starr viewed the California experiment benevolently, as a phenomenon balanced between utopia and reason. But he was an intense Catholic believer who seems finally to have despaired of California’s grandiloquent and heartbreaking destiny. Continue Reading »
A Response to the Bishops of Malta
by Luma SimmsAt the heart of what these bishops and others have called a “merciful” path is a frenzied desire for happiness and for the avoidance of pain and suffering, supposing that these people have suffered enough. This stands in direct contrast to the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the saints, whose premise is that suffering is not something to be avoided at all costs—one can learn to live through it. Continue Reading »
Fake History
by George WeigelEveryone has a right to their opinion about the state of Catholicism in 2017, but no one has a right to invent their own Church history. Continue Reading »
Lessons from an Era of Confusion
by George Weigel“A man will give his life for a mystery, but not for a question mark.” Immediately after Vatican II, the North American College was a house of question marks—and worse-than-question-marks. The Catholic Church in America paid, and is paying, a heavy price for that season of deep confusion. Continue Reading »
New Year’s Wishes for some Catholic Brethren
by George Weigel2017 promises to be a challenging year for the Catholic Church. Thus some new year’s wishes: Continue Reading »
Shūsaku Endō's Silence and Faithfulness
by Dale M. CoulterReaders of First Thoughts will know by now that Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Silence by Shūsaku Endō was released in select theaters on December 23. The novel warrants the attention it is getting. Set in the 1640s at the end of Japan's “Christian Century” (1549-1639), Silence is a haunting journey through one priest’s struggles to remain faithful in the most challenging of circumstances. Continue Reading »
Silence: Scorsese’s Spiritual Masterpiece
by William Doino Jr.Beautifully filmed and acted, Silence is as powerful as it is ambitious. Continue Reading »
A “Merciless Assault on Human Dignity”
by George WeigelIn Ontario today, doctors who decline to euthanize their patients are required to provide an “effective referral”: They are obliged, on pain of losing their license to practice, to send a troubled patient to a doctor of lighter conscience who will kill that patient. Cardinal Collins is fighting this abomination. Continue Reading »
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