Death Rights

Last year, Canada’s Supreme Court unanimously decided that laws criminalizing assisted suicide are unconstitutional and in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Following the court’s verdict, Canadian Parliament in June 2016 passed a new law according Canadians a right to . . . . Continue Reading »

All the East is Moving

For many years, German leaders had been struggling to cope with an influx of peoples across their borders. While the crisis was one that had afflicted much of Europe, it was Germany that bore the brunt. Year after year they had been coming, crossing from the steppes of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Refugees in Germany

As I am writing these lines at the end of November, the county and city of Passau (where I am from) is putting up more refugees than whole countries in Eastern Europe have agreed to accept. Winter is coming, so things must be done safely and well. I am proud of the charity and hospitality I see . . . . Continue Reading »

“Gender-Sensitive” Catholicism?

The following is a public statement from Dr. Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, Germany.On October 22nd, 2015, the German Bishops' Conference in a press release called attention to a gender flyer entitled “Geschlechtersensibel. Gender katholisch gelesen” [Gender Sensitive: A Catholic . . . . Continue Reading »

Leaving Riga

Romanticism: A German Affair by rüdiger safranski northwestern, 376 pages, $35 During the early Romantic era, subjective sentiments and an often solipsistic quest for personal fulfillment began to challenge Enlightenment ­ideals of rational dialogue. John Keats’s 1817 plea “for a life of . . . . Continue Reading »