Wojtyłan Fantasies, Revisited

by George Weigel

Wojtyła understood the difference between those for whom Marxism was a “fascinating abstraction” and those for whom communism was “an everyday reality.” Continue Reading »

7 Feb 2019

In Rare Form

by Jennifer Reeser

Devotions by timothy murphy north dakota state, 192 pages, $24.95 Not a knee is padded in Timothy Murphy’s new collection. This is no minor point, considering that knee remains for the length of the volume perpetually bent and on the floor. Like the poet himself, these ­poems—religious . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Nov 2018

A Public Church, not a Partisan Church

by George Weigel

When the temptation to ally the Church with a particular political party is not resisted, it invariably leads to trouble—politically and, more importantly, evangelically. Continue Reading »

24 Oct 2018

Catholicism After 2018

by R. R. Reno

Theodore McCarrick has been stripped of his status as cardinal for pursuing young men throughout his clerical career. “­Uncle Ted” liked to take his “nephews” to bed with him. The public revelations of this fact evoked outrage. It was not so much that a churchman sinned as that he did so . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2018

A Pastor in Full

by George Weigel

Fr. Newman has lived the priesthood of the New Evangelization in a singular way. Continue Reading »

11 Jul 2018

Homelands and Social Doctrines

by George Weigel

There was serious Catholic failure in Latin America, and the bishops with whom I spoke were honest enough to admit it. Continue Reading »

20 Jun 2018

Believe, That You May Understand

by Charles J. Chaput

In 1970, Michael Polanyi wrote an essay called “Why Did We Destroy Europe?” In it, he reflected on the cancerous spread of ideologies and war in the twentieth century. He argued that scientific rationalism had initially “been a major influence towards intellectual, moral and social . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Mar 2018

Saint and Scribe

by Robert Royal

Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul IIby george weigelbasic, 368 pages, $32 Czesław Miłosz once said that, in terms of moral grandeur and personal presence, St. John Paul II could have been one of Shakespeare’s kings. No less a judge than Joseph Ratzinger noted that it was . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Neuhaus Was Right

by Matthew Schmitz

As the Berlin Wall fell, Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the end of history—“the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” Richard John Neuhaus wasn’t so sure. In a 1996 symposium on judicial overreach, he questioned the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2018

The Catechism of the Catholic Church at 25

by George Weigel

The Catechism of the Catholic Church established a compelling, and in many cases quite beautifully written, benchmark and pattern for the future. Continue Reading »

11 Oct 2017