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Letters from Rome: #3

When the Church solemnly commits Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to the Lord at the funeral Mass today, the curtain will come down on one of the most important and fruitful eras in two millennia of Catholic intellectual life. Continue Reading »

Grace and Serendipity

When you’re a linguist, you get used to being asked how ­many languages you speak. But a few years ago I was asked for the first time, by a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, what my favorite words are. “Grace and serendipity,” I blurted out—not a graceful response, but a . . . . Continue Reading »

Del Noce's ­Moment

Augusto Del Noce (1910–89) is one of those rare thinkers whose thought becomes truer as time passes. His penetrating account of a totalitarianism of permanent revolution, driven by scientism and eroticism, abetted unwittingly by the “dialoguing” and “listening” Church, depicts our age more . . . . Continue Reading »

Theology for the Long Haul

Richard Malone, sometime director of the Doctrine Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, once approached a Catholic benefactor in the hope of a substantial donation for a fledgling theological institute. “Theology!” erupted the philanthropist. “It’s theology that got . . . . Continue Reading »

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