Brave New World Revisited
by Francis X. MaierIf today’s street violence and political extremism serve any good purpose, it’s this: They remind us that humans have a chronic appetite for destruction. Continue Reading »
Love, Fear, and Fleabag
by Dan HitchensFleabag is not a nice Catholic show. In many ways it’s grotesque. But one privilege of well-made art is the ability to tell the truth by mistake. Continue Reading »
2019: Our Year in Film and Television
by VariousRecommended movies and TV shows from the past year. Continue Reading »
The Philip Pullman Dilemma
by Peter HitchensIs Philip Pullman actually any good, or he just popular with the cultural elite because he is anti-Christian? Continue Reading »
The Awkward Christian
by Fr. Dominic BouckIf a hoarsely chanted version of the “Hot Pockets” jingle means anything to you, that’s probably a sign that you are a fan of the stand-up comedy of Jim Gaffigan. Clean, Catholic, and hilarious, Gaffigan—who writes his material with his wife Jeannie—has impressed many by his ability to . . . . Continue Reading »
Thomas More, Villain
by Mark MovsesianThe fact that this hatchet job on Thomas More appears in an impeccably well-done BBC production shows how fast our culture is changing, and how much work defenders of religious liberty have before them. Continue Reading »
How TV Execs Realized Nuns Were Bae
by Ashley CrouchNuns are having a moment in the media. Lifetime television recently conducted extensive studies to identify the unmet desires of its viewers and found that what young women want is—more Christian programming. The network responded by creating the reality series The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns to follow five surprisingly relatable young women—Stacey, Claire, Christie, Eseni, and Francesca—in their discernment to be Catholic Carmelite nuns. Continue Reading »
ELEMENTARY Monasticism
by Wesley J. SmithI sometimes see reflections of my Eastern Orthodox faith in unexpected places. Take the hit CBS television show Elementary, a contemporary rendition of the great Sherlock Holmes stories. Continue Reading »
Celebrity and the Absence of Faith
by Robert FayIn Christopher Beha’s excellent debut novel, What Happened to Sophie Wilder?, writer Charlie Blakeman nearly laughs when Sophie, his ex-girlfriend and a Catholic convert, says she plans to save the soul of her dying father-in-law, an atheist: “I don’t think I knew a single person who would have spoken in that way about saving someone’s soul,” Charlie observes. “The religious people I knew talked about their faith apologetically. It was an embarrassment to their own reason and intelligence, but somehow a necessary one.” Continue Reading »
Stephen Colbert and the Southern Catholic Charism
by Drew DentonForgive us if we pack the streets around Ed Sullivan Theatre next spring, searching the sky for plumes of white smoke. True, the transition from David Letterman to Stephen Colbert hardly calls for a conclave, and the future of the Late Show has little to do with the life of the Church worldwide. Even so, it feels like a momentous occasion for Catholics, who despite constituting the largest religious body in the country, usually search in vain for signs of communion in popular culture (that second-largest religious body—lapsed Catholics—offers a more populous field of celebrity ambassadors). Continue Reading »
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