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How Suburbia Reshaped American Catholic Life

Stephen G. Adubato

Crabgrass Catholicism:How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar Americaby stephen m. koethuniversity of chicago press, 328 pages, $30 In the third grade, my teacher asked if we knew...

What Is Leo XIVโ€™s Educational Vision?

Kyle Washut

"The world is too much with us; late and soon, / Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;โ€” / Little we see in Nature that is ours; / We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!โ€

The Fourth Watch

James F. Keating

The following is an excerpt from the first edition ofย The Fourth Watch, a newsletterย about Catholicism from First Things. We invite you toย subscribe by clicking here.ย The Fourth Watch,ย authored by James...

The First Apostle and the Speech of Creation

Hans Boersma

Yesterday, November 30, was the Feast of St. Andrew, Jesusโ€™s first apostle. Why did Jesus call on Andrew to become his first disciple? Matthewโ€™s Gospel gives us a hint....

British Catholicismโ€™s Bright and Various Future

John Duggan

"In the last few weeks,โ€ the theologian Jacob Phillips recently remarked, โ€œIโ€™ve spoken at various Catholic events which were full to the brim with recent converts in the 18-30 age range...

St. Cuthbert and the Cave That Couldnโ€™t Be Filmed

Jason M. Baxter

August 2025 in northern England was chilly and windy. I had gone over to this land along the Anglo-Scottish border one month earlier, in July, to scout out St....

Inexpressible Gifts

Hans Boersma

How can we express thanks for an inexpressible gift? If someone brings a turkey to Thanksgiving dinner, we easily find words to describe the gift and convey our gratitude:...

Thanksgiving Linguistics

Joshua T. Katz

As we pause to give thanks for family, turkey, and Plymouth in the year 1621, take a few moments to give thought as well to the very word โ€œthanksgiving,โ€...

What Weโ€™ve Been Readingโ€”Autumn 2025

The Editors

First Things staff share their most recent autumn reading recommendations.

My Judgment on Nuremberg

John M. Grondelski

Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley Kramerโ€™s 1961 film about the Nuremberg trials, is rightly deemed an American film classic, featuring top-notch actors. James Vanderbiltโ€™s 2025 Nuremberg, on the other hand...

Ukraineโ€™s Religious Leaders and Munich 2.0

George Weigel

Prior to the โ€œRevolution of Dignityโ€ that began on the Maidan, Kyivโ€™s Independence Square, in late 2013 and eventually gave birth to the country that has amazed the world...

The Mediatrix Question

Thomas G. Guarino

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith recently released a document on the Blessed Mother entitled Mater Populi Fidelis (Mother of the Faithful People). It is subtitled โ€œDoctrinal...

The Department of Education May Be Gone, Finally

Mark Bauerlein

News came out last week that the Trump administration is stepping up efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. Weโ€™ve already seen a large number of staff reductions in the...

The Catholic Bill Buckley

Roger Kimball

This essay is adapted from a talk delivered at the Portsmouth Abbey School in 2010. In the capacious personal Index Locutionum Prohibitorum of William F. Buckley Jr., I suspect...

Charles Murrayโ€™s Return to Faith

Casey Chalk

Taking Religion Seriouslyby charles murrayencounter, 200 pages, $29.99 The academy is one of the most intellectually stultifying places in America, particularly those disciplines called the โ€œsoft sciences.โ€ Despite presenting...