America’s health care system is insane. As David Goldhill observed in a 2009 Atlantic piece, asking an insurance company to pay for a routine visit to the doctor is like filing an auto insurance claim every time you fill up. Because they don’t have to worry about out-of-pocket expenses, patients try everything, no matter how much it costs or how remote the chances that it will help. Insurance costs don’t rise because insurance companies are especially greedy. Costs keep rising because of dynamics inherent in the system… . Continue Reading»
Independence Day concludes the Fortnight for Freedom mandated by the U.S. bishops, a two-week period of reflection and prayer on the defense of religious liberty that began on the vigil of the liturgical memorial of St. Thomas More. In July 2012, we may be grateful that none of us faces the headsman’s axe, as More did in Tudor England. But neither should we be indifferent to, or flippant about, the 21st century threats to religious liberty that surround us. They have yet to bring anyone to today’s equivalent of the scaffold on Tower Hill, but they are already putting severe pressure on both believers and religious institutions… . Continue Reading»
The old love song asks: Tell me why the stars do shine/Tell me why the ivy twines/Tell me why the sky’s so blue/And then I’ll tell you just why I love you. I have always found it an affecting little bit of music. I’ve gone so far as embarrassing middle school kids on youth retreats by making them sing it to each other while holding hands around the campfire. Sure, they probably still hate me, but I think it will do them less harm in the long run than singing Kum Ba Yah… . Continue Reading»
On June 20-22, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference, known as Rio+20, signified the end of months of negotiations at the UN in New York and then a hectic week of negotiations in Rio before the conference. In the end, the delegates were not able to agree on a complete document, so the Brazilian government stepped in and presented its own version… . Continue Reading»
Modern Americans read the Declaration of Independence too individualistically. We think of it as a revolt against high taxes and big government. While the Declaration does object to violations of “individual rights,” its understanding of how individuals exercise these rights is broader than modern Americans generally conceive of them. Take the Declaration’s best-known complaint against the King, “for imposing taxes on us without our consent.” This is not about high taxes… . Continue Reading»
Blessed John XXIII is one of the most beloved popes in all of history”and quite possibly the most misunderstood. Almost from the moment he was elected pope, Angelo Roncalli”or “Good Pope John,” as he came to be known”captivated the world. There was something about Roncalli’s ways”his buoyant personality and self-deprecating humor; his willingness to affirm rather than condemn”that attracted so many to him.… . Continue Reading»
The second UN Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development”Rio + 20, for short”is underway in Brazil, and the main issue seems little to have changed since the first one twenty years ago. The principal tension is between environmentalists, mainly from developed nations, who think human activity is leading to climate disaster, and the poorer nations who prize development above any environmental restrictions… . Continue Reading»
A few nights ago, I woke with an unpleasant start, confused by unusual physical discomfort, and a surge of panic that “the hour you know not” was upon me. “Is this what Dad experienced,” I wondered, “as he began to slip irretrievably into it?” The prospect that my father knew what was happening yet was powerless to stop it or, in some consoling sense to put things in order, is an aspect of his throes that has worked me over for decades… . Continue Reading»
Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it, teaches Proverbs. For me, this has been the case regarding worship. I was raised a Lutheran, in an older, established congregation belonging to what would become the ELCA, First Lutheran in Minot, ND. I imbibed the ambience of the Lutheran liturgy … Continue Reading»
“I die the king’s good servant,” said Thomas More before kneeling at Tower Hill, “and God’s first.” Four hundred years after his death, at his canonization ceremony, Pope Pius XI said of More, ‘When he saw the doctrines of the Church were gravely endangered, he knew how to despise resolutely the flattery of human respect, how to resist, in accordance with his duty, the supreme head of the State when there was question of things commanded by God and the Church’ … Continue Reading»
