I am growing weary of the continual complaints from traditionalist Christians about current trends in Western culture. Not that matters aren’t growing darker. Believe me, in more than twenty years as a committed activist on behalf of the sanctity and equality of human life, I have witnessed . . . . Continue Reading »
In the final season of Breaking Bad, Walter White, the chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin, has made more money than he can spend without breaking his cover as a mild-mannered cancer survivor. In one scene, he and his wife stare disconsolately at a ton of hundred dollar bills stacked two feet . . . . Continue Reading »
Young voters are more politically up-for-grabs than one would think. They are more likely to favor same-sex marriage, and are unreceptive to the kind of fear of big government/socialized medicine political shorthand that is commonplace in conservative discourse (the scare words don’t scare them). But young voters are also closely divided on immigration policy and a narrow majority favor restricting most abortions. Continue Reading »
Each year on March 19, Catholics throughout the world interrupt the austerities of Lent to celebrate the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, patron of fathers and of the universal Church. Coming as I do from a Sicilian family, this feast has always carried a special significance. My father was not unlike St. . . . . Continue Reading »
I’ve always been caught by words. Lines of poetry, in particular, have shown up on the doorstep of my memory, been invited in for fellowship, and never left. Take Shakespeare’s “Dirge,” for example, Golden lads and girls all must,As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.Humorous and . . . . Continue Reading »
In a conversation about Russian Orthodoxy some dozen years ago, that famous source who can only be quoted off-the-record, the Senior Vatican Official, said to me, “They only know how to be chaplain to the czar—whoever he is.” Such asperity reflected deep frustration over the Russian . . . . Continue Reading »
The recent PBS documentary from Frontline, “Secrets of the Vatican,” was an artful mix of baroque music, sweeping cinematography, imaginative speculation, and recycled conspiracy theories. It contained a gelatinous mixture of truths, half-truths, and no truths. Still, it left me feeling . . . . Continue Reading »
Dietrich von Hildebrand and Edith Stein were born on the same day, October 12, just two years apart (Dietrich in 1889, Edith in 1891), and there the similarities ended—for a while. Continue Reading »
Bishop Rimbo is getting creative. Leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s New York diocese since 2008, Robert Alan Rimbo has seen 20 percent of his flock depart over the last decade. Now, as the Wall Street Journal reports, his churches are advertising with giant crossword . . . . Continue Reading »
The recent revelation that Mars Hill Church in Seattle paid an outside company to boost sales of its pastor’s books has raised questions not simply about personal integrity but also about the very culture of American Evangelicalism.As an English Presbyterian living in the States, I am never . . . . Continue Reading »
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