Robert Royal: Programs at Houston’s University of St. Thomas seek to bolster Western civilization and, perhaps, bring about a new and needed Catholic renaissance. People often ask: What can we do, given all the problems that exist in the Church and the world? Most of what we’re thinking of when we pose that question has to […]
David Carlin: Contemporary hedonism is moral liberalism, which holds that we may do as we wish, provided we do no harm to others. In the world of ancient moral philosophy, there were two very different schools of hedonism. They agreed on the fundamental principle of hedonism, namely, that feelings of pleasure are the only intrinsically […]
Michael Pakaluk: The idea that the common good can be found in Roe v. Wade is gravely mistaken, since it subordinates the good of the unborn to the born. Iwant to draw attention to three mistakes about Aquinas’ teaching on the common good which are encouraged by some presentations today of so-called “common good” jurisprudence. If we take Aquinas to represent […]
Randall Smith: 16,000,000 dead black babies and counting. All those demonstrating to protect the abortion industry are not only on the wrong side of history, they’re also racist. There’s been a lot of discussion recently about the upcoming Dobbs decision, in which the Supreme Court might finally overturn the Court’s deadly earlier decisions in Roe v. Wade and its companion […]
Brad Miner: Of all the poisonous aspects of the Reformation, none is more tragic, saving the disunity it caused, than the elimination of Mary from the heart of Christianity. I admire the work of the late Irish-Canadian-American novelist, Brian [bree-Ahn] Moore. Three of his books in particular: Catholics (1972); Cold Heaven (1983); and Black Robe (1985 – and made into […]
Anthony Esolen: The Church might join her voice to our cultural madness, except that her divine Founder will not permit her to, despite prelates who worship at the altar of Belial. Consider these statements: “The earth revolves around the sun.” “Women, as a group, do not possess the physical strength to make good soldiers.” “The […]
Brad Miner reviews a new book about views of human sexuality (especially transgenderism) that undermine the natural-law basis of Catholic moral theology. John S. Grabowski is a professor of moral theology and ethics at Catholic University of America, and the epigram to the first chapter of his new book, Unraveling Gender: The Battle over Sexual Difference comes from Tolkien’s The […]
Robert Royal: The psalms are both disturbing and comforting. They are about you and me. About the world that desperately now needs to wake to wisdom. A reader asked the other day, how is it that with the millions of prayers offered daily for Ukraine (actually billions around the world) that God allows the ongoing death […]
Robert Royal: Those who intend to limit evil in the current aggression against Ukraine need to be sharply focused in using such truths as they possess with the greatest care. And that means taking pains that their words do not add to the already spreading darkness. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the very next day Pope Francis […]
Francis X. Maier reflects on Nazi outrages that could never happen here. Physician-assisted suicide? Sixty million abortions? Catholic public officials endorsing such things? This is a naked commercial, but the product is worthwhile. If you haven’t yet seen the Netflix short film Forgive Us Our Trespasses, released on February 17, find a way to do so soon. Barely […]
Brad Miner: God willing, international and domestic pressure – economic and diplomatic – will escalate to an unbearable degree and force Russia from Ukraine. It was a night of elegance – a benefit this past Thursday for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra held at New York’s Knickerbocker Club, among the most-exclusive gentlemen’s clubs in the world. Allowing […]
Anthony Esolen: Who can take an honest look at the Western world and conclude that we did the right thing in our wholesale denial of Scripture and of Catholic moral teaching? One of the effects of evil, as all the great Christian teachers and poets have told us for two thousand years, is that it makes […]
David Warren: An unexpected event, whether or not it’s a miracle, emerges in a world of right and wrong, of beauty and vileness, of truth and lying. Truck drivers may master it. “The true north strong and free” comes from one of the (several) English-language recensions of Canada’s official patriotic song. The French original was a […]
Robert Royal: Is it helpful to counsel sinners that they are fine just as they are? Some, marginalized for good reasons, should remain so unless those reasons are removed. Future Church historians, looking back at our time, will encounter multiple mysteries. They won’t be puzzled by the essential mysteries of the Faith such as the Incarnation and Real Presence, which […]
Joseph R. Wood: We wait for the Lord, and argue about justice. We wait for what we will have completely and endlessly only in His Kingdom, the Kingdom which is not of this world. We know the season of Advent is one of waiting. Having heard November’s liturgy readings of the end times and closed […]