What movies best represent the seven virtues and the theological gifts? The Regina Coeli Academy in Philadelphia is putting together a list of recommended films for students. One of the founders, Barbara Henkels, asked me to put the word out for some recommendations, which I am delighted to do. Here is my preliminary list for the virtues: … Read more
Several weeks ago, while wandering through my local library, I happened across an unusual autobiography: More About Boy: Tales of Childhood, by Roald Dahl. (As one might suspect from the name, there is an earlier book called Boy that deals with similar topics, but that one was not readily available. Nor was Going Solo, yet another … Read more
Three weeks ago at the Cochise County courthouse in Arizona, clerks Bonnie Cook and Michelle Garcia made a fascinating discovery. While digging around a storage closet, the two noticed an old and yellowing envelope, stuffed into a corner. What they found inside will flesh out one of the most famous events in American history — … Read more
Somehow I missed Peggy Noonan’s article from April 17 in The Wall Street Journal called “How to Save the Catholic Church.” I’m surprised it hasn’t generated more controversy (maybe it has, and I missed that, too). Noonan believes the old ways of secrecy, silence, loyalty at all costs, and the “old-boys club” mentality can no … Read more
Hans Kung is still alive! He periodically sends out messages to remind us of the fact — kind of Bin Laden-ish of him, which speaks to his ecumenical integrity. Last week he published an open letter to the bishops of the world with one message: Undermine my gracious friend and medieval dictator, your pope. George … Read more
Apparently there’s a TV new show about a big family. The Slate reviewer wasn’t thrilled: [T]hey have everything you have, only bigger, better, and cooler. If you shelled out for one hipster pageboy cap, Bob has two, in wool and velour, plus a straw fedora and a ski cap he wears indoors. If your wife is … Read more
The threats to the Church don’t always arise where you expect them. As C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape advised young tempters, the Enemy’s best strategy is to catch us off guard and keep us there, focused on dangers in the rear-view mirror and ignoring that silly “Do Not Enter” sign up ahead. The devil, Lewis wrote, … Read more
I came across an article on the wires a few days ago at the peak of the media’s frenzied calls for Pope Benedict to step down or be arrested. It was about bikinis with padded bras for little girls, which have now been recalled. It seemed ironic that the news was saturated with pedophilia scandals as … Read more
Today is the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s death and Sotheby’s auction house is marking the occassion by previewing some of the writer’s unpublished work (to be sold off in June). The AP reports that the “gem of the collection” is a 64 page tribute entitled, A Family Sketch. Twain wrote it for his daughter … Read more
In his General Audience today, Pope Benedict addressed the sex-abuse scandal publicly for the first time since his March 20 letter to the Irish bishops: Pope Benedict XVI promised Wednesday that the Catholic Church would take action to confront the clerical sex abuse scandal, making his first public comments on the crisis days after meeting … Read more
When Daniel Coit Gilman became the founding president of Johns Hopkins University in 1875, he called for a policy of intellectual freedom based on the principle of “open academic discourse” liberated from “ecclesiastical and political control.” He wasn’t opposed to religiously affiliated universities per se, but he criticized abuses of academic freedom and unwarrantedrestrictions on … Read more
My contact with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series — a cultural phenomenon of truly staggering proportions — has been blessedly limited. Other than a quick sampling of a few pages from the first book (which left me semi-horrified at the level of prose on display) and a brief brush with most-amusing-if-still-not-entirely-appropriate RiffTrax ever, I am essentially unTwilighted. Even Matthew … Read more
Most of us can remember hearing about “crack babies” — infants born to crack-addicted women and believed to be irreparably harmed. They were abandoned at hospitals and courageous people came forward to adopt them, warned by professionals that these children were pretty much hopeless causes. In fact, Theresa Vargas in last Thursday’s Washington Post remembers … Read more
…you begin to understand where that whole “God of Thunder” thing came from. Be very afraid. More at the Boston Globe.
The current issue of First Things has an important piece by Timothy Reichert examining the social impact of contraception. He argues that the modern contraceptive culture has led to “a massive redistribution of wealth and power from women and children to men.” The popular use of birth control has split the “market” governing gender relations … Read more
When Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, there were any number of fascinating coincidences that surrounded his death. They were the sort of things that make you go “hmm” and (if one is a wobbly agnostic) begin to suspect that maybe You Know Who has His hand in things after all. John … Read more
The reports from Pope Benedict’s meeting with sex-abuse victims in Malta yesterday are quite moving: [One victim] said he had asked the Pope why the priest had abused him. “I could see the pain in his eyes. He said he did not know. He said the priest had betrayed his vows before God. We still … Read more
On November 17, 1942, when Operation Torch had secured the Allied occupation of French North Africa, Winston Churchill sent a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt: Very deep currents of feeling are stirred by the arrangements with Darlan. . . . We must not overlook the serious political injury which may be done to our cause, … Read more
The optimists over at The American Dream (tagline: “Waking People Up And Getting Them To Realize That The American Dream Is Quickly Becoming The American Nightmare”) say the claims of economic recovery are false. In fact, our apparent turnaround is actually the brief period of calm before a second, more serious collapse. There are troubling … Read more
With an Icelandic volcano wreaking havoc across half of Europe, geologists on our home soil are wondering what would happen if Yellowstone decided to blow again. It would not be pretty, according to AFP. Yellowstone isn’t just any force of nature, it’s a “supervolcano.” When it last erupted — some 640,000 years ago — it … Read more