Every Sunday, from the kickoff to the final Hail Mary attempt as time expires, Americans glue themselves to their TVs and cheer on their team. Football may not quite be America’s Pastime, but it’s certainly America’s Game. And yet, the most popular, the most watched, the most lucrative sport in the United States has a … Read more
Since my meditation on playing LPs in late February, I have been engaged in an even more revanchist activity – listening to live music at concerts and opera houses. For those interested in my musical autobiography, my reviews of the LA Opera and a number of performances of the National Symphony Orchestra can be found … Read more
It may have erupted in the Twitterverse and on MSM sites, but the only possible surprise element may have been the timing. Maybe. Because President Obama’s was among the most expected and awaited coming out moments in the nation. Which makes you wonder, what was outed, per se? So President Obama has come out in … Read more
On Sunday, Jan. 25, 1959, Pope John XXIII proclaimed that it was time to drag the church out of the Dark Ages and into the modern world. It was time, he said, to open the stained-glass windows and let in some fresh air. Shortly thereafter he convened the Council of Vatican II to implement his … Read more
Both Vice-President Joseph Biden and President Barack Obama have said that their positions regarding same-sex marriage have evolved. When you are “evolving,” you should really watch your grammar. Otherwise, people might suspect you are devolving instead. Take for instance, the hapless Joe Biden’s pronouncement of why he supports same-sex marriage. It’s all a matter of … Read more
The election of Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande to the presidency of France epitomizes the sorry state of contemporary democracy. By that, I don’t mean to imply that the French people should have voted for the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy. Neither would be capable of solving France’s intractable problems in a way acceptable to French voters, … Read more
“For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake . . . . To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted … Read more
A simple premise: nothing short of the complete family being engaged in learning will secure a proper education. Behind this premise is a simple principle: Education is communal. It is communal because that which deals with the formation and perfection of a child, that which draws him to adulthood, is drawing him to the greater … Read more
As a homeschooling parent I’m continually frustrated by the difficulty of talking about why we do what we do. Homeschooling is nearly always portrayed as a flight from something: bad influences, secular curriculum, bullying, drugs, violence, or simply a broken system. It’s made out to be merely an individual decision, defended (necessarily) by recourse to … Read more
Graham Preston, a 56-year-old father from Queensland, Australia, went to jail recently for refusing to pay fines of roughly $8000 that have accumulated after 10 years of non-violently blocking the entrances of four abortion clinics around the state capital, Brisbane. He refuses to pay the fines on principle, arguing that trying to save the innocent … Read more
A learned friend of mine recently wrote an op-ed piece for a newspaper in which she argued that the drive for same-sex marriage is not simply about same-sex marriage; it is also about winning moral approval for homosexuality. If society, acting through the state, tells us that homosexuals can marry one another, then it is … Read more
“Be sure that you wake me an hour before the dawn, and speak to me in these words: ‘My sister, if you are not asleep, I beg you, before the sun rises, to tell me one of your charming stories.’ Then I shall begin, and I hope by this means to deliver the people from … Read more
I am a long-time reader and admirer of the work of Wendell Berry. On April 23, I was privileged to be among those in attendance at the Kennedy Center to hear his 2012 Jefferson Lecture. With Berry nearing the end of his career, I had not expected to hear anything particularly new from him that … Read more
By now, almost everybody realizes that President Obama’s “stimulus” billions to so-called “green energy” projects were a textbook example of why crony capitalism and central planning don’t work. Over a dozen taxpayer-backed companies have already failed. Think Solyndra. And incredibly, according to several studies, the worst may be yet to come. After spending – or … Read more
As spring bloomed, the president addressed the nation on energy. The president told us, “Without our planning for the future, it will get worse … The oil and natural gas that we rely on for 75 percent of our energy is simply running out.” Unless profound changes are made in the next decade, the president … Read more
Some of the most interesting debates on family policies are taking place in the European countries of the former Soviet bloc. In 2008, Lithuania passed legislation to define “family” as the married union of a man and a woman together with their children, adopted or biological. The point was key in terms of who gets … Read more
“For humans to have a responsible relationship to the world, they must imagine their place in it. To have a place, to live and belong in a place, to live from a place without destroying it, we must imagine it.” —Wendell Berry, “It All Turns on Affection,” The 2012 Jefferson Lecture Wendell Berry is a … Read more
King Charles II said that a gentleman is one who puts those around him at ease. Even on his deathbed he apologized to the courtiers in attendance: “I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying.” The Society of Friends was a curiosity to him, especially because one of his admirals to whom he owed … Read more
One of the disappointments of the post-Vatican II period has been the glacial pace of the growth in Catholic biblical literacy the Council hoped to inspire. Why the slow-down? Several reasons suggest themselves. The hegemony of the historical-critical method of biblical study has taught two generations of Catholics that the Bible is too complicated for … Read more
There seem to be two types of people in the world; those who think Edward Munch’s picture, The Scream, is an inspired and profound work of art, and those who can’t see what all the fuss is about. The anonymous buyer who paid nearly US$120 million for the pastel on board version (one of four … Read more