It is always painful to criticize someone you admire and consider a friend. But Jonathan Last—now the executive editor of The Bulwark, one of these new NeverTrump websites—has allowed his Trump skepticism to color his attitude, not just toward the March for Life but the pro-life movement in general. He gets a lot wrong along … Read more
Mark Joseph Stern, the resident LGBT scold at Slate magazine, is having a hissy fit over pronouns. Stern complains that a “transgender” pedophile in federal custody was not allowed to be called by his preferred pronouns. The case revolves around a man named Norman Varner, who, in 2012, was found to have sexual images of … Read more
They say the homosexual scenes in the new Elton John biopic are the most titillating ever in a mainstream movie. They make Brokeback Mountain look like Bringing Up Baby. Less discussed, perhaps, is the fact that ordinary Catholic pew-sitters paid for it via their Peter’s Pence donations to the Pope. The cash came from a … Read more
To look at our diocese, you might assume it’s on the liberal side. Located in Northern Virginia and established in 1974, most of the newer churches (and there are many of them) are “in the round.” You know the ones—they look like spaceships. Needless to say, these triumphs of modern ecclesial architecture generally exclude altar … Read more
Not long ago, Austen Ivereigh took to Twitter to compare conservative Catholics to feces. He called them racists, anti-Semites, and sedevecantists. In another tweet, Austen compared faithful Catholics—specifically the Pachamama Dunkers—to ISIS head-choppers. The only difference between the Dunkers and Islamic terrorists, said Austen, is that the terrorists have the “guts” to show their faces … Read more
This column is about selfish regret. In 1997, we founded C-Fam to lobby U.N. delegations on life issues. One of the first phone calls I made was to a man named George Marlin, who happened to be one of my proudest political votes ever. George lost to Rudy Giuliani on the Conservative Party line for … Read more
Nobody wants to talk about buggery. And why would they? The trouble is, leftists count on this proper squeamishness. They want us to think that “LGBT persons” are a cultural group, and one very much like ourselves—all golden retrievers, church on Sunday, and fathers-know-best. They avoid discussing the carnal act that gives the movement its … Read more
By their own admission, the United Nations plan to impose abortion—which it calls “reproductive health”—on the whole world. It’s a project 25 years in the making, beginning no later than 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. (It was here that Catholics and Evangelicals were awakened by Pope St. John Paul … Read more
Debates are about making points, yes, but they’re also about comportment. The exchange between Sohrab Ahmari and David French, which took place at the Catholic University of America last Thursday, centered on just this point. It was a debate about debates—namely, “How do we best engage with our opponents on the Left?” As it happens, … Read more
Many months ago, I criticized certain lefty Catholic ladies for their ongoing attacks on faithful Catholic institutions like Franciscan University of Steubenville and Christendom College. In more recent days, I criticized a former rock historian who has been transmogrified into a Grand Inquisitor of faithful Catholics. The almost uniform response from these quarters is that … Read more
The writer Dawn Eden Goldstein has been going hell bent for leather against Cardinal Raymond Burke. Her efforts reveal more about Dawn than they do about His Eminence. Ms. Goldstein charges Cardinal Raymond Burke with questioning the validity of the conclave that elected Francis as Pope—and, therefore, whether Francis is really the pope. In the … Read more
It’s all but inevitable on social media that someone will (sooner rather than later) call me an “old white man.” This can be in response to practically any topic. I never write about race, for instance. It’s a boring topic. But a politically incorrect comment on poverty, or global warming, or national defense, or whatever—can … Read more
A friend took me to lunch at the Harvard Club in New York City some years ago. When the food arrived, he looked around at the Masters of the Universe, he said: “Let’s shock the locals.” He then proceeded to cross himself and a say a blessing. I was shocked unto tears by something similar, … Read more
Jack Fowler, a longtime publishing executive at National Review, sat alone and lonely at the way back during the conference. A National Review writer sat among the press and wrote a first-day story. She reported it as straight news, no comment. To be sure, National Review editor Rich Lowry spoke to the crowd and did … Read more
We had spent the morning with our children at the magnificent Sacré-Cœur Basilica, where we attended Mass. Then we went for a long walk in Père Lachaise, the remarkable cemetery where, among others, are buried Chopin and Jim Morrison. We visited both of their graves. After a very long and blistering hot morning, we boarded … Read more
Carlos Maza is a nasty little man who goes by the nom-de-tweet Gaywonk. A gay guy with pronounced gay-voice, he has been stalking and trolling conservatives for many years. He stalked me a few years ago when he was a “reporter” for the hard-left Media Matters. He came after me on Twitter, harassing me, calling … Read more
It was the late 1990s, and I went up to Rolling Stone on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan to say hello to my old friend Bobby Love who was the longtime managing editor. I had worked at Rolling Stone for a short while many years before and had made many friends and drinking buddies, including Bobby … Read more
Beware the quick one-shot cuts in television interviews. Buckets of deception are in those quick cuts. It usually means something fishy is going on. Consider the Palm Sunday hatchet job performed by MSNBC “journalist” Richard Engel on various politically conservative Catholics he says are conspiring to bring down Pope Francis. Right off you can smell … Read more
Progressives think every inch of ground gained will never be relinquished. This is why clawing anything back is harder and bloodier than having lost it in the first place. The administrators of Catholic University of America are discovering just how hard it is to walk back the revolution that started in the 1960s. But they … Read more
A writer named Bob Moser is incensed at what became of the Southern Poverty Law Center where he worked for a few years in the early aughts. The recent revelations of sexual harassment and racism unfolding at the Poverty Palace built by SPLC founder Morris Dees down in Montgomery, Alabama, caused Moser to pen a … Read more