Our house at the Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, farm is not yet built. We have not even broken ground, and we will not for a while. But just as a baby lives in his mother’s womb long before he makes his public debut, this house exists before any of us will see it. Conceived in the … Read more
Lent seems especially penitential this year. A somber pall has settled over the faithful, as they see clear evidence that the profound issue of the recent election was not the economy but something much more elemental: life itself. What is life? What does it mean and what is it worth? With that realization comes the … Read more
The little boy in the church pew was barely three years old. As the priest delivered the Sunday homily, the boy paged through a book his mother had brought to keep him occupied, but it was clear from his periodic glancing up that he was catching a few words. When the priest illustrated his point … Read more
St. Patrick’s Cathedral is just around the corner from a convenient little hotel where my husband and I stay on trips to New York. Whether we attend an early morning or a noon Mass, we can count on a reverential liturgy and, even during the week, a well-prepared homily. In the past year and a … Read more
I celebrated my fiftieth birthday a few months ago. I have never minded telling my age. Since observant people can figure it out anyhow, coyness serves no purpose. And so I tell. Besides, I am strangely attached to my years and even to some of the marks of those years—the lines around the eyes, for … Read more
The newspaper business, which keeps bread on our family’s table, faces the problem of declining readership. Even though almost everyone in the business is confident that newspapers will survive, many assume, too, that newspapers, as they enter the next century, will undergo major changes. There is no denying that reading habits in our country are … Read more
A young friend lately bestowed upon me a singular honor. Much to my surprise and delight, she asked me to be her sponsor when at the Easter Vigil she became a member of the Catholic Church. I had never had the privilege of standing in the post of sponsor, and I was as eager as … Read more
On the day war broke out in the Persian Gulf I by chance was reading the greatest piece of war literature in our Western tradition—the Iliad. The new translation by Robert Fagles, chairman of Princeton University’s comparative literature department, is splendid indeed. Many of us will prefer it even to the Richard Lattimore translation that … Read more
A cold downpour soaked Moscow. Three weeks  of unrelenting rain had not improved the spirits of Muscovites trudging through grimy streets or standing in endless lines. The dreary task simply of living from day to day in Moscow, when carried out with dripping umbrellas and poorly shod feet, reminded people already despondent that this year’s … Read more
Five women, somberly dressed and decidedly middle-aged, look forth from the cover of The New York Times Magazine. Their stance and expressions are bold, direct, and even tinged with humor. Their bearing bespeaks full confidence. The women are Alix Kates Shulman, Ann Snitow, Phyllis Chesler, Ellen Willis, and Kate Millett. “Who Says We Haven’t Made … Read more
There is such a thing as Providence. A young man taught me that. I knew it before, but I had trouble believing it. Now, thanks to John, who turns just 22 within a few days of my writing these lines, I may be a little on the way to believing it. John, in their kindergarten … Read more
One chilly evening late in February I sat reading by the fire. The house was quiet. Our son was away at school. My husband was upstairs writing a speech, and the girls were studying. I had on my lap a stack of articles to go through, must-read things I had dutifully accumulated, supposing they would … Read more
Once again our family has been immersed in the all-too-absorbing project of college selection. College applications, as high school seniors and their parents know, usually require some formal essays on an assortment of topics. As an essay topic for one of her applications our daughter chose from a list of four possibilities a classic by … Read more
There we stood on the steps of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, all five of us, having our picture taken. Twenty-five years before there had been only two of us, bride and groom. Now three nearly-grown children joined us. Twenty-five years ago a Sears store had been across New Jersey Street from St. Mary’s, and so … Read more
Just come casual,” the hostess instructed. “It will be an informal evening, so just come casual.” Though I knew the familiar ungrammatical direction was a considerate gesture meant to put guests at their ease, I had my usual reaction: “What in the world will I wear?” Had my hostess simply said, “Come for dinner,” I … Read more
Divorce, the American social disease that knows no boundaries of age, race, class, education, or even religious affiliation, has entrenched itself as our incurable pestilence. It has been with us so constantly for so many years that it has infected in some way virtually every American family. Everyone has some relative who has suffered divorce, … Read more
I often have lamented the lack of enthusiasm our children have shown for the study of history. Since that pursuit has always been a favorite of mine, I have been sorry that the romance and excitement of the human drama unfolding through the ages has not touched our children any more than it has. The … Read more
Anyone who spends time with today’s college students may be struck by two of their most prominent characteristics. First of all, they are bright and attractive, with engaging manners and clean-cut good looks. The girls make an effort to be pretty and many look tastefully spiffy. The boys wear conservative short hair and button-down shirts … Read more
I met my friend Cathy on the first day of our freshman year at DePauw. Had I known how intricately Providence would care for the smallest detail even of this one friendship, I would have spared myself a lot of empty worry about the future. I could have learned to trust years sooner. That is … Read more
In a back corner of our little parish church there stands a small table bearing a plain white tablet. Atop the page someone has written “Prayer Intentions.” Then follows a list of anonymous notations in a variety of hands: “that my son may be reconciled with his wife and children”; “that our daughter may get … Read more