God did not become man in order that men might become theologians, as the saint said, nor did God choose to save his people by means of dialectic. Presumably, too, being in constant dispute with other Catholics is not of the essence of being a Catholic. But it sure is hard to avoid. It was … Read more
Revisiting Christian philosophy can mean at least two things: taking a look at Leo XIII’s Aeterni Patris, the encyclical issued August 4, 1879 which ushered in the renewal of Thomism, or recalling the magnificent responses to Emile Brehier’s 1931 article, “Is There a Christian Philosophy?” It can also mean a third thing, not unrelated to … Read more
Now that the Department of Education suggests we go to school to the Japanese for light on teaching and learning there is no longer any doubt that this country is in steep decline. Because Americans could no longer make cars, our autobah-nen are full of Hondas. We are also growing dumber by degrees and Johnnie … Read more
The notion that theologians constitute a second Magisterium more or less in rivalry with the first Magisterium of pope and bishops has fallen into abeyance, but some years ago a theologian of note discerned a new threat to the second Magisterium from what he called the third Magisterium. This third Magisterium was said to be … Read more
When Herman Melville died, he left the manuscript of a novella, Billy Budd. He had not written fiction for years, but had used the time left him from his duties as a customs inspector in the Port of New York to write verse which is not universally held in high esteem, but for which I … Read more
A phrase that picks out one of the more surprising aspects of reflection on our faith is odium theologicum: theological hatred. Alas, this isn’t used to speak of the particularly keen disdain that the theologian feels for moral evil. Rather, it points to the depth to which intellectual rivalry can bring one. An opinion is … Read more
The image he invited of himself was that of a wraithlike figure, moving among the stacks of a great library, no longer sure of the difference between what he reads and the rest of reality. “El universo (que otros llaman la Biblioteca) se compone . . .” [“The universe (which others call the library) is … Read more
Michael Ffinch’s new biography of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (G.K. Chesterton; London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson; 344 pp.) begins by noting that C. S. Lewis had predicted Chesterton would be rediscovered fifty years after his death and that June 14, 1986 brought us to that point. In an obvious sense, Chesterton, like England in Orthodoxy, can only … Read more
A generic thing to be said in favor of the recent pastoral letters of our bishops, those published and those dying of a dozen drafts, is that they are efforts to stand in judgment on the world, to assess and appraise economic activity and weapons systems in the light of the doctrines of the Roman … Read more
Talking on the phone with a woman whose name is one of those that dangle from my family tree, I asked her how she spelled it. The answer was an orthographic surprise, but there was an explanation. Her husband’s family changed the spelling when they left the Church so they wouldn’t be confused with their … Read more
Late spring and summer become, with age, times of commemoration. Class reunions, anniversaries of one graduation or another and, for many, a visit to the town where we grew up. Some move from a small town to the city, but I went from Minneapolis — which, together with St. Paul and the swarming suburbs, makes … Read more
The main defense offered on behalf of the destructive moral theology Father Curran has been teaching over the past several decades is that he has never dissented from a moral position infallibly defined as essential Catholic teaching. This is unconvincing on several counts. Curran has long been identified with the view that there are no … Read more
John Paul II says the rosary is his favorite prayer, his coat of arms affirms his devotion to Mary, and he flew off to Fatima after the attempt on his life. At Fatima, pilgrims approach the place of the apparitions on their knees, advancing on a paved path that stretches for several hundred yards. All … Read more
James Jones lived in Paris from 1958 to 1974. That the author of From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and Whistle spent sixteen years in the City of Light is one of those facts difficult to comprehend. Frank MacShane, author of Into Eternity, a biography of Jones, tells us that the novelist and … Read more
Eleanor Smeal was invited, then disinvited, then re-invited, to speak at the Catholic University of America. Ms. Smeal is an advocate of abortion on demand and generally in favor of things inimical to Catholic belief and practice. The Smeal matter became something of a media event when some students objected to the invitation; they were … Read more
Of the many things that might be said of Wilfrid Sheed’s memoir of his parents, Maisie Ward and Frank Sheed, some of them favorable, it is the contrast it affords between the Catholicism of the parents and the outlook of the son that I wish to reflect on here. I don’t mean to suggest that … Read more
It may seem appropriate for a pastor to be parochial but a member of the Second Extraordinary Synod, which met in Rome from November 24 until December 8, had to lift his sights, and spirit, to a universal perspective. Announced by John Paul II on January 25, 1985, the Feast of the Conversion of St. … Read more
There are zingers and then there are ratzingers. The Rapporto sulla fede, an interview with the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is chock full of both. If a zinger can be defined as a barbed remark, deftly delivered, a ratzinger is a simple truth about the Catholic faith … Read more
Mar del Plata, Rio de la Plata, the name of the country itself, suggest wealth, dreams of fabulous riches, but it would be hard now to find an Argentine with the hopes of a conquistador. Dickens and Mrs. Trollope wrote books on the USA after flying visits so perhaps I need not apologize for daring … Read more
When president Duarte of El Salvador spoke at the Notre Dame commencement in May, there was a protest march featuring local and imported people appalled at conditions in the speaker’s county. A ragtag parade, consisting largely of people in their late thirties or older, their dress suggesting that the highest social status they could claim … Read more