One need not be a dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast of the old Latin Mass to recognize its liturgical genius or to inveigh against the rite that replaced it. The old rite exuded mystery and transcendence and induced, in all but the dullest souls, reverence and humility before the Divine Presence. Would that the same could be said … Read more
Years ago, retailers customarily brought out their Christmas wares and decorations following the Thanksgiving holiday. Nowadays, of course, the captains of commerce begin their assaults on our senses and pocketbooks a month earlier—right after Halloween, which has become a major commercial and pagan religious festival in its own right. Then there are assorted angry atheists … Read more
In the midst of the gravest scandal in the history of American Catholicism, one might suppose that the bureaucracy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had more than enough to keep itself occupied. Dream on. Alas, even while lawsuits multiply and prominent ordinaries are being forced to account for their stewardship before civil … Read more
After nearly a year of scandal-ridden crisis, heaven in its infinite mercy has just given American Catholics a wonderful gift. It comes in the person of Timothy Michael Dolan, who by the grace of God and the mediation of Pope John Paul II was installed on August 28 as the tenth archbishop of Milwaukee. It … Read more
The Supreme Court’s June decision in the Cleveland school voucher case (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris) was a clean, surgical strike at the legal pieties that for years have held poor inner-city kids hostage to the incompetence of the public school establishment. The nation owes Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and his concurring colleagues a debt of … Read more
Queen Elizabeth II wryly described 1992, a year of conspicuously public follies within the royal family, as an annus horribilis. So horrible indeed that in an effort to salvage the monarchy’s sagging popularity, Her Majesty even consented to having her income taxed. Annus horribilis understates the moral magnitude of the scandal now afflicting the Church … Read more
Nearly three decades after its appearance, Justice Harry Blackmun’s opinion in Roe v. Wade hovers like a toxic cloud over American law and culture. In seeking to liberate women from the tyranny of “unwanted” pregnancies, he refused to address the moral status of the tiny humans whose elimination he ensured. Blackmun claimed with false humility … Read more
In his endearing autobiography, Blessings in Disguise, the late Alec Guinness records a poignant milestone along his path to Rome. He had been cast as a priest in a picture being filmed in a French village. In between takes, while still attired in collar and cassock, he walked back to his quarters some distance away. … Read more
Wise men say you cannot predict Supreme Court decisions based on questions raised during oral argument, but the justices’ recent go-round on the Cleveland school voucher case may prove an exception to that rule. Lead counsel for each side respectively provided a textbook example of how to argue, and how not to argue, before the … Read more
Perhaps you noticed during the recent Christmas season the studied effort among newscasters to avoid saying the word “Christmas?’ With conspicuous exceptions, the talking heads went to unusual and almost comical lengths to steer around the offending word, though from time to time some would lapse into older customary usage in spite of themselves. “Merry … Read more
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral argument in the Cleveland school voucher case, and by June, thousands of poor inner-city children will learn whether they will be freed from the bondage of an incompetent government school monopoly. Their hopes, in turn, depend on whether the justices can free themselves from First Amendment shibboleths … Read more
Americans went to their comfortable beds on the night of September 10 and awoke to a dawn drawn in blood. By the time the sun had set again, the hideous scar in the wall of the Pentagon and the cascading horror of the World Trade towers would be forever fused in our memory with the … Read more
A few years ago, the state of Ohio began a voucher program in the city of Cleveland, providing a $2,250 tuition credit to low-income parents who wished to send their children to private schools. Last December, the Sixth Court of Appeals said the program was an unconstitutional “establishment” of religion because a majority of parents … Read more
The estimated Catholic population of the United States stands at 62.4 million, roughly 23 percent of the whole. Of the current 107th Congress, 150 members, or 28 percent, identify themselves as Roman Catholics (91 Democrats, 59 Republicans; 24 senators, 126 representatives). Proportionately, Rhode Island is the most populous Catholic state, at 64 percent; Massachusetts is … Read more
The alarming growth of judicial power in the past 40 years has worked particularly hard against the moral sensibilities of traditional conservatives. On issue after issue, judges have displaced elected representatives as the ultimate authority on whether and to what extent moral sentiments may be expressed in law. Every Republican presidential nominee for nearly four … Read more
When the history of the Dutch in the 21st century is written, assuming they’re around long enough to have one, it will be recorded that in April 2001, they became the first free people on earth to legalize euthanasia. This dubious honor may not be only theirs for long. A similar euthanasia bill is pending … Read more
The adage that no one’s wallet is safe while the legislature sits requires a codicil: Lock up the Constitution when Congress debates election reform. The McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act—that mouthful of a name for the pending legislation designed to reduce the influence of money in politics—is actually a serious threat to the First Amendment’s … Read more
The most innovative feature of President George W. Bush’s domestic program is his effort to transform the way Americans think about the dispensation of social services and, more broadly, the role of government. He sounded these themes in his inaugural address on Jan. 20, reminding the nation that the maintenance of free institutions rests, in … Read more
Media preoccupation with the fluff of a presidential inauguration masks the constitutional gravity of the occasion. On January 20, the presidency passed peaceably from the leader of one political party to the leader of the opposition, following a hotly contested, photo-finish election. Of the many wondrous effects of the framers’ constitutional genius, surely, this is … Read more
Booker T. Ashe was a man to be reckoned with. You will not find his name in Who’s Who in America or in any other place where the self- important bask in one another’s reflected glory. But in the inner city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, if you listen carefully, you can still hear his laughter. His … Read more