Virtues and vices are habits, modifications of our activities brought about by our choosing to do things objectively good or bad. Vice is a settled bad habit. When we have a vice, it means that we have so guided ourselves in our free actions that now we spontaneously do the wrong or bad thing. We … Read more
In March, I wrote, ironically, about the “right” to be obese. It turns out that the January 9 L’Osservatore Romano carried two related items, the Holy Father’s November 3, 2001, letter to the director general of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and an address of Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the Vatican’s representative to … Read more
Editor’s Note: This month, Father Schall addresses a question posed in last month’s symposium, “Christianity From the Outside”: “How do you reconcile Jesus’ injunction to give away your worldly goods and live as the lilies of the field with the pursuit and enjoyment of wealth?” American Christians are said to be at ease in our … Read more
I am often astonished at what the Holy Father says. On December 4, 2001, Pope John Paul II gave an audience to the bishops of Honduras, in which he recalled the fifth centenary of the first Mass on the American continent. The pope did not hesitate to declare that this Mass was a great event … Read more
On walking by two Catholic churches, I noticed something odd: One has “Daily Worship” and the other has “Mass.” This diversity of wording made me curious. St. Matthew’s Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., both have “Masses.” I looked in the phone book under “churches.” Anglican … Read more
The title of this essay could be “The Duty to Be Thin,” or “The Dignity of Fatness,” but these titles lack pizzazz. The present title adds a codicil to that long list of “rights” that have recently been invented to enable the government to perfect our happiness by denying us what we like. These reflections … Read more
A gentleman in Sought Carolina recently recalled hearing Professor Ronald Nash (Western Kentucky University) speaking at Hillsdale College. Nash had received a copy of my book The Praise of “Sons of Bitches”: On the Worship of God by Fallen Men. He quipped that on receiving the book, he immediately hastened to its index to see … Read more
A friend informed me that a decree has gone out in her local parish that henceforth the reading of missals at Mass is no longer allowed. Instead, we are to pay rapt attention to what goes on in the sanctuary. Actually, I doubt if many people have missals anymore. I have always hated the various … Read more
During Christmas of 1964, I was assigned to a parish in Stanford-le-Hope, a town along the Thames east of London. What I remember most about this stay was retiring to bed on my first night. My quarters were in the convent chaplain’s room across a snowy garden from the church. Not knowing where any light … Read more
A certain gentleman I know recently told me that his young son is attending a private Catholic school that is run independently of the diocesan or religious order systems. He and his wife were evidently happy with the school: “It is a much more loving place, no Baltimore Catechism sort of thing.” Aside from the … Read more
In an old “peanuts” cartoon, Charlie is sitting in a big comfortable chair, quietly reading a book, when his little sister, Sally, walks by, also reading a book. She announces, “We have to write a short piece for school that expresses our personal philosophy….” Charlie turns around with considerable perplexity as she continues: “So far, … Read more
While reporting on Pope John Paul II’s visits to Athens, Damascus, and Malta this past May, syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer wrote: “His obvious and increasing ailments seemed to strengthen the mystical pull of his spirit. His physical weakness seemed to emblemize to the faithful the biblical admonition that God uses not only churchmen but … Read more
The Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo falls on August 28. In his Sermon 34, Augustine observes: “There is not one who does not love something, but the question is, what to love?” Augustine did not examine whether people loved but what they chose to love. He added, “The Psalms do not tell us not … Read more
In Book Four of his Ethics, Aristotle discusses the virtue of “liberality,” or “generosity”—what we do with our wealth, or better, our material goods. Aristotle held that from the point of view of virtue, it doesn’t make much difference if we have much or little wealth. Rich or poor, we have essentially the same problem: … Read more
One of our favorite buzzwords these days is “globalization.” Globalization is when someone sitting on the Metro in Washington, D.C., talks on a cellphone to a colleague in a skyscraper in Tokyo about opening a branch office in Hamburg. Many people can hardly wait to take it a step further and set up a global … Read more
Last December the executive council of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. The “football” in the association’s title does not, of course, refer to our ellipsoid American pigskin, but to the checkered sphere of futbol, or soccer, the game that doesn’t allow blocking. In his brief address, … Read more
The Judeo-Christian God, Yahweh, seems off-base in denying some proper place for other gods in the first three of the ten commandments. All religions and philosophies are said to be created equal. Yahweh, however, is not ecumenical. What is this aberration about our God that He demands exclusiveness? Why can we not worship multiple gods? … Read more
The Crisis Columnist B.F. Smith was in Washington from Atherton, California, with her daughter Whitney, once a student at Georgetown University, where I teach. They were visiting their Pentagon-stationed son/brother. Knowing Smith’s almost infallible instinct for precise language (her daughter is not far behind), I asked her, “What is the most common verb appearing on … Read more
When it seemed like a long way into the future, I saw a spectacular film called 2001. The beginning focused attention on a mysterious monolith. This monolith was somehow connected with the meaning of the universe, although my memories of this are vague. The film was not explicitly Christian because for us, the center of … Read more
In the Phaedo, Plato tells of the punishment handed out in Tartarus for sins committed in this life. He pictures those swept along through the Acherusian Lake crying out to those they have “killed or misused.” It seems that “there is no relief for their suffering until they prevail upon those whom they have wronged; … Read more