The Holy Father’s new book is available throughout the world — Urbe et Orbe. He is the only man on earth today who has an immediate worldwide audience, and about whom no one can be indifferent. The idea of the Pope of Rome writing a bestseller is such a delight. How are we to keep … Read more
In the little town of Iowa where I was born, there were two Catholic churches—Sacred Heart and Saints Peter and Paul. From my very youth, these two apostles, Peter and Paul, were visibly associated; and I have always liked the very ring of the words “Saints Peter and Paul” when spoken aloud. The Church celebrates … Read more
A couple of years ago, I was to spend Christmas Eve with one of my nephews and his dear family. Though I will not specify where the following account took place, following St. Luke’s example, I will say that I was an eye-witness to the truth of what follows in this sober account. I write … Read more
Somewhere, in Belloc’s Hills and the Sea (1906), which Scott Walter gave to me, I recall reading a remark about November — that it was “the loneliest month.” I cannot now find this particular line or its context, look though I may. I was sure I had underlined it, as is my habit. In any … Read more
Generally, before publication these columns are faxed to me by Scott Walter to see if there are any corrections to be made to the text before final publication. This exchange has been going on for six years now. In late July, I received the galleys for the September issue. In the course of the instructions, … Read more
The term “regime” indicates the purpose of an organized political society together with the institutions and customs that are established, usually in some special manner, to achieve this purpose. The term “government” refers to those actual people, usually from a political party, who are elected or appointed to carry out the ends and purposes of … Read more
On the last week in April each year, two famous track and field meets are held, one at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the other at Drake University Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. When I was a boy in high school in Iowa, we used to compete in the Drake Relays. I well recall that there … Read more
Reading the Divine Office each day requires some attention and diligence, but also routine and repetition. I have a great fondness for C.S. Lewis’s remark that if you have only read a great book once, you have not really read it all. This is why we priests and whoever else read the whole Psalter every … Read more
In C.S. Lewis’s Anthology of the remarks of George Macdonald, we read, “Until a man has love, it is well he should have fear. So long as there are wild beasts about, it is better to be afraid than secure.” The virtue of courage is normally understood as the virtue by which we rule our … Read more
Respondens autem angelus dixit mulieribus: Nolite timere vos: scio enim, quod Jesum, qui crucifixus est, quaeritis: non est hic: surrexit enim, sicut dixit . . . These Latin words are from the Gospel of Matthew, from the twenty-eighth chapter, the fifth and sixth verses. The scene is the resurrection morning. The women encounter an angel … Read more
This is March and it seems fitting to begin with something about Saint Patrick. Almost everyone knows that his Feast is March 17, two days before the Feast of Saint Joseph and eight days before the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady, on March 25. These days, throughout the land, in places like the … Read more
Don’t ask me why, but on Thanksgiving morning, before going over to friends for dinner, I was looking through L’Osservatore Romano. On the back page, I noticed that the Vatican Post Office had issued two postcards on “Bimillenary of Horace’s Death.” Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the great Latin poet, was born in Venosa, Lucania, near the … Read more
Once upon a January, many long years ago, I was born in a small town in Iowa. My recollections of this momentous event, naturally, remain somewhat vague. Actually, this is a great mercy, as you can readily realize, otherwise I might be tempted to write about it. As Chesterton said in his Autobiography, we have … Read more
In And the Beagles and the Bunnies Shall Lie Down Together, there is a sequence on the Great Pumpkin, Charles Schulz’s not-so-subtle homage to Christmas, about how the Great Pumpkin rises out of the Patch and looks for sincere boys and girls to whom to give lots of toys. Peppermint Patty and Linus are sitting … Read more
Adoremus in Aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum!” the initial words of John Paul II, on June 12, 1993, when he was at the Eucharistic Congress in Seville, in Spain, in its famous Cathedral. The words mean simply, “Let us adore unto eternity the most Holy Sacrament.” The moving photo in L’Osservatore Romano (June 23) shows the Holy … Read more
This year, the mayor’s race in New York City — always of special interest to Americans — may just be more important than ever. This interest in New York, of course, is not because it is everyone’s favorite city. Yet, New York is a city most Americans have visited and all know about. The outlines … Read more
“Des conception, elle [la personne humaine] est destinee a la beatitude eternelle” [1703]. “Il n’y a pas de solution a la question sociale en dehors de l’Evangile” [1896]. To emphasize the central social teaching in the Catechism, I will leave in their French original two brief statements that undergird everything contained within this teaching. The … Read more
In 1770, Boswell records the following passage about Samuel Johnson in London: “He frequently gave all the silver in his pocket to the poor, who watched him, between his house and the tavern where he dined. He walked the streets at all hours, and said he was never robbed, for the rogues knew he had … Read more
My nephews, Steve and Mike, who introduced me to Mad magazine when they were respectively about three and two, sometimes protest when these columns become too metaphysical. Actually, they do not use the word metaphysical. The word they use is heavy. I tell them it is not my fault that they do not get the … Read more
Before spring semester began, I sat down and read the remarkable new catechism that the Holy Father has just presented—Le Catechisme de l’Eglise Catholique (Paris: Mame/Plon). It was a welcome, indeed exhilarating experience. This book is not merely an aid to understanding the faith but itself a grace and even something of a miracle. I … Read more