Recently, Newt Gingrich predicted that God would be legally driven out of public life in the United States. James Hitchcock’s The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life recalls the various “conscientious objection” cases in which the “Supreme Being,” in which one had sincerely to believe for exemption, was expanded to mean “belief in and … Read more
John Paul II was a man who left an indelible impression. My first personal encounter with him was in Phoenix, Arizona, when he visited the Native American Catholic community during his 1987 trip. As master of ceremonies for the event, I met the Holy Father on the stage and held the book of prayers for … Read more
John Paul II was a shaker of world events. He regraded the political landscape of the 20th century and was counted among the few who were responsible for the relatively peaceful demise of the Evil Empire. Pundits were busy assessing his impact in this realm and wondering about his broader political legacy. They were having … Read more
The Holy Father’s last encyclical on the Eucharist reads: “The Son of God became man in order to restore all creation, in one supreme act of praise, to the One who made it from nothing.” Such words have haunted me—”Everything is there!” Karol Wojtyla could explain things tersely. The purpose of the Incarnation is first … Read more
The big classical music news from this year’s Grammy Awards was the three-prize sweep by John Adams’s composition On the Transmigration of Souls, written to commemorate the victims of 9/11. Transmigration, performed by New York Choral Artists, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and the New York Philharmonic, under Lorin Maazel, picked up awards for Classical Album … Read more
Richard Kraut argued that Aristotle’s best form of rule is a “polity” or democracy in which virtuous citizens alternately participate in rule that does not discriminate against the best or the ordinary. Aristotle also thought democracy, technically, was the “best of the worst” forms of rule. It usually meant the rule of “liberty.” Here, liberty … Read more
Our family has finally called it quits. We’ve folded our tents and abandoned the strip mall and peep show known as American television. We still have the machine in the living room, whereon we can watch Going My Way, with Bing Crosby as the “progressive” Father O’Malley, back when progressive meant that he took the … Read more
Once upon a time, the ancients believed that there was a harmony of the spheres, a harmony in the world of earthly sounds, and one in the souls of men that all sympathetically vibrated with each other in a universal order of music—some of which could be heard and some of which could not, since … Read more
The last day of the fall semester was the feast of the Immaculate Conception—not a holy day that trumps class on our university calendar. For this occasion, however, in a class devoted to Aristotle himself, I read the first chapters of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. He explains that “all men by nature desire to know.” Proof of … Read more
I have been having some fun catching up on recent releases of works by composers previously covered here, as well as a few new surprises. Roy Harris’s music, long neglected after great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, is slowly making a comeback. Credited with writing the great American symphony, his Third, Harris (1893-1960) suffered … Read more
In his treatise on the Lord’s Prayer, the African bishop St. Cyprian asks, “Why does the fact that God has taught us such a prayer as this astonish us?” Cyprian figures that Christ did not want “His disciples to be burdened by memorizing His teaching.” With this famous prayer, He stated the basics, something that … Read more
There are certain “one-work” composers whose renown, however unfairly, seldom extends beyond a single composition. Take English composer Gustav Hoist, who lived to rue the popularity of The Planets, which eclipsed his many jewel-like compositions. His countryman and exact contemporary Frank Bridge (1879-1941) seems to have suffered a similar fate, though in his case as … Read more
Flannery O’Connor said that “poetry is the proper naming of the things of God.” Genesis is a book full of “naming.” Adam names the animals. In Hebrew, a relation of identity exists between a name and the being it names. In a real way, we only “possess” something when we name it, when we call … Read more
It’s Christmas season and I’m supposed to be thinking of others. What would they like for Christmas? Of course, this is very hard for a narcissist. I continue the childish habit of giving people close to me gifts that I want. That way I will eventually get those things back—with the added advantage of seeming … Read more
In the final presidential debate, Senator John Kerry explained that he could not come to the defense of innocent human life because he is a Catholic. That would, he explained, be imposing his privately held beliefs. It apparently did not occur to him that babies obtain their inviolable right to life not because they are … Read more
A colleague mentioned hearing “White Christmas” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in Japanese during Christmastide, seasonal music popular among those who generally do not believe in what Christmas represents. Similarly, during my European years, I was struck by the different cultural expressions surrounding Christmas among those who did historically hold it. My Australian … Read more
A married friend of mine says that his palms start to sweat whenever his wife says, “Sweetheart, do you love me?” Â The reason is simple. It usually means that very soon he’ll be replacing the garage door or painting a bedroom. Relationships have consequences. In a loving marriage or a good friendship, the rewards always … Read more
On a dead-end stretch of what was once U.S. 11 Route 22, in a small village with tacky-friendly billboards boasting “Genuine Dutch Cooking,” where old folks and even some of the young still scold their children or go a-courting or order scrapple and beer in Low German—in a veritable little oxbow lake cut off from … Read more
I am not a conductor groupie, following every move of a superstar or cult figure on the podium. My priority is always the music and its meaning, not the musician. However, as you might have surmised from my interview with conductor Jose Serebrier in last month’s Crisis, I readily acknowledge the huge difference a conductor … Read more
Anyone can learn about religion by examining how the media report it. On August 17, 2004, for example, the Washington Post’s David Cho described a local convention of the 31-year-old San Francisco- based organization, Jews for Jesus. Two photos and two headlines were included in the two-page article. The first headline read, “Conversion Outreach by … Read more