The older I grow the more I listen to Haydn. There is something measured in his pace that goes with daily life. The sturm und drang of youth is over and I can no longer bear the emotional excesses of Romanticism. Of course, there is always Mozart. But listening to him involves the pain of … Read more
The word “breakfast” obviously means the moment when we break a fast, when we first eat in the day after our night of sleep. The word probably had something to do with the older and perhaps wiser rules about Holy Communion, fasting from midnight before one receives the Sacrament. To break the fast, with its … Read more
The attempted suicide of Western classical music has failed. The patient is recovering, no thanks to the efforts of music’s Dr. Kevorkian, Arnold Schoenberg, whose cure, the imposition of a totalitarian atonality, was worse than the disease — the supposed exhaustion of the tonal resources of music. Schoenberg’s vaunted mission to “emancipate dissonance” by denying … Read more
One Saturday afternoon in late Winter I decided to take one of my usual walks. I put on a jacket with a hood, Levis, sturdy shoes, and gloves. It was chilly. One walk I sometimes take goes down Prospect Street out of the university, to 33rd Street in Georgetown, across M Street, which is the … Read more
The Supreme Court is at it again. The Justices are looking this term at two church-state questions which have long perplexed them. One is the yuletide baby-Jesus-in-the-public-square problem. This time, in the case of Pinette v. Review Board, a private group set up a Latin cross near the Ohio state capitol. This public space has … Read more
Was Hildegard of Bingen a saint? One might think so from the way this 12th-century abbess wrote music. She compiled her Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum (“The Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations”) over the course of a long life that creatively did not begin until she was in her forties (b. 1098). In 1141, … Read more
That something is wrong with human nature has been known since ancient times, in all cultures, by any individual who, like Augustine, reflects on himself, on his own life, in the unclouded honesty of his memory. But let me be more accurate: On the whole, human nature seems to be intact; human nature is good, … Read more
Have you ever suspected that all church music sounds the same, at least in certain genres? If you have heard one plainchant, you have heard them all? No matter how much the New Agers rave about the monks of Santo Domingo de Silos, who must be somewhat perplexed by the new pop chart audience for … Read more
One Sunday noon hour during January, it was the Epiphany in fact, I read Michael Medved’s article in Policy Review (Winter, 1995) about what was “right” with America. Naturally, he had to mention what was wrong. “The problem with this country isn’t too much violence on TV, and it isn’t too much promiscuous sexuality in … Read more
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
The hand that signed the paper felled a city; Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath, Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country; These five kings did a king to death. — Dylan Thomas Historical turning points are notoriously difficult to identify. While they are occurring, few notice, and even those who do … 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
Certain kinds of letters strike fear into human hearts. Dear John letters and IRS letters certainly come to mind. For students in the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame the infamous “Latin letter” could be added to that category. Last spring, I received one. “I am sorry to inform you that you have failed your Latin … 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
2.3. We: The Social Dimension of Community I believe it is extremely important to distinguish the social dimension of community from the inter-personal dimension. The need for this distinction is dictated by the different profiles of community, profiles that in a symbolic, but also very precise, way are expressed by the pronouns I—thou and we. … 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