The New York Times gives readers a glimpse of what lies in store for the 50 anonymous men who have stayed behind at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan to help contain the damage from the reactor shutdowns: They crawl through labyrinths of equipment in utter darkness pierced only by their flashlights, listening for … Read more
Something quite remarkable happened recently: William Wakefield Cardinal Baum — emeritus archbishop of Washington, emeritus prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, emeritus major penitentiary of the Catholic Church — passed the late James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore (who died in 1921) to become the longest-serving American cardinal in history. It’s an astonishing record that … Read more
When I was a little girl, our family knew a Frenchwoman. I don’t recall her name, but I remember her vividly. She seemed to me very glamorous and mysterious, forever wearing a too-bright shade of lipstick, smelling of a heavy overlay of carnation and a dim underlay of what I now recognize as vodka. She … Read more
Over at the Daily Caller, Mark Judge looks at NPR’s recent federal funding problems and offers a solution: It’s time for affirmative action at NPR. The beleaguered liberal organization, which is on the verge of losing its federal funding, can begin to get up off the canvas if it does one simple thing: hire a few conservatives. … Read more
The human-animal bond is an ancient thing, and psychologists confirmed long ago that a bond with an animal can be just as strong, if not stronger, than with a person. Certainly, it can be a lot less complicated: A dog never argues, talks back, or withholds anything to make a point. (And cats may be independent … Read more
A reader writes: I’m wondering if you could help me with a question about mortal sin. I recently learned that the Catechism teaches that masturbation, if done with full knowledge and consent, would count as a mortal sin. (I realize there are a few additional caveats.) Does this mean that masturbation is, in the eyes … Read more
This story from last week about New Hampshire Republican lawmaker Martin Harty is despicable: Barrington Republican Martin Harty told Sharon Omand, a Strafford resident who manages a community mental health program, that “the world is too populated” and there are “too many defective people,” according to an e-mail account of the conversation by Omand. Asked … Read more
With online availability of education, business, government, and church communications, we wonder what we have begotten. Unprecedented information is available to us at all times, day and night. Every possible cultural, philosophical, religious, or economic source is there. We live in a neighborhood, but we buy our clothing and tickets on the internet. We read … Read more
This “Late Saturday Night/Really Early Sunday Morning” marked the arrival of one of my very least-favorite times of year: the dreaded Daylight Savings Time. (As you can see from the artist’s rendering of me on the right, there are deep bags under my eyes. I expect those to last for at least a month. The … Read more
Along with all the other troubling reports out of Japan, Americans seem to be keeping a particularly close eye on updates about the nation’s nuclear power plants, two of which were disabled in the immediate wake of the disaster. Joe Lieberman, among others, has suggested we “quickly put the brakes on” nuclear power in this … Read more
I know we have all been riveted, and horrified, by the news coming out of Japan this weekend in the wake of Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami. Below is just a sampling of some of the stories, images, and ways to help out there on the Web right now: Above, a before-and-after Google Earth image … Read more
Sometimes I’m sad for my children, who know only the digitalized world. Some of the greatest joys of my life are lost to them. When they fall in love with a writer, a composer, a director, or an actor, they will never have to go on a quest to find that missing book, recording, or … Read more
Gene Yang is a graphic novelist who has won two Eisner awards (one for the widely-available American Born Chinese) and was nominated for the National Book Award, a first for a graphic novelist. He is also a Catholic and a teacher at a Catholic high school. On his website, he writes, “I’ve always struggled with … Read more
Today the Maryland House of Delegates voted to kill a bill that would allow same-sex marriages. On a voice-vote motion, the House sent the bill back to the Judiciary Committee, with the understanding that it didn’t have enough support to pass on the floor, even though it cleared the Senate two weeks ago (on a … Read more
I am not a crafty mom, but I sometimes let fantasy and ambition get the best of me. Two days before the start of Lent this year, my oldest daughter reminded me of a family activity we had done together many Lents ago. It was a craft I had read about in one of those … Read more
Over the past two weeks, protestors around Egypt have been breaking into State Security Agency offices and carrying out documents they fear will be destroyed by government operatives. The records have already produced a few bombshells, but this tops the list: Perhaps the most controversial document to surface was one that purports to lay out … Read more
Time for a few Friday links: John Allen on Pope Benedict’s latest book: “It’s likely to cement the impression that Benedict XVI is his own best spokesperson.” Diary of a Part Time Monk: A man decides to fast on doppelbock beer (“liquid bread”) and water for the whole of Lent — just like monks used … Read more
All of the Founding Fathers were married, and most of them had children. What do the stories of the wives and families of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison tell us about the personality and character of these great Americans? In his latest book, Thomas Fleming superbly answers … Read more
I read an interesting article in Time today about Germany and the economic powerhouse it has become. Their exports are high, unemployment is down to 6.9% and their GDP rose 3.6% in 2010. They have recovered from the economic recession that swallowed Europe and their future is bright. What bothered me in the article was the view … Read more
In 1776, at the time of the Declaration of Independence, there were no more than twenty-five thousand Catholics in all of the thirteen colonies, mostly located in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York — 1 percent of the two-and-a-half-million total population. There were only twenty-three priests in all, and the next highest authority was the … Read more