Sanitized Childhood
I read a Curious George book to my children a few weeks ago. It was a library copy — one of the very old ones, wrapped in protective plastic with decades-old, handwritten due dates inside the front cover. The story was typical H. A. Rey fare. The man with the yellow hat was exasperatingly clueless … Read more
A New Grassroots Political Organization Makes Its Mark
The election results of November 2 were not merely the spontaneous reaction of Republicans to the bad economy and liberal excesses of the Obama administration. The four pro-life, conservative GOP candidates in Virginia and New Jersey were elected in a groundswell of religious and social conservatives, many of them independent voters who had … Read more
Academic Theology
Theology can be defined many ways, but two definitions are perhaps most significant. The first could be described as “God-talk”: It is logos (speech) with theos (God). In this way, prayer is seen as theology proper. In time, this led to a second definition — that theology involves the study of God. The early Christians, … Read more
Gluttons for Power
At least since the lavish dinners of the decadent Roman Republic, rulers and those who aspired to rule have frequently made a point of conspicuous consumption. Now, this isn’t always despicable; we expect those who represent legitimate authority on earth to express the dignity of their office. Even in the vigorous early days of … Read more
Our Culture’s Sacred Stories
I can’t help but like Kathy Shaidle, the scrappy author of a Canadian blog called Five Feet of Fury. I’ve always had a weakness for people who tell you exactly what they think and never bother to mince words, and Shaidle is all that. One of the most forthright critics of Canada’s Tyranny of Nice … Read more
On Answering Questions
We never know what curiosities former students will come up with. Eric Wind, an ex-student long interested in the history of Georgetown College, found for sale on eBay an old examination given at Georgetown in January 1929. (Let me note that this test was not Schall’s, as in January of 1929, he was but … Read more
Bethlehem University Student Deported to Gaza in Handcuffs and Blindfold
Berlanty (Betty) Azzam was two months away from receiving her business degree at Bethlehem University. Anticipating life beyond college, she made the two-hour trip to Ramallah for a job interview, but on the way back she was asked for her papers at the “container” checkpoint. Azzam was detained by the Israeli military for five hours, … Read more
Tango and the Theology of the Body
I love to tango.As a single Catholic woman, this isn’t always easy. Argentine tango can be danced close — very close. Its intimacy and passion can sweep me into the romantic ozone layer, obscuring any sense of reality. It lures me into wanting more — more intimacy, more connectedness, more transcendence. So why do I … Read more
Beyond ‘Happily Ever After’
Hollywood has always been preoccupied with that most exciting, most mercurial of human emotions: romantic love. There’s nothing particularly surprising about this obsession, of course: Filmmakers have long been drawn to those moments when human emotions run highest and most transparent, and if that isn’t a textbook definition of eros, I don’t know what is. … Read more
The Professional Below
Some years ago, when I was a brash young professor, I remarked in a meeting of my English department that, in my capacity as a teacher, I could not care about the lives of my students. If they were reading Nietzsche while drinking Jack Daniels in a ditch, that was all right by me, so … Read more
How to Talk to Democrats About Abortion: Five Strategies for Making the Pro-Life Case
In the 1970s, when about 40 percent of Democratic congressmen were pro-life, the party had a seemingly insurmountable hold on the House of Representatives. Now, less than 15 percent are pro-life, and they’re in an ever-shrinking House minority. Meanwhile, the big Democratic success stories from 2004 were the new representatives in Iowa, Missouri, and Michigan, … Read more
USCCB Clarifies Its Position on the Regulation of Hate Speech
This past Monday I reported that the USCCB Department of Communications is listed as a “principal partner” on the “So We Might See” Web site. So We Might See is a coalition of religious groups that is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to investigate “hate speech.” Since the page on the organization’s Web site displaying … Read more
How Vain Is Your Glory?
Having worked through the Deadly Sins, the opposite neuroses, and the Virtues that stand in the Golden Mean between them, it’s time to help the gentle reader put this knowledge to use. As I warned you, there will be a quiz. Since it’s truth that sets us free, the key to attaining Humility is stark … Read more
Boomer Religion
For anyone who strongly identifies with traditional Christianity, the October 6-9 series on Fox News’s Hannity, with Sean Hannity interviewing Michael Moore, was rich in irony and vaguely distressing. The occasion was Moore’s new film, Capitalism: A Love Story. Two bright, likable, and deeply sincere married men of middle age passionately argued the … Read more
Deliver Us from Evil
Years ago, I heard a Black Pentecostal pastor in Spokane talking about a time he and some other local non-denominational pastors had been asked by a family they knew to come and pray for their granny who, her family said, “had an evil spirit.” One of the pastors was of a more modern frame of … Read more
Fall Amble
I shall meander this beautiful fall month, hoping to take you with me to Great Britain as I cover concerts and recordings that I particularly liked — no more important reason than that. When last reporting on my musical adventures, I gave account of several concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London in late … Read more
USCCB Partners an Effort to Investigate Rush Limbaugh’s “Hate Speech”
In an important article for the American Spectator, Jeffrey Lord describes the effort of “So We Might See” — “a national inter-faith coalition for media justice,” according to its Web site — to force a Federal Communications Commission investigation of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. The organization’s petition to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and … Read more
Can Non-Catholics Be Saved?
Unam Sanctam is the sort of document that gives our Protestant brothers and sisters a real jolt, primarily because it looks at first blush as though it teaches that Catholics cannot have Protestant brothers and sisters. Written by Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, this papal bull concludes with a shocking dogmatic definition: We declare, … Read more
