Last week, I interrupted my series of reflections on the Seven Deadly Sins to accommodate the elections. Let’s hope that my dire predictions turn out to be alarmist, even hysterical. Â Much as I’d like to jump right back on the horse, and ride through the happy fields of Greed, or among Envy’s icy crags, … Read more
Our choices matter. They hurtle before us into eternity, dragging us in their wake. And in this election, more than any in the United States since 1860, they matter desperately. I wish they didn’t. The single most damning objection raised by atheists is this: Why would a loving, omnipotent God permit sin, suffering, and the … Read more
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about the “Last Carmelite Monks in America.” At the time, the eight Carmelites and their novices were overflowing their four-bedroom rectory in the mountains of northwest Wyoming. Since then, the monks’ numbers have grown quickly. By the end of the year, there will be as many as 18 … Read more
Last month, I reported on the persecution of Christians in Iraq and the continued vulnerability of their remaining communities. Extortion and violence by Muslim extremists have driven 500,000 Christians out of Iraq — about one quarter of the 2,000,000 Iraqis who have left the country since the beginning of the Iraq War. And another 2,000,000 … Read more
Students of history will always find the month of August a little ominous. In August 1920, the Red Army invading Poland (led by neoconservative hero Leon Trotsky) nearly captured Warsaw and spilled into central Europe, whence it might well have conquered a prostrate Germany, Austria, and Hungary — just for starters. The heroic Polish defeat … Read more
In my hometown, the peace rallies are always sponsored by the Unitarians. Actually, it is they who are the participants too.  Ain’t My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism By Bill Kauffman, Metropolitan Books, $25, 304 pages    In my hometown, the peace rallies are always sponsored … Read more
America, though a wealthy nation, is nevertheless becoming socially stratified — so much so that those at the fringes of life have lost touch with those at the top. The rich refer to the “poverty problem,” and the poor, in turn, blame the rich for all their woes. This rift opens a door for the … Read more
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul Kenneth Miller, Viking Adult, 256 pages, $25.95 Â Â Â The best parts of Kenneth Miller’s Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul are surprisingly those parts that deal only incidentally with his thesis: that the battle waged against evolution in the … Read more
About 30 years ago I organized (or found it to be organizing itself) a peculiar Friday afternoon group that came to be called Beer ‘n’ Bull. Despite its rather rackety sound, it is a surprisingly sober conclave, mostly of my college students and (now) former students. Obviously the (very loose) membership has changed over 38 … Read more
Those of us who love reading history are less and less inclined to read professional historians these days. History is, even more than most of the humanities, a left-wing profession. Historians are also, like most academics, more inclined to write for their colleagues than for the public. As a result, far too many books produced … Read more
“The thesis we propose to maintain is, therefore, that without the Roman Catholic religion it is impossible to preserve a democratic government, and secure its free, orderly, and wholesome action.” Orestes Brownson wrote these words in an 1845 essay titled “Catholicity Necessary to Sustain Popular Liberty.” It is impossible to imagine anyone saying these words … Read more
Scott Hahn once remarked to me that the biblical pattern seems to be that what pride is to an individual person, nationalism is to a people. Sooner or later, every people seems to hit the point where they want to feel as though they occupy a special and privileged place in the Divine Plan. Now, … Read more
If conservative politicians in the United States wish to connect their politics with conservative religion (and why shouldn’t they?), they should at least take the trouble to become religiously informed. I say this because of an astonishing bit of religious ignorance I came across the other evening. This past Monday, I happened to be watching … Read more
The staff and friends of InsideCatholic have a variety of interests and backgrounds. But we do have one thing in common: We all enjoy reading. In the hopes that you’re a reader as well, we thought we’d share some of the better titles we’ve recently come across. You should find something here for every … Read more
Some time ago, I happened to hear a recital by one of the great Metropolitan Opera mezzo-sopranos. Opera lovers will know her name well. When my wife and I lived in New York, she was one of our favorites at the Met. The nice thing about a recital like this is that you … Read more
Spending three of the last four months on American music has meant that I have become derelict in bringing a flood of superb new releases to your attention this spring. I also failed to fulfill my promise to cover other American composers whose works are also part of the good news, like Peter Lieberson, Jon … Read more
Very often, if my wife is out doing errands in the middle of the day, I will make up my lunch on a tray and carry it into my study. There I can put a CD on my portable player — it is the only system I have, and it sits in a shelf … Read more
When popular columnist Robert Novak observed some Catholic politicians receiving Communion at two stadium Masses celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI, he took a bishop and a cardinal to task over it in the pages of the Washington Post. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for laity to raise a respectful eyebrow at clerics whom they … Read more
Pope Benedict XVI has left America a treasure of wisdom that will take some time to unlock. Just a few of a wide variety of pearls include the relationship of freedom and truth, the primacy of human dignity and human rights, the “responsibility to protect,” the place of religion in the public square, and the … Read more
With his now notorious remarks about the way “bitter” small-town folks “cling” to their religion and guns while disliking immigrants, Barack Obama has taken us — at least those of us old enough to remember — for a stroll down memory lane, back to the 1950s, when it was taken for granted among liberals that … Read more