God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth. This mission was confided to them, not to let it become stale but to make it bear fruit. They were called to take care of it, to tend it, and to develop it. Nature was the material, and man was to foster its development and to … Read more
“So how do you like it here?” a coworker of my wife, Myra, asked her anxiously. Before Myra could respond, the woman leaned in and in a low voice said, “We know we’re a little off.” Most Mormons in Salt Lake City could count on one hand the number of times they’ve been more than … Read more
Are the liberal arts and sexual morality connected? There is strong evidence that they are, for if we graph their development over the last half-century, we will see an almost identical curve of accelerating decline. Although this proves nothing, it certainly suggests something worth exploring more deeply. Spectacular proof of the decline of the liberal … Read more
The series I have been writing on the Church in the Second World War has taught me the power of the maxim, “The best way to learn a thing is to teach it.” What I have learned from writing about events in 1942, reported in diaries and journals on crumbling war-rationed paper, has opened my … Read more
It had already been a harrowing spring for me and my family. Two weeks before, my daughter was walking our family pet, an eight-pound terrier, on a leash, when they were rushed by a big dog that grabbed ours by the neck and shook him to death. My wife was devastated; the little fellow had … Read more
An Introduction, in which the reader’s attention is firmly but politely grasped It is out of fashion, to say the least, to speak of gentlemen. Perhaps that is why there are so few of them. As Aristotle, the gentleman’s philosopher, said somewhere or other, when they are not gentled, men are worse than beasts. It … Read more
Many years ago, I visited the Carmelite Monastery in the hard coal region of Pennsylvania as the nuns were preparing for their annual novena honoring their foundress, St. Theresa of Avila. They told me of various intentions they had received for the novena, especially one that puzzled them: “Please pray for the knees of Johnny … Read more
In a recent message on modern means of mass communication, Pope Benedict XVI asked us to “give the Internet a soul”: Without fear we must set sail on the digital sea facing into the deep with the same passion that has governed the ship of the Church for two thousand years. Rather than for, albeit … Read more
The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) is at it again. For those not familiar with AGI, it is a $30-million-a-year research group based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. Named for Alan Guttmacher, former president of Planned Parenthood, the mission of the organization is to “advance sexual and reproductive health” around the world. This makes … Read more
The debate on the family is becoming increasingly politicized. Social conservatives propose federal programs to promote marriage and fatherhood and to enlist churches. Liberals respond that government does not belong in the family but then advocate federal programs of their own. Yet the more polarized the issues become the less willing we are to look … Read more
You cannot act for twenty-four hours without deciding either to hold people responsible or not to hold them responsible. Theology is a product far more practical than chemistry. Some Determinists fancy that Christianity invented a dogma like free will for fun — a mere contradiction. This is absurd. You have the contradiction wherever you are. … Read more
Spring quickens one’s sense of delight and lifts one’s spirits as the world awakens. Many puzzle over how the world began; I am still in wonder at how spring happens. With a child’s appetite for repetition, I am always ready to say: Do it again! This is my inspiration for focusing mostly on delightful music … Read more
The door closed, and I crumbled. It was Christmas, and I was alone. I had never been alone on Christmas. Having been raised in a family of six children, I was always surrounded by siblings, wrapping paper, and Ping-Pong table-size dinners. When I married at 19, I moved into a larger family network sometimes requiring … Read more
One of the joys of growing up Mexican American was learning a lot of your religion at the supermarket. At the local grocery store in my childhood neighborhood, there could be found a generous selection of votive candles for sale, all with prayers in Spanish and English for all occasions and afflictions. San Lazaro, San … Read more
What did Fyodor Dostoevsky mean in The Idiot when one of his characters asserts, “Beauty will save the world”? Taken at face value, it’s a claim that beauty plays a role in the salvation of us all. There are quite a few Christians, of all denominations, who would respond to that claim with suspicion, if … Read more
When Daniel Coit Gilman became the founding president of Johns Hopkins University in 1875, he called for a policy of intellectual freedom based on the principle of “open academic discourse” liberated from “ecclesiastical and political control.” He wasn’t opposed to religiously affiliated universities per se, but he criticized abuses of academic freedom and unwarrantedrestrictions on … Read more
On November 17, 1942, when Operation Torch had secured the Allied occupation of French North Africa, Winston Churchill sent a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt: Very deep currents of feeling are stirred by the arrangements with Darlan. . . . We must not overlook the serious political injury which may be done to our cause, … Read more
Postmodern man — and postmodern woman — don’t know how to give a good party. It’s up to Catholics to reclaim this lost art and share it with the world. Why? Because good parties are intrinsic to our Catholic faith. The liturgical year is punctuated with a wide array of feast days and celebrations, many … Read more
I collect illuminating tidbits from Modernity and offer them to discriminating readers from time to time. Herewith are the most recent for your delectation. A Parade magazine poll on spirituality reported that “69% of Americans believe in God,” and that “77% pray outside of religious services.” While the article invites us to find encouragement … Read more
A Cracking of the Heart David Horowitz, Regnery, 188 pages, $24.95 David Horowitz remembers the moment well. The author of Radical Son, fresh off his political conversion, was having dinner with his family one night, explaining why he had become a conservative — and why they should, too. At that point, he admits, he … Read more
