For some years, I have set aside time during Advent to read Hilaire Belloc’s short essay, “A Remaining Christmas.” First published 80 years ago next year, it has been worth my annual rereading. It is an extended reflection on the mystery of the Incarnation and of each person’s earthly journey. Even now, Belloc (1870-1953) arouses … Read more
In his excellent new book, 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, Thomas E. Woods Jr. explodes the common myths that surround the short life of our nation. Brian Saint-Paul spoke with him about two of those errors, which have appeared frequently in the media and popular opinion. ♦ ♦ ♦ Brian … Read more
Bishops are closing Catholic schools all over the country because they can no longer afford them. But this is the story of one school being closed that doesn’t cost the bishops a penny. Seventy-five-year-old St. Augustine Catholic School is the only Catholic school in Ocean City, New Jersey. Supported by three local parishes, St. Augustine’s … Read more
Imagine that you are standing in line at the supermarket pharmacy. As you wait to pick up your prescription, you overhear the pharmacist explaining to the person ahead of you. “To induce death, mix all of this into a sweet beverage and drink it very quickly.” Â Unimaginable? Unfortunately, no — that type of prescription … Read more
You may find Bill Donohue of the Catholic League a bit loud at times, but you have to admire his forthrightness in pointing out something so bleeding obvious that only a functionary for the USCCB film review office or a highly trained theologian could miss it. He writes: In the current Newsweek, Pullman lashes out … Read more
 Paul and Patricia (Pat) Hundt are co-founders of Aquinas Academy, one of the first independent Catholic schools in the United States. Aquinas is a private school operated by Catholic lay people, dedicated to instilling traditional Catholic values in students from Pre-K3 through 8th grade. In 1991, with the help of several Catholic families, Paul … Read more
Five years and $180 million later, The Golden Compass is at last opening in movie theaters across the country today. So what’s the verdict? Â Five years and $180 million later, The Golden Compass is at last opening in movie theaters across the country today. While Philip Pullman — the author of the His Dark … Read more
The unanimous vote by St. Thomas University’s Board of Trustees to sever ties with the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese is just the most recent attempt by a Catholic university to limit the influence of orthodox Catholic leaders on its campus. Voting to change the university’s bylaw that maintained the sitting archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis as the … Read more
David Klinghoffer’s Shattered Tablets is painful to read. As a writer I slapped myself on the forehead frequently: Why didn’t I think of this? Shattered Tablets: Why We Ignore the Ten Commandments at Our Peril David Klinghoffer, Doubleday, 256 pages, $24.95 Â Â David Klinghoffer’s Shattered Tablets is painful to read. First of all, as … Read more
Early in 2007, the Washington Post heralded the remarkable academic and financial turnaround of twelve inner-city parochial schools in Washington, D.C., operating as the Center City Consortium (CCC). But the hard-won triumph for the consortium’s administrators and donors was short-lived: By late summer, eight of the CCC schools were on the block, part of a … Read more
One’s thoughts don’t ordinarily run much to the pharaohs in connection with Advent. Insofar as Egypt might crop up at all, it would seem more fitting to hold it for the Flight into Egypt after the Nativity. Â In any case, I received a card this past week from a Discalced Carmelite nun friend of … Read more
Media sources have put a charge into the leadup to today’s World AIDS Day by once again floating the suggestion that the Catholic Church is on the verge of approving condom use in limited circumstances; that is, for the purposes of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. “Will Vatican Review Stand on Condoms?” reads … Read more
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le papillon) opens to fuzzy images and confusion as the camera — and the audience — tries to focus itself. As the images become clearer, it appears that the camera has embodied a patient in a hospital bed. PG-13, 112 minutes The Diving Bell … Read more
The Gray Lady sells herself out to secular materialism once again. I would like to propose Shea’s Iron Law of New York Times Science Coverage: When Christians write about science, they are imposing their religion on the free pursuit of truth. When scientists pontificate about religion, they are innocently writing about science with no agenda … Read more
In my daily newspaper columns, I have recently tried the experiment of writing directly about the postmodern explosion of scientism. This pertains to discussions of global warming, intelligent design, political correctness, and many other things — but it goes much deeper. Had I a book to fill (and perhaps I do), I would follow … Read more
This is my third attempt to get through the fall harvest of superb new CD releases, but it is still fall, and there is a lot to harvest. This abundance illustrates William Buckley’s recent remark in the November issue of the British Gramophone magazine, that "it has to be the greatest gift of modern … Read more
It is by way of solid compliment to call Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (1909-1999) a baroque incarnation, like an enfleshment of Salzburg’s Kollegienkirche, for the baroque is an art of overstatement done so elegantly that truth is not distorted. The one glaring understatement I heard from him was, "I dislike specialization" — words baroquely unbaroque in … Read more
A Consumer’s Guide to the Apocalypse: Why There Is No Cultural War in America and Why We Will Perish Nonetheless Eduardo Velasquez, ISI Books, 200 pages, $22 Our contemporary culture reveals the “darkness the Enlightenment can no longer conceal.” That’s the thesis of Eduardo Velasquez’s fascinating new book, A Consumer’s Guide to the Apocalypse: Why … Read more
There was a lot of buzz on the Internet recently about rumors of a possible sequel to the 2005 film Serenity. The news even made it to the Catholic world: I blogged on it, as did Mark Shea and even Fr. John Zuhlsdorf. That a mere rumor could kick up such a stir — the … Read more
Late last month, 33 sisters from 26 countries met in Rome at the invitation of the U.S. embassy of the Holy See and the Italian Union of Major Superiors. The weeklong meeting was no ordinary gathering of nuns; it was the launch of an international, intercongregational religious network of sisters to counter the scourge of … Read more