Important differences between people who get their teaching from American Tribal Pieties and those who get it from the teaching of the Catholic Church are much in evidence in the health care debate. Those moved primarily by tribal loyalties (and let me state from the outset that this by no means describes everybody) tend to … Read more
Over my fried alligator and onion rings at a restaurant outside New Orleans, Mr. and Mrs. G. spoke of their lives growing up in segregated southern Louisiana. The conversation was light and nostalgic until I brought up the issue of what the relationship was like in their childhood between “Creoles of color” and Cajuns. Mr. … Read more
The Congress and the White House have little to fear from the bishops’ official statements opposing the abortion provisions in the health care bill. Unlike with President Barack Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame, there is no chorus of bishops’ voices rising in protest against the bill; most of the Catholics in Congress support it, … Read more
The man whom the Church celebrates on the last day of July was born, probably in 1491, to the noble family of Loyola in northeastern Spain. Baptized with the name Iñigo Lopez, he is known to us as Ignatius Loyola. He remained proud all his life of his noble lineage. In May 1521, Ignatius … Read more
I was struck once — struck and annoyed — with a vagrant remark made to me by the Canadian philosopher George Grant (1918-1988). It came up in a conversation about Vietnam. He was using such terms as "technology" and "hegemony," which he’d employed elsewhere more abstractly in condemnation of the whole modern world, in pedestrian … Read more
I’m finishing up a book on the Seven Deadly Sins and their “contrary virtues” — finishing writing one, that is. I’d much rather do that than read one, just as I’d rather talk than listen. (I find this argument reassures my freshmen rhetoric students.) Tracing the spectrum of virtue to vice requires a delicate … Read more
In this Crisis Magazine classic, Edward T. Oakes, S.J. looks at the troubling tendency of theologians to abandon the historic faith. In 1968, a professor of theology at the University of Regensburg wrote a modestly sized treatise on the Apostles’ Creed called Introduction to Christianity. Its impact, however, was anything but modest, for … Read more
Last week, I wrote a little piece on the ways in which the various Protestantisms filter the sometimes ambiguous text of Scripture through various semi-permeable membranes in order to accept the bits of the Catholic Tradition they approve of while a) removing those things they dislike and b) stapling on those human ideas and notions … Read more
What’s the biggest obstacle to positive reform in the Church? Reactionaries in the Roman Curia? Conservatives in the conference of bishops? The Code of Canon Law? The correct answer is none of the above. The biggest obstacle to reform is the roadblock thrown in its way by self-styled reform groups themselves. By advocating changes … Read more
In this Crisis Magazine classic, Anthony Esolen takes a discouraged but entertaining look at the lectionary. “If any man,” says the preacher, “can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.” At that the door is flung open, … Read more
Almost 75 years after the death of G. K. Chesterton and 45 years after the death of C. S. Lewis, millions continue to read them as guides and gurus. New readers will pick up a book, or even just an essay or two, and become lifelong fans and devotees. These portly, homely, undramatic men … Read more
Catholics Teach the Children of New Orleans Since the Katrina disaster, the schools of the Archdiocese of New Orleans have swelled to double the enrollment of the local public schools — 40,000 to 20,000. Rev. Neal McDermott, O.P., superintendent of the Catholic schools, told me yesterday that the archdiocese is facing a financial crunch when … Read more
In this Crisis Magazine classic, Thomas Howard sketches the life and work of Dietrich von Hildebrand — often considered a 20th century Doctor of the Church. The name Dietrich von Hildebrand is not, perhaps, as well known as it should be among intelligent and literate Catholics — or, for that matter, among Christians of … Read more
One basic rule of thumb to understand in Catholic/Protestant conversations is that it is not the case that Catholics rely on Sacred Tradition and Protestants don’t. Rather, Catholics (and by this I mean “educated Catholics speaking out of the Magisterial teaching of the Church”) rely on Sacred Tradition and know they do, while Protestants rely … Read more
Pope Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, was published on July 7. With the appearance of a new papal document, various factions in the Church, as well as some outside, eagerly attempt to score points on their own behalf. This is particularly true of Caritas in Veritate, since both its length and the … Read more
Many Catholics are satisfied with mediocrity. They know that they’re morally imperfect, yet make no effort to change their ways. They fulfill their Easter obligation and call it a day. This is a far cry from what Jesus called Christians to in the gospels. When Christ encountered the woman caught in adultery, after saving … Read more
In this Crisis Magazine classic, James Hitchcock says that while the Second Vatican Council was itself orthodox, much of what followed was not. Here’s why. Most Catholics in 1959 probably didn’t even know what an ecumenical council was. And yet, here it was. Pope John XXIII announced that the goals of the Second … Read more
Last week something very strange happened. I made a comment that stopped my girlfriend from talking. Much of the time, I can’t get a word in edgewise — not that I mind, since she’s wry, whip-smart, and deliriously Southern. But this time, she got really quiet and sounded for once impressed. She said, in a … Read more
The Beatitude before this one pronounces a blessing on those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Taken in isolation, it would be easy to read that Beatitude as a sort of general, “Rah, rah for the underdog” sentiment. But coupled with this saying, it takes on a very different sense; for this Beatitude is a … Read more