Is Christian Culture Possible?
The Constitution of the United States is held by most to be the best instrument of human flourishing man has ever conceived, but there’s an elephant in the room.
Born in Wonder: A Humanities Program Taught Us How to Change the World Through Literature
Through this program, the professors (a former WWII pilot, a cowboy, and an army veteran) transformed students by placing them in contact with authentic Christian ideas, texts, and culture.
Restoring the Lord’s Day
As Fitzpatrick shows, worship is not just an “obligation” imposed externally by some deity but also a response to some of man’s deepest needs, yearnings, and sense of order.
The Simulation of Culture: Notes Inspired by an American Mall
Liberalism is the earthquake that shatters and then removes any firm cultural ground to stand or build on. Liberalism prevents a society from planting a flag or staking a claim, from saying “This is good, beautiful, and true, and this is not.”
The Ever-Present But Anti-Transcendent Screen
Our screen-based culture is flat and temporal, very immanent, very now, in some sense very ephemeral. None of those characteristics is conducive to openness to transcendence.
Chesterton the Brilliant
Some intellectuals look down their nose at G.K. Chesterton, but he was a thinker of the first order.
Dionne We Now Our Gay Apparel
A prominent liberal asks: Why do conservative Christians seem to treat the sin of homosexuality different than the sins of adultery or divorce?
Autistic Kids Targeted by Transgender Activists
Those with autism often seek affirmation, identity, and attention, and changing one’s entire “identity” is now a popular way to bring it on.
Our Allies in the War to Come
As the Great Wall of Chinese communism begins to show signs of crumbling into a long overdue dilapidation, a billion people will be readier than they have ever been to hear the Good News of Christ. At the same time they will meet the immense force of the anti-evangelist, the advertiser, the marketer of western … Read more
No Pentecost Liturgy Should Exclude the Veni Sancte Spiritus
Something beautiful is supposed to happen on Pentecost, though you might miss it. The culmination of the Easter season offers us a gem of sacred art: Veni Sancte Spiritus, the Pentecost sequence, which has long been regarded as one of the most magnificent works of literature in the Church’s treasury. When set to appropriate music, … Read more
Acceptance of Drugs: A Challenge to Culture and Evangelization
I recently gave a talk entitled “Beer and the Renewal of Catholic Culture.” Based on the Roman Ritual’s traditional blessing for beer, my argument was that beer is both a work of God given to gladden our hearts (along with wine) and an important work of human culture, a shaping of the goods of the … Read more
Obama Administration Scandals and the Danger of Cynicism
Some conservatives, and our libertarian friends in particular, have been rather enjoying hearing about recent Obama Administration scandals. I would not begrudge anyone a certain amount of perverse pleasure in the discomforts of an administration that has been seeking to undermine our culture, way of life, and economic freedom since day one. But I honestly … Read more
Soberheroes: A Critical Look at Modern Mythology
Comic book heroes have recently become less comic—which is of both cultural and Christian concern. After the brooding superhero films of the last few years, many are asking the question made famous by the late Heath Ledger’s truly menacing, anything-but-funny Joker: “Why so serious?” The motivation behind this trend—largely spearheaded by Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy … Read more
The New Meaning of “Cultural Competence”
The absurdity of the mantra “don’t judge” is lost on the ideologues. Ideology is the worship of an idea and as such it is the worship of self because in deciding what ideas to worship, the ideologue makes himself the arbiter of truth and in doing so increases in his own sight. We Catholics worship … Read more
When Culture Abandons Reason (and Faith)
For reasons that are both unfathomable as well as perplexing, the vast majority of young Canadians are champions of Barack Obama. I was informed that when a certain teacher asked her students who preferred Obama to Romney, all hands shot up. The entire class expressed unhesitating enthusiasm for the now re-elected President. Yet, no student, … Read more
Romney, Israel, and the Centrality of Culture
Governor Mitt Romney seems to have stirred up some controversy by the remarks he made to a gathering in Jerusalem the other week. Contrasting Israel and the Palestinian territories, he said, “You notice a stark difference in economic vitality. And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments … Read more
So Where’s the Social? – Recovering Words and Culture in the Unsociety
“Where,” asks the editor, “will your town get the money to build new school rooms, and pay better salaries to more teachers? Thousands of communities are wrestling with this problem, or will soon be faced with it. We offer a suggestion.” It is really quite simple. Everyone, from the PTA to the local Rotarians, should … Read more
What’s Behind Our Girl-harming Culture?
No one would guess it from even a passing acquaintance with popular television shows, but there is increasing concern among parent and professional groups about the sexualization of girls. Responding to this concern the American Psychological Association appointed a taskforce to study the problem in 2006. The resulting report shines a light on a real … Read more
The Urgent Need for The Next Great Idea
Robert Nisbet’s (1913-1996) The Present Age is a jeremiad arguably more potent now than when it was published. Written in 1988, this excerpt is in part a call for the genius with the next great idea to please step forward, the revolution is dangerously overdue. When he wrote it, Reagan’s second term was ending not … Read more
Building the New Rome
In 2005 I spent three months in Rome. In some ways I have never left. Perhaps it sounds like a commonplace to say that I “left part of myself” in the Eternal City. But the fact is, I did. I returned to Rome once more, in the spring of 2007, when I proposed to my … Read more