The room is air conditioned, and cold. Admittedly, the heat outside is uncomfortable, but the chill inside manages to be worse. Unnatural. Sterile. Like the air churning out of the vents, the atmosphere feels forced. Two greeters, with expressions and attitudes to match the manufactured climate, greet my parents and me as we enter. One … Read more
Shortly before taking leave of this world, Sir Winston Churchill, who had lived a very long and illustrious life, was reportedly asked about the state of his soul: “I am perfectly ready,” he said, “to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” Only someone of … Read more
Editor’s note: The following column by Stratford Caldecott first appeared May 16, 2014 on his blog Beauty in Education. Why can’t we all live forever? It seems a terrible flaw in the fabric of the world—that death haunts us from the moment we are born, injecting a note of tragedy into everything. And yet how … Read more
In thinking about the destiny of those who die, the course of their final trajectory beyond the grave, it is always unwise to make predictions about the precise place awaiting them on the other side. How can anyone, in the absence of a sudden sunburst from above, possibly know? Unless one were fully omniscient—which is … Read more
As anyone with half-a-brain knows, success in the publishing world is measured by the number of books sold. What many do not know, of course, is that there are only two categories that perennially produce best sellers. Cookbooks and diet books. How wonderfully self-cancelling they are, too. While the one will tell you what to … Read more
Stan Musial passed away on January 19, 2013 at 92 years of age. His wife of nearly 72 years died the previous year. Thousands of friends filed through the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis during the six-hour public visitation. The funeral Mass for the man who played 22 years in a Cardinal uniform was presided … Read more
It wasn’t but a few weeks ago that I had to help my dad move a couple of heavier and more awkward items out of my grandparents’ now empty house. With my grandmother unable to live on her own and in a nursing home, and Grandpop having moved onto the other side of death more … Read more
This essay first appeared in the July 1996 edition of Crisis Magazine. Millions of Americans sit out their lives in darkened rooms, enthralled by the gasps and groans, cries and screams, and by the accompanying images on the screen. Our free-market system is designed to provide efficiently that which people desire and for which … Read more
In the 1980s, I was an unrefined adolescent from blue-collar Butler, Pennsylvania. I knew nothing and cared nothing about politics. I had no idea if I was a conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, or much of anything else. But I knew one thing: Moammar Kaddafi was a bad dude. This was expressed in a … Read more
Even as the nation’s bishops react with alarm to a recent Montana Supreme Court ruling allowing physician-assisted suicide, their efforts are being undermined by ethics and law professors at several Jesuit universities. Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a statement describing assisted suicide as “a terrible tragedy, one that a compassionate society … Read more
A course in “Roman Catholic Political Philosophy” is rarely found in any academic institution, including those sponsored by the Church. We do find courses titled “Religion and Politics,” “Social Doctrine of the Church,” or “Church and State” — but “Roman Catholic Political Philosophy” is something different. Going back to Plato, it is common to find … Read more
The last thing I wanted to do on a Saturday morning was discuss my husband’s death with 20 women. Not that he had died; neither had theirs. But, encouraged by him, I signed up for a workshop on what to do if suddenly widowed. Leading this sobering examination was a woman whose fate had been … Read more
In honor of today’s commemoration, a few words from Joyce Kilmer, the Catholic poet who lost his life in the very war whose conclusion became the historical basis for Veteran’s Day: The Peacemaker Upon his will he binds a radiant chain, For Freedom’s sake he is no longer free. It is his task, the slave … Read more
I was a teenager when he died. We went to visit him one last time when I was about 14 years old. Nobody said it was “one last time” — not to me, anyway. They said we would be taking some short trips to Canada — just a few of us kids at a time … Read more
Media vita in morte sumus — in the midst of life we are in death. This antiphon is attributed to the Benedictine monk Notker I of Saint Gall, who died in 912. Legend has it that the musician and poet wrote it when he saw construction workers building a bridge hover over an abyss. Most … Read more
This was as predictable as the sunrise: At least 13 protesters died Monday when Indian police clashed with tens of thousands of Kashmiris who took to the streets and torched a Christian missionary school in demonstrations fueled by reports of Quran burnings in the United States…. Agence France-Presse reports that the protests began after video … Read more
Steve Schroeder parks in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. As he climbs up the front steps, his pin-striped suit flows comfortably over him as though he were shaped to it. From polished shoes to teeth, his appearance is sharp, meticulous. So it’s jarring when the first person … Read more
Over on the Touchstone blog, Russell Moore has an interesting post about “Cremation and a New Kind of Christianity.” Citing Diarmaid MacCulloch’s new book, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, Moore notes that one of the greatest cultural shifts in the Church over the last century has been the overwhelming acceptance of cremation, when from its very … Read more
In November 1993, not far from ancient Babylon, where Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were pitched into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj huddled in a Mazandaran Province prison cell praying about how he could defend himself from capital charges. A compactly built 60-year-old man, his short, … Read more
Summer is in full wilt, and that means it’s time for the InsideCatholic Summer Reading List. We’ve asked bloggers, staff, and writers to suggest a few titles they’ve recently enjoyed. They’ve obliged. Have a look at the list — you’ll find something for every interest — and then add your own recommendations in the … Read more