Out, Out!—Violence, Obscenity, and the Recovery of Language
When we desensitize ourselves to bad language as a culture, we risk becoming a more violent culture.
Make America Beautiful Again
America can only be made great again if it first seeks to make its citizens virtuous again.
Happy Birthday, Miss Austen
While many have twisted her into an icon of feminist activism, Jane Austen’s works attest to her wholly Christian world-view and values.
Groypers, Quo Vadis: Decorum and Profanity
While the Groyper movement claims to be fighting for a return of Christian society, much of the way they speak and act would say otherwise.
Propriety: A Skill to Help Avoid Near Occasions of Sin and Scandal—and to Grow in a Happy Life
Modernity prioritizes authenticity over propriety, but propriety is rooted in humility and charity, fosters discernment and reverence, and guides us to live virtuously and selflessly.
The Cross Conquers the World
Christ told us to love our enemies. But loving our enemies does not mean pretending they are our friends. And note that Christ never said “Blessed are the pacifists.” Rather, He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Why “Anti-Vaxxers” May Have the Best Shot at Heaven
Virtue is a habit that begins with being faithful in small things.
The Dangers of the TLM Fight Club
Nothing less than virtue must be the guiding principle of our love for tradition, and this must be especially true for men.
A Lesson In Patience From The Persecuted
The story of a heroic father patiently enduring hardships to protect his family.
Humor as Virtue: Isaac Singer’s “Gimpel the Fool”
Early on in the essay, “Is a Sense of Humor a Virtue?,” John Lippitt asks the question, “Could it be, then, that exposure to a ‘virtuous’ sense of humor can make a difference to my character, and therefore be a useful tool in moral education?” At first glance it may appear self-evident that if one … Read more
A Catholic Call to Courage
As he stood before the rain-soaked crowd estimated to be as great as 20,000, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn—with that truly Russian sense of solemn sincerity and conviction—suggested to the 1978 graduating class of Harvard University that what the West lacked above all else—and in his view the West lacked quite a good bit—was courage. Said Solzhenitsyn: A decline in … Read more
Political Implications of Religion as a Moral Virtue
A good deal of what the Catholic Church teaches about the state and her relationship to it belongs to the province of philosophy. It belongs to those truths of the faith that are naturally knowable and don’t require revelation. This distinction should be familiar. There are some truths that the Church teaches which we can’t … Read more
Why Church Teachings on Chastity are Undeniably True
Many years ago, in one of the standard editions of The Tempest that I had ordered for my students, I read an angry little essay whose proximate target was the mage Prospero, and whose ultimate target was anyone alive, particularly men, who would uphold a view of sexual morality one or two steps higher than, … Read more
Annulments: A Concession to Human Weakness
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” (Mt. 19:8) Scripture tells us that “God hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16), and it doesn’t sound like Jesus was too thrilled with how Moses handled it, since “it was not … Read more
Virtue Signaling is the Opposite of Virtue
On April 12, the attorney general of California, Xavier Becerra, said that North Carolina will remain on the list of states to which California employees may not travel using state money. The reason for the ban is simple: California wants you to know how virtuous it is. In other words, the state is virtue signaling. … Read more
Can Virtue Heal the American Right?
We’ve come to that agonizing point in our political process when each political party must choose its champion. Republicans are trying to decide in whose hands to place their party’s fate. The inexperienced but well-spoken Marco Rubio? Rand Paul, a man of intelligence and conviction who nonetheless selected drone strikes as the issue most worthy of a … Read more
The Courageous Witness of Bl. Franz Jagerstatter
The time was 1941, the war then raging across Europe had entered its third terrible year, and a young Catholic philosopher by the name of Josef Pieper had just brought out a book, a lovely little thing of less than sixty pages, called A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart. Amazingly enough, … Read more
How Christians Can Rebuild Our Culture
Editor’s note: The following essay is adapted from an address delivered August 6 at the Archdiocese of Toronto’s “Faith in the Public Square” symposium. In the beginning, Genesis tells us, “the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2). Creation begins in chaos. On each day of … Read more
The Reasonableness of Religious Belief
I have always been a believer. Among other reasons, that’s because I think rationality demands it. When I talk about “belief” here, I mean it in a very broad sense, which is not synonymous with “Catholic” or even “Christian”; Sikhs, Hindus and Zoroastrians might all qualify, and I myself was raised in the LDS church … Read more
Where Is the Virtue?
A sentinel watches upon the battlements. The air is raw and cold, and it seems to have penetrated to his knees and ankles and the shoulder upon which he rests his rifle. But he paces his rounds, hour after long hour. He peers into the little glooming light showing in the east. He turns again … Read more
