Catholic Church
Blinding Wealth – The Catholic Thing
The haunting story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is perhaps best understood in reverse, through the lens of where we find them at the end of the story. The status of each in the afterlife – the rich man’s suffering and Lazarus’s…
The Abuse of ‘Sanctuary’ – The Catholic Thing
“Sanctuary” has returned to the American political vocabulary, especially in the context of cities and states declaring they will not allow local resources – police or social services – to cooperate with federal authorities in identifying or…
I Was Shot with Charlie Kirk
It’s from a kind of compulsion that this week I write on Charlie Kirk. I keep seeing in my mind again and again the images. It is a brilliant day, the kind of day we live for in the summer. It’s glorious to be alive. He is smiling and…
On Dignity and Dependence – The Catholic Thing
The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, who died this past spring, is best remembered for his book After Virtue (1981). But his book Dependent, Rational Animals (1999) is a work of equal value. In it, he argued that dependence on others is…
AI: Nearness to the Beast
In 1984, as a young man of nineteen, I returned from a year of testing my vocation to the religious life. We had been deprived, or rather liberated, from the television for that period. On my short vacation afterwards, I went off to Blockbuster…