Michael Pakaluk
Five for the Fourth – The Catholic Thing
Outright Love for This Land Robert Royal In Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo invokes the Biblical story of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem as a poignant alternative to the Tower of Babel’s effort to reach Heaven without God. It’s a good…
Faith in Space – The Catholic Thing
During the high point of investment clubs – back in the dark ages, long ago, in 1998! – mom and pop investors would gather and use a tool such as the NAIC’s “Stock Selection Guide,” to pick stocks based on a ten-year record of sales, earnings,…
Books in Stone – The Catholic Thing
Catholics who sometimes worry that the Church is no longer sufficiently bold in its preaching of the Gospel might at least derive some comfort from its buildings. Sacred buildings stand a long time and carry on the convictions of those bolder…
We Need Centers of Human Fructification
The only time Our Lord came upon something merely flourishing, he cursed it: “In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside he went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he…
A Cancelled Catholic Philosopher in a Turbulent Age
“Our foreign-born citizens must permit us to say that they have been imprudent and have committed some serious mistakes,” so writes an esteemed Catholic social philosopher about the immigration question. “It is wrong to claim as a natural right…
‘The Sanctifying Power of this Night’
“And it came to pass – when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount – that Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams while He talked with him.”…
Athletes Acknowledging God – The Catholic Thing
The New York Times reported the words, but the Wall Street Journal didn’t. When Bam Adebayo, two days ago, was asked to describe the moment when he scored 83 points in an NBA game, second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points, he said, “Man, I…
Brother Marco in Munich – The Catholic Thing
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech two weeks ago at the Munich Security Conference has been praised for its conciliatory tone, and even for its putative revival of grand political oratory. Looked at from the point of view of recent papal…
St. Aelred of Rievaulx – The Catholic Thing
Among the thrills in being flat out immobile, or fairly close to it, is that it keeps one out of bookstores. One finally has an opportunity to read what one was putting off until retirement. Irresponsible book-buyers have invariably collected…
The Lives of Christian Moms
When I taught CCD, I used to tell my kids, ‘If everybody else is doing it, it’s probably wrong.’ The Christian life is difficult. The truth is difficult.” So said Kelley (as we may call her) when I interviewed her, in January 1999, a few…