Robert Royal
Double-Lives in the ‘Naked Public Square’
I take the subway to work. I like doing that because it gives me uninterrupted time to do things. Read. I get at least two books done per month. Write. Some of those book reviews get sketched out on the Orange Line. Pray. The trip to work can…
Thoughts about War in a Lenten Season
Let’s begin with a pointed question: Are we, almost all, today, Sadducees? If your knowledge of the groups who appear in the New Testament is hazy, we might put it thus: Do almost all of us now, even Christians who claim otherwise, like the…
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…
The Body of This Death Comes for the Archbishop
I wouldn’t describe myself as a “fan” of science fiction. I shrug my shoulders at Star Wars and Star Trek, and became so frustrated with Frank Herbert’s Dune that I barely finished it. Nevertheless, I confess a certain guilty fascination with…
War, Just and Unjust – The Catholic Thing
Nuclear weapons, like other modern technological developments, have placed great strains on traditional moral principles. Just as modern medicine has changed our appreciation of the beginning and end of human life, the tremendous destructive…
Two for Catholic Schools Week
Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg If you send your children to a Catholic school, you should ask the principal or a teacher if they can answer two questions: “What is a human person?” and “What is the purpose of an education?” You’ll likely hear about…
War – The Catholic Thing
War is a dreadful thing. If we find glory in it, it’s because we admire soldiers for their bravery, prowess, and sacrifice. I’ve known soldiers who march in parades on Memorial Day or the Fourth of July and are proud of their service, exactly as…
Sacerdotal Storytellers – The Catholic Thing
The patron saint of journalists is St. Francis de Sales – whose feast is today, 24 January. The Holy Father’s annual message for the World Day of Social Communications is dated for the feast in his honor. St. Francis (1567-1622) was certainly a…
The Special Anthropology of Transgenderism
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on January 13 in the cases of Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., involving Idaho and West Virginia laws banning males who identify as female from competing in girls’ sports. Most commentators…
Pope Leo’s New Notes – The Catholic Thing
The late American Catholic novelist Walker Percy once remarked that the contemporary vision of a human being is a brain connected to a pair of “genitals” (the actual term he used is a bit salty for the present site). There seems to be nothing in…