St. Augustine
Ever Ancient, Ever New – The Catholic Thing
St. Augustine famously wrote of having come late to the Beauty that is God: tam antiqua, tam nova (“So ancient, so new”). It’s a brilliant and profound way of expressing the truth that the deepest Good is not in the past or in the future, but by…
If I Were Created a Cardinal
If I were created a Cardinal and dispensed from the canonical requirement to be ordained a deacon or priest – my vocation is as a layperson – this is how I would counsel the Holy Father on the first anniversary of his pontificate. “Holy Father,…
Civic Education in Person – The Catholic Thing
Civics education is all the rage at the moment. And for good reason. In a recent article in Commentary, (“A Republic, If You Can Teach It”), Robert Pondiscio reports the grim news that: “Scores on the long-running National Assessment of…
The Pope, the Press, and the Present
Pope Leo travelled to four African countries this month, which included not only the usual calls for peace, justice, and brotherhood, but several touching and poignant moments with local communities. Let’s hope that the presence of this…
Comedies, Earthly and Divine – The Catholic Thing
A good friend and long-time prominent Catholic commentator called me this week to ask my perspective on current American foreign policy. Not for the first time, I had nothing coherent to offer. This has been the situation for some 15 years now.…
Out of Africa – Religion & Liberty Online
Quite a number of years ago, it was estimated that every year there are some 500 articles and monographs, both popular and scholarly, written throughout the world on the North African pastor-theologian-saint Augustine (354‒430). At the time when…
Is America Simply Jefferson vs. Hamilton? – Religion & Liberty Online
Herbert Butterfield in his The Whig Interpretation of History argued that assessing the past in light of the present, what we call “presentism,” is the source of all historical errors. Our tendency to do so results from a very real problem: How…
Ordering Our Loves for the Good of All – Religion & Liberty Online
Earlier this year, Vice President J.D. Vance triggered quite a firestorm when he mentioned the Christian concept of ordo amoris, also known as the order of charity. “There’s this old-school—and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the…
Leo Amid the Heresies – The Catholic Thing
Pope Leo has been traveling in Turkey and Lebanon, doing what popes do on such occasions: Visiting religious and political leaders, signing agreements about further “dialogue,” calling for peace and respect for human dignity. All good things,…
Poetry as Prayer, and Prayer as Poetry
Of all the arts, poetry is the most inherently religious. Although it is often defined by the use of figurative language, rhythm, and sound devices, what really separates poetry from prose is its subject matter, which transcends the literal and…