Russell Shaw
An old book and a continuing problem
I’d been running into references to the book every now and then for years. People told me I really ought... Read more
What was it that set Al Smith apart from other Catholic politicians?
Eighty-eight years ago a Happy Warrior from the streets of New York ran for President of the United States. His... Read more
Can Americans fix our problems if we no longer share common values?
Speaking at a memorial service for the five Dallas police officers killed by a gunman in retaliation for police shootings... Read more
What the pro-life movement needs to do now
In the dead of winter every year thousands of pro-lifers throng the streets of downtown Washington making a public statement... Read more
St. Thomas Aquinas and angry American voters
Americans, a goodly number of them anyway, are angry. Opinion polls and both parties’ primaries are evidence of that. But... Read more
New dispatches from our endless culture war
Although the wave of battles now underway in several parts of the country over religious freedom laws and LGBT rights... Read more
Amoris Laetitia as a whole
Now that the dust stirred by publication of Pope Francis’s new document on marriage has started to settle, it’s time... Read more
To vote, or not to vote?
As the presidential primaries wear on, a potentially serious dilemma has begun to take shape for some voters. The question... Read more
The conflicts within the conflict over replacing Justice Scalia
To no one’s particular surprise, the process of filling the Supreme Court vacancy created by Antonin Scalia’s death has morphed... Read more
The coming celibacy debate
Speculation and trial balloons floating lately over the Vatican walls suggest that Pope Francis wants to open up a discussion... Read more
Lent and temptation
It would be like telling the story of World War II and leaving out Hitler. That’s what telling the story... Read more
Why does the media seem to think everything Trump says is newsworthy?
The potential presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, a media critic when it suits his purposes, is a creature of the... Read more
Belloc and Christendom
Chatting with a British bishop who’d said the famous Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc sometimes came to his home when he... Read more
Catholic voters and 2016
With the election of a new president less than a year away, at least one thing about the outcome seems... Read more
Roots of the Great Divide
The inability of parties to America’s culture war to communicate meaningfully with one another on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage,... Read more
Assisted suicide a century ago and now
As Robert Hugh Benson’s apocalyptic novel Lord of the World moves toward its shocking conclusion, a naïve young woman who... Read more
America has accommodated conscientious objection before. Why not now?
Let’s begin by recognizing that the case of the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex... Read more
The Pope and popularity
Journalists are understandably fond of conflict—after all, it gives them something to talk about. Media coverage and commentary relating to... Read more
Why we need to pray for personal vocations, too
In the prayer of the faithful said at Mass in my parish day after day we regularly ask God for... Read more
Complementarity in marriage
Does Henry Higgins hold the key to settling the same-sex marriage debate? Not quite. But in the wake of the... Read more
