Eddington
What starts out as a quiet little film set in a remote section of New Mexico slowly reveals itself to be a colorful tableau of just about every hot-button social issue you can think of.
The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson’s latest entry, The Phoenician Scheme, is once again a very clever and droll affair with an entertaining cast of characters and its own unique look, unlike anything else around.
A Lazy Leader
The one thing Donald Trump has always had going for him since he first announced his desire to be President in 2015 was his energy. His presentation may have always been spur of the moment kooky, but there was no denying the man’s drive.
The Materialists
The promotional material for this new film may put you off by giving the impression it is a light-hearted rom-com in the mold of a Julia Roberts-George Clooney romp. It is anything but.
Pour Down Like Silver
This gem of a record by Richard and Linda Thompson came out in 1975 and I happened to listen to it again on the train this morning.
Absolution
The brief plot summary of this new Liam Neeson action vehicle currently streaming on Netflix may prompt a “been there, seen that” response from you, as it did me.
Helping Our Own
There are a variety of explanations for this phenomenon, which our leading political and cultural commentators continue to explore. Here is my own modest contribution to the discussion, a broad-stroke take on one aspect of how we got to where we are.
Wearing Out Your Welcome
Growing up as kids my parents gently warned us about wearing out our welcome, once we were old enough to visit friends’ houses on our own. This was not an easy concept for a young boy to comprehend, and I don’t think I fully grasped it at the time. But now it’s all I can think about, just five months into Donald Trump’s second term in the Oval Office. I believe the man is finally beginning to wear out his welcome.
The Post-Trump Republican Party
On the theory that this too shall pass, I am starting to wonder who will lead the Republican Party once Donald Trump leaves the White House.
Does America Need a Supply-Side Comeback?
Now 84 years old, Mr. Laffer has always believed lowering taxes spurs economic growth. This interview makes clear, though, that he does not think lowering taxes will ipso facto increase government revenue, which is how critics frequently mischaracterize and debunk the supply-side approach.
La Boheme
If you ever find yourself tempted to dip a toe in the water and attend a live performance, the classic La Boheme by Puccini would be a good place to start.
Glengarry Glen Ross
The current Broadway revival of David Mamet’s 1983 play Glengarry Glen Ross, which has been described as a scathing commentary on capitalism, morality, and masculinity, features three big-name performers who bring a built-in audience to the theater. But this production did not click for me, I am sorry to report.
Joaquina Kalukango
Have you ever been moved to tears by a vocalist? If you’re lucky, it happens on a regular basis. Which would make the question: when was the last time?
Pomp and Plainness
The Catholic Church just selected a new Pope, amid much pomp and circumstance. Some 133 old guys who had achieved the rank of “Cardinal” cast their votes in the Sistine Chapel, one of the world’s most intricately decorated sacred spaces, while dressed in flowing red vestments and matching caps.
Redefining Usury
Another worth-your-while entry in this overview of the incoming Leo XIV is The New Pope Might Be Somewhat Like The Old Pope, written by Daniel Gibson and published in The New York Times.
The New Pope’s True Colors
Having beaten the odds to be selected as the first Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church from the United States, the low-key, little-known Bob Prevost is now an object of the world’s attention, as we all wonder what he will do next as Pope Leo XIV.
The Coming Trumpian Pope
As 133 Cardinals from around the world gather in Rome this week for a sequestered conclave to select the new Pope, some American Catholics are hoping the next guy will be an arch-conservative disrupter in the mold of our current President.
The First Season of The Pitt
The first fifteen episodes of the medical procedural The Pitt streaming on Max remind the viewing audience of some important things: Doctors have to learn a lot of complicated stuff.
Donald “Lonesome Rhoades” Trump
Say what you will about his second presidential incarnation, but there is certainly no grass growing under Mr. Trump’s feet.
The Room Next Door
Are you in the mood for a well-crafted meditation on terminal illness, abiding friendship, the restorative beauty of nature, and the highly controversial subject of how to live and die with dignity?
On Electoral Mandates
I get that our two major political parties see things differently and have different priorities when it comes to legislation and tending to the common good. But why does the language we use to discuss these differences have to be so adversarial so much of the time?
Oh, Mary
This alternate-universe take on Mary Todd Lincoln has conquered Broadway and received rave reviews. We attended just the other night, as part of a sold-out house.
Suffs
When my wife and I visited the Big Apple this week and took in the musical Suffs right before it’s nearly year-long run came to an end, I was approaching the show with a sense of obligation.
The Joy of Proficiency
There is nothing better in this world than encountering someone who has embraced their role in life, is at peace with who they are, and is good at what they do.
Doctrinal vs. Pastoral
If you style yourself a secularist who shuns organized religion, you may not have a rooting interest in the great debate that rages within sectarian circles: whether it is better to be doctrinally pure, or pastorally sensitive.
Anora
The new film Anora is a 2024 Palme d’Or winner that my wife and a close friend of hers decided we should go see, so off we went.
Understanding the Infidels
When no one from my side of the church took communion at our nuptial mass a few weeks ago it was a stark reminder that Mother Church has lost her hold on the hearts and minds of a generation. Or maybe two.
Feeling an Idea
Last night my dream had an unusual quality that will be difficult to describe. It unfolded rather slowly. I was conscious of what was happening and remember wanting to continue, anticipating the next exchange or encounter.
Approaching Politics with Love
Death and taxes are two of life’s inevitables that we typically face only reluctantly, and usually with a sense of dread and loathing.
The Politics of Love
Being set in one’s ways is often cited as a hurdle to forging a new intimate relationship later in life. One person likes to go to bed early, the other likes to stay up a bit longer – that sort of thing. Sometimes the differences go much deeper.
Economic Clarity
Over the course of his twelve-year run as pope, Francis has made it pretty clear appeasing First World sensibilities is not his top priority. We here in the United States have not always known what to make of this, since his lack of deference can seem like disrespect at times.
Sowing Confusion?
An aged and increasingly infirm Pope Francis may not be around much longer, but it seems he can’t leave this mortal coil soon enough to suit his conservative detractors.
In Praise of Musical Embellishments
A good song needs good bones: a pretty melody and a poetic lyric. After that it only takes a talented vocalist to bring those good bones to life.
New Dumb Movies
There is apparently more money available to finance original streaming content than there are scripts worthy of being filmed.
August Politics
As for this month’s rendition of retail presidential politics, things are continuing apace. Kamala Harris is keeping things simple and sticking to the basics. Donald Trump for his part is the very definition of a one-trick pony.
Here’s Kamala!
This election just got a lot more interesting, don’t you think?
J.D. Vance Rewrites History
The speech J.D. Vance delivered at last night’s Republican National Convention demonstrated an ability to master a big moment.
Accommodating Biden’s Decline
The most charitable thing one can say about Biden is that he is dangerously close to his expiration date as an effective public official.
Biden Will Be Fine
President Biden’s performance at last Thursday night’s debate was so bad it prompted immediate calls for him to step down from the ticket, for the good of the country.
Tuesday (The Movie)
Tuesday is the latest movie to land on my list of all-time favorites. It is advertised as a meditation on mortality, so right away you know this is not going to be a summer blockbuster.
J.D. Vance’s Strange Turn to 1876
The critics’ ‘book’ on J.D. Vance is now set: He is an unprincipled climber willing to say anything to get ahead.
An Incoherent Argument Against Higher Minimum Wages
A day after the Ross Douthat – J.D. Vance interview appeared in The New York Times, Eric Boehm writing for the Reason website chimed in to question Vance’s idea of economic populism, by offering the standard libertarian defense of letting market forces determine wages.
What J.D. Vance Believes
You may recognize this as the title of a recent interview Ross Douthat published on June 13 in The New York Times, conducted with the first-term Senator from Ohio and best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy. Then again, you may not.
The Nest
With it being so hard to find something worthwhile to watch these days, I wanted to give a shout out to a quiet little movie, The Nest.
The Authorship Question
The controversy over who really wrote the plays and poetry attributed to Shakespeare persists, even if it is not at the top of the morning news feed, or never comes up in your house.
Stephen Greenblatt’s Tyrant
Since no amount of scandal seems able to deter Donald Trump from recapturing the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in the upcoming Fall election, now might be a good time to look back and review one of the more unique analyses of his improbable first win in 2016.
Yes, but is ‘Trickle Down’ Enough?
Today’s Wall Street Journal carries a short opinion piece by Steven E. Rhoads, a professor emeritus of politics at the University of Virginia, who wants to remind readers that ‘trickle down’ works, allowing everyone to prosper.
The Truth’s Long, Hard Slog
The conservative Catholic commentator Christopher Manion has been around a long time, and is well into the eminence grise stage of his career. Perhaps not as well-known as some other conservative Catholic thought-leaders who possess a somewhat higher public profile, Manion nevertheless has a reliable following in certain circles.
Leaving the Family Homestead
I am in the process of selling the property where I’ve lived for the last 30 years, the place where my ex-wife and I raised our four children. It wasn’t that long ago I was telling anyone who would listen I was never going to leave this place, never going to sell this property. But things change.
Political Economy at Christendom College
Christendom College is a small liberal arts school whose rural campus is located just outside the sleepy little town of Front Royal, Virginia. It prides itself on not taking any government funding, which allows it to dodge unwanted federal mandates on curriculum.
Advice to Graduates
It is graduation season, and there are some good ideas for this spring’s batch of commencement speakers in today’s paper.
Volkswagen in America
Auto workers at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Tennessee voted to join a union this month, after similar attempts to unionize at that same plant failed to gain the necessary majorities in 2014 and 2019.
Protesting the War in Gaza
This week the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests, which at times have included some unforgivable excesses directed at Jewish students, spread from a few high-profile universities on the East Cost to many different college campuses across the United States.
Lovesac Wisdom
Not a day goes by without a new batch of unsolicited suggestions for self-improvement hitting my inbox. Fueled by the latest research, these highly-annotated ideas are meant to help me develop a higher level of empathy and improve my emotional intelligence, making me a more effective employer and manager, a better husband and father.
California’s New Minimum Wage
Any suggestion to raise the minimum wage is countered with how such a mandate would adversely affect businesses that use low-wage workers, forcing employers to cut hours, lay people off, or switch to a more automated system.
Talking is Good
Talking is good, but not talking can be okay, too. Steady dialogue feeds the soul. But not talking provides valuable time to ponder the day.
Labor Freedom
“Labor freedom” was recently cited by The Wall Street Journal in a short editorial criticizing the nefarious efforts of Big Labor and its Democratic allies in Congress to unionize the new, government-subsidized auto plants in our Southern states.
Pursuing Happiness
In his latest book Jeffrey Rosen tells readers the famous phrase in our Declaration of Independence about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was not intended as a license to be a selfish, self-centered bore. Mr. Rosen points out how our most influential Founders studied the moral philosophy of classical thinkers such as Xenophon, Seneca, and Cicero, along with that of contemporary Enlightenment stalwarts John Locke (1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-1776), and therefore defined happiness as the pursuit of virtue – as being good, rather than feeling good.
Digital Discrimination
In a recent editorial the Wall Street Journal takes issue with a new rule the Federal Communication Commission is considering to prevent what is referred to as “digital discrimination.” This proposed action is a by-product of the 2021 infrastructure bill that included a directive for the FCC to monitor disparities in broadband access “based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin.”
Fair Play: An Appreciation
After making a splash at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the new movie Fair Play received only a limited theatrical release in September before its streaming debut on Netflix earlier this month. It is billed as a drama/mystery/thriller, and after watching it last night I would add the word “tragedy” to that list as well.
The Dissemination of Distorted Information
Those of us who attend religious services on the weekends are routinely instructed by our clergy to show love for the “stranger,” with an emphasis on extending such love no matter how unusual or off-putting that stranger may initially appear to us.
Is the Pope Catholic?
Asking whether the Pope is Catholic used to be one of those funny rhetorical question that do not require an answer. Like asking does a bird fly, or if a bear defecates in the forest. But these days that first question is not so funny to some people, and not so rhetorical.
Pro-Trump, or anti-Democrat?
There are now four big legal cases pending against former President Donald Trump. He is facing dozens of criminal charges and will go on trial several times in the next 18 months, as he campaigns to become president again in the 2024 election.
The Music of Bruce Springsteen
When it comes to the music of Bruce Springsteen, I really miss the contribution of keyboardist David Sancious, who left the band to pursue his own thing a long time ago.
A Different Side of Bruce Springsteen
My interest in Bruce Springsteen as a singer-songwriter ended about 50 years ago. The high point for me was The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle, a record he released in November 1973. Along with a few cuts from his follow-up Born to Run album, released in August 1975. He has obviously gone on to enjoy a prolific career in the decades since, achieving world-wide superstar status. So mine is a decidedly minority opinion. But I can’t help it. His “mature” output has never done much for me.
Forgiving Student Loans
The student loan forgiveness plan the Supreme Court threw out last week, just before adjourning for the summer, was one of the Biden administration’s more ambitious and controversial proposals. So it should come as no surprise this latest ruling is generating such a passionate response.
Voting Third Party in 2024
Have you ever voted for a Third Party candidate in a Presidential election? In my experience people who do tend to be idealistic and are also usually a little bit ornery. (I am both and confess to voting Third Party on occasion.) Reviving that option seems to be a recurring theme, given the rather lackluster Republican and Democrat candidates we have been presented with in recent years. With a likely Biden-Trump re-match in the offing, some otherwise sensible citizens are once again starting to explore their options, and are talking up the possibility of going rogue in the voting booth next year.
Patrick Deenen Strikes Again
Patrick Deenen’s new book, Regime Change, was just reviewed in the Wall Street Journal and got panned good and hard. Reading that review reminded me how his previous book, Why Liberalism Failed (2018), received the same chilly reception, most notably in The New York Times.
Somewhere in Queens
Here are a few words of praise for the new feature film, Somewhere in Queens, directed and co-written by veteran stand-up comedian and TV sitcom star Ray Romano
The Narrative is Problematic
It is natural to assemble a story for ourselves that helps explain how and why things happen in this world. Along the way we encounter others who seem knowledgeable in these matters, and we add their understanding to our own. As we get older, our narrative emphasizes what has gone wrong out there, and what should be done to fix all the problems. This, too, is natural.
Capitalism Condones Bad Behavior
My thesis this morning is how easily our version of capitalism condones behavior that is fundamentally inconsiderate of others. And how this is not just a case of bad manners, but rises to the level of injustice.
The Economics of Beauty
Now here is an angle Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels probably did not cover in their famous 1848 treatise on economics, “The Communist Manifesto”… Namely, the impact beauty has on an economic system. But it turns out a gentleman by the name of Daniel S. Hamermesh has given it a lot of thought.
Julia Reichert, R.I.P.
When Julia Reichert died a few months ago at the age of 76, she was eulogized as a “Documentarian of the Working Class.”
An Aversion to Action Films
It’s late on Friday afternoon and a few co-workers are letting their hair down before heading out for the weekend. I can hear bits and pieces of conversation through an open door. Someone mentions not having seen the blockbuster hit “Top Gun: Maverick,”
The Second Bill of Rights
Everyone is always singing the praises of liberal democracy, but these days many enthusiasts are expressing concern about the future of the institution. Populist uprisings here in the United States and across Europe are seen as threatening the rule of law, and the idea of free and fair elections.
Selective Ridicule
Everyone is always singing the praises of “liberal democracy” these days. Not only is it universally thought of as the best possible form of government, it’s the only one any reasonable person will even consider.
Ridiculing Catholicism
Ridiculing Catholicism for being out-of-touch with the modern world is super easy, and it’s so much fun! Okay, yes, that sentence is gratuitous, and designed to get your attention.
Why Libertarian Catholics are Wrong on Economics Part 4
As my little amateur history draws to a close, I will be offering two concrete suggestions for improving the economic status quo. As a preface to making those suggestions allow me to state for the record I do not disagree with the libertarian premise about regulation stifling innovation and undermining incentives that drive capitalism. Or that capitalism is the best economic system for “freeing” large masses of human beings from lives of misery and poverty.
Why Libertarian Catholics are Wrong on Economics Part 3
My goal in assembling this very amateur and oh-so-brief history is three-fold. To disabuse everyday conservative Catholics (my friends and neighbors) of the notion economics has nothing to do with morality. To challenge the contention of intellectual conservative Catholics (the scholars I have been reading for the last thirty years) that free market capitalism is inherently moral. And lastly to assure both groups (and any other readers who may wander in) that I am not suggesting any form of socialism as an alternative.
Why Libertarian Catholics are Wrong on Economics Part 2
In analyzing the ideological schism that plagues present-day Catholicism, we tend to focus on the fall-out from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the sexual revolution of the 1960s that surrounded it. With good reason, since both did indeed play a large role in splintering Catholics into the current opposing camps of “liberal” and “conservative.”
Why Libertarian Catholics are Wrong on Economics Part 1
First Things has always been a classy journal featuring quality contributions from orthodox scholars and academics. Father Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009), the founding editor and famous Lutheran convert to Catholicism, was a prose stylist par excellence. Anything he chose to write about in his monthly dairy entries was a pleasure to read.
The Magic Scene: Nebraska
It sort of goes without saying every good movie is made up of a series of enjoyable, engaging scenes. But the really good movies, the ones that stick with you, have what I would call a magic scene. Or maybe even more than one.
The Republican Crusade Against Sex
As a resident of Pennsylvania, I will be called on in a few months to help elect a new Governor. As usual, I am less than thrilled with the two major party candidates we are able to choose between. And also as usual in recent years, the Republican option in this election is even more of a concern to me than is the Democrat.
Mt. Sinai and the Second Amendment
Yesterday the latest in a seemingly endless series of mass shootings occurred in a small Texas town, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos walked into an elementary school with an AR-15 style rifle. He killed nineteen children and two teachers, and wounded seventeen others.
How I Learned to Write
In recent months I have struck up a close friendship with a fascinating, age-appropriate woman who has never stopped learning, never stopped taking classes and acquiring certifications.
Catholics and Collective Bargaining
It always fascinates me when successful, fiscally conservative Catholics express an unbridled distain for organized labor on ideological grounds. To hear them tell it, unions are nothing but an affront to individual liberty and self-determination, two hallmarks of the American lexicon.
One Weird Catholic
Since returning to the fold almost thirty years ago, identifying as “Catholic” has come naturally to me. Though I can’t say there are many practicing Catholics who share my perspective on the state of the world, let alone the state of the Catholic Church.
Astrology and Free Will
Astrology doesn’t have many defenders these days, and with good reason. The idea of a horoscope that can predict your future based on the month you were born and your “sun sign” is more than a little far-fetched. The very thought strikes most reasonable people as silly, and a complete waste of time.
An Easter Suggestion
No matter how old we grow or how feeble we become, let us remember the excitement of this morning’s embrace. That way, should we ever wish to conjure the sense of healing love that so easily envelopes us today, all we need do is gaze into each other’s eyes.
What I Am Looking For
What are you looking for in a woman? This is one of the first questions asked of a man on an internet dating site. Since subscribing last June I haven’t had a ready answer. Other than the obvious, self-depreciating one: Anyone who will put up with me.
New Love Late in Life
Finding love at any age is one of life’s mysteries. An intimate relationship is a delicate thing, with many a twist and turn to navigate. In every instance the intrinsic joy being produced springs from the same source: Discovering and exploring every aspect of this new, amazing human being.
Make It Work In The Real World
The intellectual tradition to which I subscribe believes in an economics based on virtues such as justice and charity, instead of ‘laws’ like supply and demand. The earliest guidelines for this preferred system can be found in the Acts of the Apostles, when the first band of followers were said to have shared all they had with one another, according to need. This is what Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) identified back in the 13th century as “distributive justice.”
The Magic of Proximity
Because each of us is blessed with the Imago Dei, we possess an inherent dignity that is worthy of respect. This is true regardless of our level of formal education and resulting station in life. It is true no matter how meager our material circumstances might be.
Transitioning to Adulthood
Every stage of life comes with its own set of problems that need to be figured out. But going from adolescence to early adulthood is particularly tricky, especially for a sensitive young person.
Finding a Calling
My ex-wife decided in 2014 she no longer wanted to be married to me. That’s when she unceremoniously moved out of the second-floor master bedroom, and took up residence in the little in-law suite we had carved out of a couple rooms on the first floor.
Heart Like a Wheel
What is lonelier? To lack any semblance of female companionship in one’s life, or to conduct a series of hopeful first encounters in search of an elusive match when it comes to emotional intelligence and temperament, only to come up empty?
A Simple Explanation
February 14, 2022 | 175 words | Personal History
The are many reasons why a marriage hits the rocks, and many ways to describe the demise of a long-term relationship. Here’s one way…
My Divorce Story
This is being addressed primarily to my three brothers and one surviving sister.
Rachael & Vilray
You may know the voice of Rachael Price from her work with the group Lake Street Dive, who first met as students at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. That was about twenty years ago, and they’ve been recording and touring together ever since. They have a very relaxed “unplugged” sound, which puts the focus on the musicality of the music, if that makes any sense. Four friends sitting around riffing. Their original stuff is always fun, and they do some of the best covers around.
Viability
With a new conservative majority resulting from three recent Trump appointees, the Supreme Court is said to be on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade later this spring or early this summer. For pro-choice advocates such a reversal would represent a serious blow to a woman’s bodily autonomy.
Mayor Pete and the Whole Ball of Wax
The primary race for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election is old news by now, but I only just watched a documentary about the quixotic run made by the youngest member of the field, Mayor Pete.
Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
Do you adore a little baby in a wretched hovel, wrapped in miserable rags?
New Year’s Resolution
January 1, 2022 (218 words)
“A wonderful New Year’s resolution for the men who run the world: Get to know the people who only live in it.”…
Edicts of an Empire
December 25, 2021 (1,937 words)
Today’s catchy title is taken from the subject line of this week’s email blast from the long-time President of a small but highly-regarded liberal arts college located in the beautiful…
Women in the Church
December 8, 2021 (401 words)
Concern over finding oneself on the wrong side of history forces intelligent, well-intentioned people to abandon the formal practice of religion, while still thinking of themselves as being “spiritual” at…
Original Sin
December 1, 2021 (593 words)
How can an innocent newborn come into this world burdened with what religious zealots refer to as “the stain of Original Sin”? This is just the sort of mean-spirited clap-trap that…
Malden Mills
November 21, 2021 (756 words)
Do you happen to remember that twenty-five-year-old story about a Massachusetts industrialist who refused to lay-off his 1,400 employees, even after the textile plant they worked in suffered a catastrophic…
Anguished Heartbreak
November 14, 2021 (317 words)
The young balladeer Adele has done it again. Her latest hit, Go Easy on Me, is currently playing…
How Medicine is Practiced Today
November 7, 2021 (2,413 words)
The actor Stanley Tucci has appeared in over 70 films, and he always manages to be an authentic, relatable presence, even as a villain. The other night he was interviewed on NPR about a new book…
Science Trumps Religion
October 31, 2021 (373 words)
In the ongoing debate over whether or not to vaccinate for the COVID-19 virus, I recently heard an interesting take on the subject from the BBC World Service in London, courtesy of my local NPR affiliate…
Lonely Hearts Club
October 18, 2021 (802 words)
In the dating world of ‘mature singles’ there is something known as the “90-day syndrome.” That’s how long it takes for a new infatuation to run its course, and for the two adults…
Denouement
October 10, 2021 (34 words)
The physical intimacy we shared led me to believe you were more into me than it turns out you really are. And made me think we had…
Powerless to Effect Change
October 5, 2021 (174 words)
There are many forms of physical and emotional distress that can befall us in the course of our lives. Some folks have to cope with more of these challenges than others, often for…
Seven New Laws
September 28, 2021 (87 words)
The headline read: “California Governor Gavin Newsome proposes seven new laws to address homeless.” This is no doubt a well-meaning gesture on the…
A Discriminating Eye
September 27, 2021 (210 words)
It’s funny how some words can fall out of favor, while others acquire a new luster. Acceptance, tolerance, diversity, and love – especially when grouped together like a slogan, as on a…
How Much Should Government Do?
September 24, 2021 (70 words)
In touting the latest round of his seemingly never-ending infrastructure stimulus package that recently received Congressional approval, President Biden…
Faith and Works
September 12, 2021 (446 words)
The second reading at Mass this morning was that famous passage from James (2:14-26) about faith and works, the one biblical scholars and religious apologists have been arguing about for…
Eliminating the Middle Class
September 6, 2021 (1,812 words)
I.
These days contrarians of all stripes are a little obsessed with keeping government out of our lives. When the talk…
Roadrunner (Anthony Bourdain)
August 28, 2021 (343 words)
Before going to see Roadrunner, the new documentary on the life of Anthony Bourdain, I knew very…
Homeschooling and Socialization
August 27, 2021 (836 words)
For many years I partnered with my soon-to-be-ex-wife – who by the way just happens to turn 60 years old today – to raise four children. She did most of…
Sweet Music
August 23, 2021 (172 words)
And then there is music. Lots of stuff appeals to me, starting with what the yard birds do each morning before dawn. There is Americana Fest, held every September in Nashville…
Chronicles of American Money
August 15, 2021 (1,962 words)
I.
My nominee for most productive use of the pandemic shutdown would be the esteemed essayist Lance Morrow. Last year while the rest of us were sorting through our attics and basements…
By Way of Explanation
August 7, 2021 (1,759 words)
I.
The tiny enterprise I started in 1974 out of my one-bedroom apartment has slowly morphed over…
Commitment
July 29, 2021 (42 words)
There are a lot of attractive women in this world. But when one of them decides to give you her heart, well, that’s not a run-of-the-mill, everyday…
A Very Spunky Sparrow
July 27, 2021 (92 words)
When I put my arms around her it feels like I am holding a sparrow. But I’m learning inside that delicate façade beats the heart of one tough cookie. A determined…
Starting Over
July 21, 2021 (393 words)
When this summer’s low-key quest to find a new female companion first began, I thought it was important to leave my past behind. Because a common refrain of women on internet dating…
Fantasy and Reality
July 20, 2021 (368 words)
When it comes to romance, we all have a rich inner life. If someone strikes our fancy it’s easy to imagine what they might be like, how you might speak to each other, and what sort of things the two of you…
Here’s What it Takes
July 16, 2021 (104 words)
It doesn’t take a certain kind of life to be a writer, because any kind of life will do. It’s not a matter of social pedigree, or having a blue-ribbon educational background, or even a flair…
Could This Be Love?
July 12, 2021 (412 words)
Coming out of a 35-year marriage (and a 39-year relationship) you’re not supposed to fall for the first person who smiles at you. There are a lot of fish in the sea…
Summer Love
July 11, 2021 (20 words)
Summer love, and winter love, and everything in between love. The best kind…
Finding a Match
July 10, 2021 (691 words)
Much to my surprise and dismay, my long-running marriage unraveled over the last few years, and is ending in divorce. The decision is mutual, the lawyers are working out the details, and the decree should…
Adaptations
July 6, 2021 (488 words)
It’s always a challenge when they try to turn your favorite quirky novel into a movie. What makes the novel so rich and rewarding in the first place is the way it takes us into uncharted territory. The best…
Denying Biden Communion
June 23, 2021 (1,225 words)
In what made headlines on every media platform, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelming approved new…
First Things
June 8, 2021 (4,084 words)
First Things has always been a classy journal featuring quality contributions from orthodox scholars and academics. Father Richard…
Conversion Stories
June 7, 2021 (282 words)
Many adult believers have a conversion story to tell, of how they came back to the faith after a period of doubt or outright rebellion. Now that they have returned to the fold, many exhibit a new appreciation for the strictures…
Affluent and Bankrupt
June 6, 2021 (49 words)
These two terms would seem to be mutually exclusive, yet they can both be applied to us. Large swatches of our society are undeniably affluent, positively swimming in disposable…
Honest Thief
June 3, 2021 (88 words)
Honest Thief, an October 2020 theatrical release now available to stream, is an enjoyable, well-made piece of entertainment. It’s labeled an “action/thriller” since it does…
Managing Personal Expectations
May 30, 2021 (217 words)
I have always considered myself the active and outdoorsy type, but maybe not as much now as before. On a recent trip to Sedona for a family wedding, my 22-year-old daughter and I decided to tackle one of those…
A Market Disrupter meets the Common Good
May 29, 2021 (370 words)
The goal of any responsible journalist is to shed new light and increase understanding. Along those lines my own particular interest is trying to get friendly readers to reconsider their most cherished liberal or conservative…
A Vortex of Hate
May 26, 2021 (170 words)
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. At some point the woman I made a lifetime commitment to made her own conscious decision not to be happy with her lot in life. This extended to no longer being in love with me, and not wanting to be married…
Sordid Family History
May 23, 2021 (246 words)
Many years ago my father fell under the spell of and married an Italian woman. I am told it was a brief courtship, no doubt the result of some romantic voodoo caste by this vixen on a poor, unsuspecting Irishman. They managed to have a…
The Spectrum of Mental Health
May 22, 2021 (258 words)
Each of us have our own unique pathologies to deal with in this life, which seem to have been assigned at birth. The lucky ones are able to recognize some of them as time goes on, actively engage the thorniest problems in a constructive manner, and occasionally…
Two Sisters
May 17, 2021 (611 words)
I started with two sisters, but lost one to melanoma in 1998. She was 34 at the time, the youngest of the litter, and our family’s glue. She was in charge of parties and reunions…
Foolish and Wise
April 30, 2021 (16 words)
When speaking extemporaneously I often feel foolish. When I write, I am able to…
Individuals and the State
April 3, 2021 (1,210 words)
Catholic teaching on social justice is a slippery thing in many respects, hard to figure and difficult to pin down. To our modern way of thinking it flip-flops between sticking up for what it refers to as the dignity of the individual, and calling on the state to play a vital role in sorting out what can…
Some Practical Application
March 20, 2021 (1,075 words)
Catholic teaching on social justice is a system of thought that seeks to integrate law, politics, and economics. But there is nothing particularly ‘Catholic’ about it. The implementation does not require you to recite special prayers, observe the feast day of saints, or be proficient…
Catholic Social Teaching to the Rescue
March 12, 2021 (1,734 words)
A recent feature story in a mainstream publication shouts the following question from its title block: “Can Catholic Social Teaching Unite a Divided America?” What a completely unexpected…
Are Hedge Funds Evil Incarnate?
March 1, 2021 (1,734 words)
Not that anybody is paying attention to this sort of thing, but the corruption of the Catholic mind over the course of the last sixty years has had a distinctly economic…
Confronting Economic Unworthiness
February 20, 2021 (807 words)
Those who scoff at the term “social justice” cannot all be dismissed as callous and crusty. The disdain is not always a sign of hard-heartedness. Deep down…
Play It Forward
February 14, 2021 (37 words)
After being together almost forty years a thought just occurred to me. My commitment…
Rethinking Return on Investment
February 8, 2021 (1,274 words)
Any home-grown small business person knows how to stay in the game over the long haul. It starts with a hardy constitution impervious to minor ailments. It usually involves a…
Socialists Should Cheer Up
January 20, 2021 (784 words)
For some reason every critic of capitalism seems like a sourpuss. As if they are never able to get a good night’s sleep, or their sciatica is always acting…
Philanthropy: The Easy Way Out
January 12, 2021 (1,742 words)
Many of our prominent civic institutions rely on generous donations of private wealth for a vital part of their funding stream. While the term “philanthropy” can apply to the hundred bucks you throw at…
Wages: Expense or Investment?
December 27, 2020 (2,022 words)
Try to imagine a scenario in which a big, successful, publically-traded company – say a tech giant such as Amazon, for example – might decide on its own to pay its low-wage workers…
Faith and Politics in America
December 13, 2020 (7,751 words)
I.
We just elected a Catholic as President for only the second time in our history, yet during the campaign hardly a mention was made of the candidate’s once-taboo religious affiliation. Some will say that’s…
Controlling the Information
December 4, 2020 (774 words)
The printing press made the Protestant Reformation possible, once the Catholic Church could no longer control information. This may not be a new theory, but lately it seems to be popping up in places I frequent for information…
The Art of the Possible
November 27, 2020 (811 words)
Politics, as we know, is not about identifying the right thing to do, which is a basic concept parents impart to their young children. Instead it’s about recognizing what you can actually get done. This pragmatic approach…
President Boring
November 25, 2020 (309 words)
After a four-year roller coaster ride with Donald Trump at the wheel, a notable portion of the American electorate – some 80 million strong – has decided Sleepy Joe Biden as President may…
Heart and Mind
November 23, 2020 (30 words)
It’s all very well to have your heart in the right place. As long as your head is along for the ride, and is willing to work out the…
Trashing Democrats
November 18, 2020 (877 words)
The problem with trashing Democrats as thoroughly as social conservatives do is it leaves us with only one viable political alternative: Republicans…
Let Him Go
November 8, 2020 (135 words)
And now a word of praise for those veteran actors and actresses – like Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Lesley Manville – lucky enough to find good material they can really grab hold off, even this late…
A Pendulum of Political Despair
November 7, 2020 (796 words)
This morning the presidential election was officially called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The incumbent had an early lead in many crucial states once the polls closed on November 3. But that lead was…
Democracy’s Achilles Heel
October 31, 2020 (888 words)
Manipulating the emotions of the general public is how our nation’s business is conducted on a daily basis. Then comes election season, when the fear-mongering ratchets up to a fever…
Keep It Simple, Stupid
October 23 2020 (316 words)
Okay, so now it’s come to this: As one exits the northbound New Jersey Turnpike, where the Lincoln Tunnel leads into midtown Manhattan, there is a massive billboard dramatically lit against the…
A Breath of Fresh Air
October 15, 2020 (532 words)
Amy Coney-Barrett was said to have “sparred” with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, during the two days they spent questioning her nomination to fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat…
Sowing Discord and Strife
October 8, 2020 (613 words)
Going to bed early is my stock-in-trade, so i only caught the opening salvos in last night’s Vice-Presidential debate between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris. That was enough for me to regret…
Another Errant Guide
October 4, 2020 (983 words)
Walking into the back of church this morning I was greeted by an imposing stack of “Catholic Voter Guides” almost two feet high, sitting on a small table in the vestibule. What a colossal waste of ink, I couldn’t…
Answered Prayers
October 3, 2020 (414 words)
What was your immediate reaction when you first heard President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 the other day? Not many of us want to go on…
Loving Our Constitution
September 28, 2020 (1,000 words)
Legendary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died on Friday, September 18, at the age of 87. On Saturday, September 26, President Trump announced his choice to fill the vacancy her passing leaves…
Marital Fidelity and Mental Health
September 25, 2020 (49 words)
So the way it worked in our house growing up was, my mother loved us kids, and my father loved my mother. Despite…
Catholics for Biden
September 23, 2020 (992 words)
While I believe Catholics who identify as “conservative” in the practice of their faith should untether themselves from the Republican Party, I don’t think the…
Peggy Noonan’s World
September 13, 2020 (1,134 words)
The toughest part of being a name-brand commentator who gets published in the prestige press on a regular, weekly basis is that it can be hard to come up with worthwhile subject matter…
The Smell of Abortion
September 12, 2020 (1,048 words)
Did you know abortion has a smell? This provocative question is posed by one Abby Johnson, who spent eight years working for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. She started in 2001 by escorting women into the…
Reverse Racism at Yale
September 7, 2020 (728 words)
What am i missing? Here we are, smack dab in the middle of a “transformative social justice moment,” with every organization from acting troupes to tech firms loudly proclaiming its support for diversity…
A Unified Vision of Reality
September 6, 2020 (1,359 words)
So the other day I’m watching a short little video from Cross Catholic Outreach that landed in my in-box. It features a man identified in a caption as Cardinal Alvaro Ramazzini of Guatemala, a guy who…
The Philadelphia Statement
September 5, 2020 (710 words)
There’s been a lot going on lately, so you may have missed the big, August 11 signing of the Philadelphia Statement. Named in recognition of the pivotal role that city played in the founding of the…
Once More unto the Breach
September 4, 2020 (754 words)
Here we go again. With another presidential election looming partisans of all stripes are once more treating us to raw, visceral appeals designed to by-pass logic and…
We All Must Be Accountable
September 3, 2020 (534 words)
There is certainly a lot that both the average white citizen and the white power structure has to answer for when it comes to the thorny state of race relations in this country. The playbook for the change…
The Looting of America
August 31, 2020 (643 words)
Another irony is that the financial institutions whose CEOs are now taking a kneel in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and pledging $500 million over four years to combat these issues in the communities…
A Hue and Cry across the Land
August 27, 2020 (542 words)
It seems every organization in America, from acting troupes to tech firms, has felt compelled to issue a statement in recent weeks condemning racism and supporting diversity…
A Lack of Skills, and Confidence
August 23, 2020 (523 words)
Of course not every black man of limited means is violent, or traffics in criminal activity. But there is a generation of law-abiding African-American…
Why do Blacks fill our Jails?
August 18, 2020 (301 words)
This summer’s “day of reckoning” kicked off with the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, while in police custody. It was the latest such incident in recent years – flagrant examples…
Personal Habits and Success
August 15, 2020 (475 words)
A lack of cognitive ability, or possession of a lesser degree of cognitive ability, can be an obstacle to securing viable employment. But this condition – like the blessing of inherent…
Education is the Key, Right?
August 12, 2020 (321 words)
There is a broad consensus that improving educational opportunities is the answer to the current unemployment problem, among blacks and whites alike. We have to start training young…
Marginalizing Lesser-Skilled Workers
August 8, 2020 (390 words)
How to ameliorate the present suffering? Activists will continue to debate the best way of deploying housing subsidies and distributing welfare payments. And whether to continue and even expand existing…
A Lack of Empathy
August 3, 2020 (341 words)
The big noisy discussion we are currently having about systemic racism needs to happen. Since it’s a major reason so many blacks are stuck on the outside looking in, even after all these years, and…
A Helping Hand
August 1, 2020 (339 words)
Little kids like to learn new things. And adults in their general vicinity usually take pleasure in helping them make a new discovery. Then time passes, the kids are no longer little, and this happy dynamic…
An Honest Conversation About Race
July 24, 2020 (4,517 words)
The national examination of conscience we are engaged in this summer on the thorny subject of race relations has me thinking in a slightly different direction than the wise commentators who have weighed in…
A Turn for the Worse
July 9, 2020 (1,984 words)
Oh, my. State populations that thought themselves immune to the COVID-19 outbreak in March are now experiencing a surge of infections. While other states, on strict lockdown for months, are registering an…
Bringing Back Mass
July 1, 2020 (693 words)
Now that early attempts to “re-open” the original shutdown States have been met with a rise in COVID-19 infections, we are confronted with the fact that face masks may be part of our outdoor attire…
Why the Tap Dance?
June 26, 2020 (1,385 words)
Talk about beating around the bush… It seems the only people who speak or write seriously about the social teaching of the Catholic Church do so in such an ephemeral and theoretical manner it’s hard for the…
Perverting the Aim of Government
June 19, 2020 (1,374 words)
A few weeks ago Marc Thiessen devoted one of his Washington Post op-eds to the success of the recent SpaceX launch on May 30. It marked the first time in history NASA astronauts launched…
Moderation Is The Key
June 12, 2020 (641 words)
I had a couple of aunts on my mother’s side of the family that both lived well into their nineties. They never really got sick, and they never put on weight. Their life-long motto was “moderation in all things.” I didn’t pay much…
Floundering with the Flavor of the Month
June 9, 2020 (1,693 words)
All contemporary political and social commentary misses the mark. It fails to get at the heart of the problem it sets out to address. How can that be? The fly in the ointment, it seems to me, is how we have…
The Company One Keeps
June 2, 2020 (322 words)
Just so we’re clear, the Catholic Church is as corrupt as any institution around. There is no denying it. When your organizational chart is filled with flawed human beings, you can hope for the best but should prepare…
The Missing Link
June 1, 2020 (371 words)
My slow-but-steady march through Rich People Things: Real Life Secrets of the Predator Class, a book of social criticism originally published by Chris Lehmann in 2010, and followed the next year with an…
Happy Birds
May 29, 2020 (116 words)
You may have heard of Angry Birds, a popular entertainment which started in 2009 as a casual puzzle video game, inspired by a sketch of stylized wingless…
Sharing With Others
May 25, 2020 (3,429 words)
As if by design, after not watching the streaming service Netflix for a while I flipped it on again to find the movie Trumbo at the top of my queue. Turns out this 2015…
Manchester By The Sea
May 20, 2020 (996 words)
It turns out we had a copy of this November 2016 theatrical release kicking around the house, so i didn’t need to rent it on Amazon Prime Video in order to watch it again…
Finding Something to Watch
May 18, 2020 (1,433 words)
After two months of trying to flatten the curve, medical personnel are probably pretty stressed out. Those not employed in an “essential” industry, or not able to work from home, are no doubt feeling…
Rich People Things
April 20, 2020 (1,384 words)
Here we are, just a few weeks into the coronavirus stay-at-home order, and already I’ve started the once every ten years, clear-out-the-attic, no holds barred, major life…
Just Trying to Help (part two)
April 15, 2020 (3,352 words)
My ire has often been directed at prominent conservative Catholics, many of whom are highly-compensated commentators working for lavishly funded private foundations, who I believe avoid or willfully misinterpret…
Holy Week in the Pandemic
April 12, 2020 (3,979 words)
Well, this has certainly been a Holy Week like no other. As a kid the Easter Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil was not something our family participated in. Despite my attending…
Step Forward, Oh Great Ones
April 10, 2020 (851 words)
When the NBA suspended the remainder of its season in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, professional basketball player Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers announced on March 12 he was donating $100,000 to…
Wasted Years?
April 5, 2020 (909 words)
Last month’s directive to stay home and shelter in place to help combat the spread of the coronavirus has finally forced me to check out the world of YouTube videos…
New Found Fame
April 3, 2020 (3,956 words)
Today’s story concerns the new found fame being enjoyed by one E. Michael Jones, PhD. He was born in Philadelphia in 1948, and has been toiling in relative obscurity as an author and journalist since starting his first magazine on…
Just Trying to Help
March 28, 2020 (1,753 words)
Many fine people of my acquaintance, and many worthwhile social commentators, continue to strut and fret over what they see as a dire trend in society today: a rising segment…
Once the Pandemic Passes
March 23, 2020 (1,240 words)
Early in what proved to be an anti-climactic debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders on Sunday, March 8, Mr. Sanders claimed the COVID-19 outbreak exposes flaws in our healthcare…
A Not-So-Quiet Woman
March 17, 2020 (362 words)
What a young Maureen O’Hara conveys with her eyes and facial expressions as Mary Kate Danaher in…
Drowning My Sorrows
March 16, 2020 (1,228 words)
Last night’s big one-on-one debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders turned out to be a big disappointment. At least the first half-hour or so was, after which I turned…
Knee Deep In Mud
March 6, 2020 (1,085 words)
Decorum prevents me from describing the substance restraining our gait with the colorful term of my…
Calling Names, Throwing Stones
February 28, 2020 (2,388 words)
There are those who say my commentary suffers from being simple-minded. It’s true, these days I do favor clean lines and straightforward explanations. But in chasing a concise thought one should avoid…
Creativity
February 21, 2020 (16 words)
Every day is an opportunity to find new ways of expressing our current level of understanding.
The Wrong Reasons
February 18, 2020 (1,838 words)
We are all entitled to our opinions, and we tend to take great pride in them. Unfortunately the vested interest we show in our present level of understanding is what stands in the way of improving…
Pro-Life Presidents
February 15, 2020 (1,646 words)
There was a surprise guest at the March For Life in Washington, D.C. last month, a boisterous rally held annually on the anniversary of the…
All Sorts of Divides
February 9, 2020 (182 words)
It’s hard for men and women to really talk to each other. It’s difficult for a 65 year-old to easily converse with a 25 year-old. Or for folks who wear blue jeans at…
Superstitious and Credulous Citizens
February 8, 2020 (1,105 words)
The last weekend in January presented me with an interesting juxtaposition of ideas. On that Saturday morning The Wall Street Journal featured a review of a new book on one of my favorite…
Chasing Our Tail
February 1, 2020 (600 words)
At last month’s Golden Globe Awards (January 6) the actress Michelle Williams won a prize and caused a stir with her acceptance speech. By way of full…
A Hidden Life
January 31, 2020 (697 words)
Terrence Malick has a new movie out, a three-hour opus entitled A Hidden Life. The last such production of his I dragged my entire family to was The Tree of Life, back in…
Hiding in Plain Sight
January 30, 2020 (1,328 words)
I’ve managed to reach retirement age without ever coming in contact with To Kill a Mockingbird. Not the book that was published in 1960 and won the…
Inadvertent Humor
January 23, 2020 (738 words)
There’s a guy at work who considers me a radical left-wing socialist, because he sees that I sometimes read…
Effective Communication
January 20, 2020 (829 words)
Combativeness is not the best way to communicate. It does, however, have the advantage of getting the juices flowing and invigorating the participants, making them feel more alive in the heat…
Moral Superiority
January 10, 2020 (1,710 words)
It’s only natural to feel sorry for those who are less fortunate than we ourselves are. And the natural response is to try and help in whatever way we…
Intrinsic Joy
January 6, 2020 (500 words)
At this late stage in life, some of us older folks find ourselves with a modest amount of disposal income on our hands, something we couldn’t have imagined during our challenging child-rearing…
Sorting Things Out
December 25, 2019 (5,697 words)
I’ve just started reading the economist Joseph Stiglitz’s latest book, People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent. If his name doesn’t ring a bell with you, be advised this Mr. Stiglitz…
Recent Polling
December 20, 2019 (306 words)
I managed to stay awake for the first hour of last night’s Democratic presidential debate. Since I haven’t been following the fortunes of the twenty-odd announced contestants in the race, I was surprised…
A Day in the Neighborhood
December 15, 2019 (426 words)
It seems as if the things I most enjoy in life are all dying a slow death and on their way out. Like newspapers, magazines, and going to the movies. But I will continue to frequent all three for as long as they’re still around…
Missionaries of Gratitude
December 15, 2019 (514 words)
When the long-time pastor at the small, neighborhood parish where I now attend Mass reached retirement age in 2015, the Archdiocesan office had no one to send us in his stead. So they imported a couple of young priests from South…
The Last Word
December 8, 2019 (380 words)
When it comes to human affairs, it’s hard for any of us to claim the last word. No matter how highly developed our sense of discernment may be, there is always some perspective that escapes our notice, some angle…
The First Thanksgiving
November 28, 2019 (989 words)
My friends the social conservatives usually have their heart in the right place, but their automatic adoption of the economic and political worldview promoted by their distant cousins, the fiscal conservatives…
History
November 25, 2019 (16 words)
There are many different stories in this world, and they are all being played out simultaneously…
Civilizing America
November 17, 2019 (1,204 words)
At the fall of the no longer Holy Roman Empire, the western territory had been laid waste by Visigoths and other barbarians, and found itself in pretty bad shape. The ravaged, war-torn landscape…
The Warren Way Is Wrong
November 10, 2019 (1,876 words)
Most everyone I know or rub elbows with on a regular basis thinks Elizabeth Warren is a crack pot. There was a guest editorial in The New York Times the other day (Nov 5) that concisely expresses the conventional wisdom regarding the senator from Massachusetts…
Trading Places
November 4, 2019 (186 words)
When I was younger and in my prime, encounters with older guys who were starting to go to seed and turn a bit feeble all went pretty much the same way. They didn’t warrant much attention from me one way or the other, beyond my registering how they seemed a beat slow…
Parental Discretion
October 31, 2019 (133 words)
Being the parent of young adults in their twenties is matter of modulation. One has to learn when to speak up and offer advice, and when to keep quiet and allow your no-longer-young charges to figure things out on their own…
A Music City Reunion
October 15, 2019 (2,130 words)
There were six of us little ones growing up, four boys and two girls. Our younger sister, MaryAnne, was the proverbial baby of the family, and over time she proved to be the glue that held the rest of us together…
Helping or Hurting?
October 10, 2019 (1,986 words)
Our youngest has just started his freshman year of college, and while visiting him last weekend I attended Mass at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, in Williamsport, PA…
Seeing the Forest
October 3, 2019 (773 words)
There’s nothing better than a good epiphany. And one of the best I’ve had in recent years occurred to me in December 2013.
It came via the unexpected backlash to Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”)…
Apples and Oranges
September 28, 2019 (1,559 words)
There are some 50,000 employees of General Motors who are currently out on strike. They are all members of the United Auto Workers, the same union that represents similar employees at Ford and Chrysler.
The contracts between each of the Big Three…
The Welfare State
September 12, 2019 (3,585 words)
The idea of a “Green New Deal” has recently been floated by certain members of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, which has received an infusion of new blood via the November 2018 election.
One of the most outspoken proponents of this audacious concept…
The Standard Send-Off
August 30, 2019 (1,236 words)
When the billionaire philanthropist David Koch recently died at age 79, he got the standard send-off from The Wall Street Journal. It praised his well-known faith in free markets and limited government…
Justification or Atonement
August 23, 2019 (4,217 words)
It’s not uncommon for young, headstrong people to make poor choices and bad decisions while in their halcyon teens and 20s, and sometimes even into their 30’s and 40’s…
Cooperation and Conflict
August 15, 2019 (2,116 words)
Upon turning 75 a little over a month from now, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput will be obliged to submit his resignation to Pope Francis. He has been a faithful bishop, a good man, and an engaging writer. No doubt he will continue to be all three, even in retirement…
The Prancing Prince
July 30, 2019 (379 words)
Some actors hit the ground running and are enjoyable to watch from their very earliest film roles right on through to the end of their careers. William Holden comes to mind…
Bad Parenting
July 29, 2019 (409 words)
I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but all three of our sons have turned out to be libertarians. (They also wear black socks with their sneakers, but I can only deal with one heresy at a time.)…
Leaving Well Enough Alone
July 19, 2019 (151 words)
A lot of popular music is over-produced, isn’t it? You especially notice this when an old song you like comes on the radio. (Remember the radio?) Or when one of your grown children streams…
Changing the Words
July 14, 2019 (615 words)
That rascal Pope Francis is at it again. This time he is recommending a revision to one of our oldest prayers, the Our Father…
All Is True
July 5, 2019 (1,210 words)
Every art form has the power to move me, and usually does. But the one that consistently engages my sensibilities and tugs at my heart strings is drama. Stage or screen, there is something about seeing a good story unfold that always…
It Pays to Notice
June 29, 2019 (1,007 words)
My kind no longer does manual labor to make a living, the way our grandparents did. And we don’t go in for the rather pedestrian civil servant or middle-management positions that were the pride and joy of our parents…
Alms and Charity
June 24, 2019 (385 words)
The full title of the Cross Catholic Outreach official who led our little traveling party of American visitors in Guatemala last week is “International Vision & Mission Trips Officer.” He told us that…
The Depths of Love
June 23, 2019 (934 words)
To a large and vocal contingent of conservative American Catholics it remains “open season” on Pope Francis. In their eyes his transgressions are ongoing, and continue to mount…
The Triple Bottom Line
June 22, 2019 (657 words)
Profit is the bottom line, as we all know. But how many of us are familiar with the Triple Bottom Line? It consists of Profit, People, and Planet. Though the term is said to have been coined way back in 1994, I only just heard about it this week, from an official with Cross Catholic…
Difficult Subjects, Forgotten Teaching
June 21, 2019 (1,544 words)
One good thing (among many) about belonging to a universal church is the way it naturally and organically responds to every local culture known to man. Another good thing is how it has encountered every human condition down through the centuries, and developed the teaching to address…
Why Welfare Doesn’t Work
June 20, 2019 (940 words)
We all know that welfare doesn’t work, and we all know why. Government hand-outs create a feeling of entitlement, and encourage a culture of dependency. The recipients fail to take ownership of what they are given, and feel no responsibility for their…
Arguing with Success (in four parts)
June 19, 2019 (2,521 words)
Part One
The economic discussion has gone stale. It has fallen into a bit of a rut. And the average successful American doesn’t generally give the subject much thought, beyond a perfunctory checking…
A Mountain of Corn
June 18, 2019 (429 words)
The phrase “true grit” has iconic overtones. To movie audiences of a certain age, the term may conjure images of an older John Wayne, circa 1969, in the role of Rooster Cogburn, a crusty, broken-down…
The Speed of Light
June 15, 2019 (436 words)
Wendell Berry is now 84 years old. The poet, novelist, essayist and gentleman farmer is a well-known dissenter from nearly every aspect of modern life. He was born, raised, and still lives in Kentucky, maintains a healthy distance from any major metropolis, and does all his writing in longhand, with…
Do You Play?
June 12, 2019 (134 words)
Can you be considered a musician without actually being able to play an instrument? Random sounds and bits of conversation have always elicited a musical response from me…
Comic Book Heroes
June 9, 2019 (495 words)
You may be familiar with the popular catch-phrase “you had me at hello,” a line uttered by the female lead of a successful “summer movie” from some twenty years ago. It was part of clever script that combined…
Love’s Austere and Lonely Offices
June 5, 2019 (1,002 words)
While there are certainly historical antecedents for both the sexual revolution and women’s liberation, the post-WWII boom of the late 1950s into the 1960s saw these movements really hit their stride and go…
At a Loss for Words
May 23, 2019 (24 words)
It seems the most important realizations we experience in life are beyond the power of words to express. But it’s still fun to try…
Haphazard Men
May 19, 2019 (1,017 words)
Whenever David Brooks riffs on our wayward culture in the op-ed section of The New York Times I am always at full attention. (His political commentary, offered on television as a guest panelist for various cable news outlets, is less captivating from my perspective.)…
Passport Photo
April 30, 2019 (883 words)
My passport recently reached its ten-year expiration date, and being the world traveler that I am it was absolutely imperative to have it renewed immediately. So last week I sauntered into the local post
Crisis at the Border
April 13, 2019 (1,855 words)
The other day I was startled by a front page story in The New York Times that announced the U.S. border could be at a breaking point. Then driving home from work yesterday I listened to National Public Radio…
Democracy In Action
March 24, 2019 (76 words)
Democracy allows us to have an opinion about everything, without necessarily giving much thought to anything in advance. No need to investigate or educate ourselves on…
Finding A Home
March 19, 2019 (3,431 words)
When the book Why Liberalism Failed by Notre Dame associate professor of political science Patrick J. Deneen was published by Yale University Press in January 2018, it was immediately reviewed in all…
Creating (Crummy) Jobs
March 11, 2019 (2,212 words)
Many a member of my once-dominant post-WW II “baby boom” generation (b. 1946-1964) began life with decidedly liberal tendencies. But we were mugged…
Loopholes and Deductions
March 1, 2019 (1,103 words)
Nobody likes to pay taxes. Very few of us ever call our friendly neighborhood accountant and say, “You know, Larry, this year let’s make sure I hand over my fair share.” This inbred aversion to taxation…
Because They Can
February 24, 2019 (692 words)
I live and work in a well-off suburb that is a Republican stronghold, with “Democrats Need Not Apply” signs posted prominently at most every polling place come election season…
High Stakes Petulance
February 20, 2019 (914 words)
Amazon is no longer going to locate a new $2.5 billion HQ facility in Long Island City, Queens (NYC). The prickly press release was made public last Thursday morning – Valentine’s Day…
Anytown, U.S.A.
February 14, 2019 (928 words)
On any given day of the week, you can stroll into a bar or diner of your choice and be treated to a variation of the following exchange, being bandied about over a cup of coffee or a glass of beer. The bleeding heart …
Framing the Argument
February 12, 2019 (355 words)
Despite my recently noted reservations about the methodology used for his economic prognosticating, there is an initiative American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks is currently promoting…
American Catholicism, American Power
February 9, 2019 (1,367 words)
Arthur Brooks and Andrew Cuomo are the same type of Catholics. This may come as a surprise to most readers, since each man operates from opposite ends of the political spectrum. But then…
A Treasure
February 7, 2019 (45 words)
Our only daughter is getting her own place and moving out. She is a treasure, and now it’s time for us…
Under Development
February 3, 2019 (1,264 words)
As president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) since January 2009, Arthur Brooks has spent the last ten years working with political, intellectual, and business leaders in Washington, D.C. and…
Rainmaker Extraordinaire
February 2, 2019 (444 words)
Somehow I missed the March 2018 announcement that Arthur Brooks will be stepping down in June 2019 as president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank…
Singing to No One
January 26, 2019 (499 words)
I happen to be a big fan of any sort of live music. It can be a jazz trio, a symphony orchestra, or a high school marching band. There is something about people making beautiful…
An Economics of Justice and Charity
January 23, 2019 (418 words)
This Christmas I received a book as a present from one of my considerate children, who shall remain nameless. (But she knows who she is.) I have started reading this book from the beginning, which…
Living in Fear
January 21, 2019 (543 words)
We all have our preferred sources of news and information that contribute to our comfortable routines. In the January 11 edition…
Dénouement
January 17, 2019 (31 words)
Once we are finally finished with acquisition, our thoughts turn naturally toward absolution. Of everyone…
Unconfessed Sins
January 6, 2019 (640 words)
(The following is reprinted from the Letters section of the December 2018 issue of Culture Wars magazine, as contributed by Lise Anglin of Toronto, Ontario.)…
Doctors of the Church
January 1, 2019 (343 words)
The term “Church Fathers,” or “Early Church Fathers,” or “Fathers of the Church,” describes those men of the first two generations after the Apostles of Christ, and for that reason are often referred to as…
Religious Intolerance
December 28, 2018 (808 words)
Let’s review the facts of the case: Separation of church and state is the best thing that ever happened to us. It allowed early American colonists to leave the religious strife of Reformation…
A Brand New Day
December 25, 2018 (167 words)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwell in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them …
Business Owner as Teacher
December 21, 2018 (1,004 words)
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. While this is undeniably true, it’s still a lot easier to just hand over a cod filet and leave it at that, since teaching…
Taxation without Representation
December 16, 2018 (1,248 words)
Our youngest is a senior in high school this year. He is studying the War of 1812 in History, and writing about it in English. The other night we both found ourselves standing in the kitchen, waiting…
Why Must Everyone Be So Mad?
December 3, 2018 (1,168 words)
I seem to be out of step with just about everything these days. The most recent trend to have passed me by is “Catholic Outrage.” Any serious practitioner that…
Prosperity Happened
December 1, 2018 (55 words)
Toward the end of his life my father developed a pithy, two-word answer to the question that continues to vex us. How did the culture go…
A Change of Heart
November 26, 2018 (48 words)
Where once I dreamt of women, now I dream of words. Without wanting to offend half the population, my current pre-occupation is proving to be a much more productive…
Class Reunion
November 23, 2018 (47 words)
We are all a tribute to our parents. Who in turn are, of course, a tribute to their parents. Who then are a tribute to – oh, well, you get the picture…
A Just Wage
November 21, 2018 (1,912 words)
Here in the well-off suburbs where I reside, the worshippers I tend to rub elbows with on the weekend exude a quiet pride in their circumstances. They are proud of where they…
Bad Bosses
November 17, 2018 (355 words)
In the beginning, the overbearing and hyper-critical way you relate to your small staff is justified by the fear of failure. The sense of dread that comes from …
A Limited Time Engagement
November 10, 2018 (200 words)
The hardcore nuclear family, raising-of-children thing is only a temporary gig. Depending on how many kids you have, and how you decide to space them, you’re looking at a twenty…
Election Day
November 6, 2018 (34 words)
The only group of politicians more frustrating than the Republicans are those Democrats. How did it ever come…
Nice Words
November 1, 2018 (1,699 words)
Christendom College is a small Catholic institution of higher learning located on the outskirts of a sleepy little Shenandoah Valley town by the name of Front Royal, Virginia. It prides…
Traversing Mexico
October 29, 2018 (92 words)
The caravan of men, women, and children currently walking from Guatemala to Texas hoping to find a better life at the end of their long march, prompts the following…
Why Do You Stay?
October 22, 2018 (779 words)
This is the question now being asked of Catholics, as the accusations and indictments in the ongoing clerical sex abuse scandal seem to pile up, one after the…
Burying The Lead
October 15, 2018 (1,157 words)
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia has recently reasserted his long-standing opposition to any revision of the statute of limitations in Pennsylvania on the reporting of sexual abuse of minors…
Bernie and Elizabeth
October 14, 2018 (1,120 words)
There are probably not too many practicing Catholics walking around today who both revere the practical wisdom contained in the Magisterium, and value the practical advice on economic policy offered by Senator Bernie Sanders…
Sexual Politics and Irony
October 11, 2018 (201 words)
I seem to recall being on the receiving end of some less-than-friendly banter during my late teens and early twenties, over what was interpreted at the time to be a certain reticence on my part toward the opposite…
The Problem with Democracy
October 10, 2018 (391 words)
We know that a successful democracy requires an informed citizenry, and in order to be informed that citizenry relies on a free press. But it turns out these two well-known and widely acknowledged premises…
Prosperity and Progress
October 9, 2018 (227 words)
There is a breed of libertarian economist who, along with a corresponding breed of progressive social scientist, never tires of trumpeting the dramatic increase in material well-being our society has experienced…
Sowing Wild Oats
October 5, 2018 (1,829 words)
Today is the one-year anniversary of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, which kicked off and gave voice to the #MeToo movement. As this past year has unfolded, I have found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Shooting the Messenger
September 30, 2018 (1,728 words)
They say compromise, the settling of disputes by each side making concessions, is a lost art. Maybe that’s because we have become a schizophrenic people, addicted to an adversarial, split-screen…
So Long, Uncle Ted
September 6, 2018 (3,484 words)
No sooner had we begun to digest the alarming implications of the wide-ranging Pennsylvania attorney general’s report, first released on August 12, than the sordid McCarrick affair …
The Tyranny of Bad Ideas
September 3, 2018 (996 words)
Daniel Pipes reminds us that Venezuela’s economy, now an unmitigated disaster, was once a thriving example of economic efficiency, due in large measure to the discovery of vast oil reserves…
A Gaggle of Gay Priests
September 1, 2018 (1,198 words)
From my perch outside the enchanted circle, it seems nabbing a spot as a regular commentator in the prestige print media requires a serendipitous combination of talent and connections. When the…
Ella and Olives
August 29, 2018 (187 words)
My mother had two enduring passions to the very end of her life: Olives, and the music of Ella Fitzgerald. So every birthday my father came through like clock-work with a can of black olives, a can of green…
Forsaking Chastity
August 27, 2018 (1,951 words)
The Catholic Church’s dark night of the soul continues. Earlier this month Pennsylvania’s attorney general issued a scathing report on a handful of dioceses across the state, going back some 70 years, which…
A Free Education
August 23, 2018 (290 words)
Many of us admire Ken Langone for his shrewd business acumen and his generous philanthropic efforts. And we agree that his recent $100 million contribution…
How and When to Die
August 12, 2018 (2,776 words)
We all start out thinking we’ll live to a ripe old age, and die peacefully in our sleep. But eventually we come to realize that aging gracefully and dying gently is a rare circumstance, experienced only by the…
Running From Applause
July 30, 2018 (486 words)
The story is told of Jesus feeding a hungry multitude from what at first appeared to be a meager pantry. In a surprise turn of events, not only was everyone in attendance able to eat their fill that day, free of charge…
An Ounce of Prevention
July 26, 2018 (637 words)
As a charter remember of the “never been sick a day in his life” club, the last few years have been a humbling experience for me. The decline started innocently enough, as it usually does, with fading eyesight…
Conservative Confusion Continues
July 16, 2018 (1,303 words)
The inability of conservatives to properly delineate the historical fault lines of our cultural problems is why we find ourselves in such disarray. They continue to misdiagnose its origins, and mash together categories…
Tariffs and Trade Wars
July 13, 2018 (1,658 words)
Given the contentious nature of our adversarial political system, the custom has always been for the opposition party, the one not currently in power, to go out of its way to find fault with the ruling…
The Big Pay-Off
July 10, 2018 (1,037 words)
For the last forty-five years religious conservatives distraught over the legalization of abortion have employed a three-step approach to national politics. Elect a pro-life Republican as…
Great Falls, Montana
July 6, 2018 (778 words)
Ever since Budd Schulberg’s lacerating 1958 screenplay for A Face In The Crowd, and the 1968 Joe McGinniss bestseller, The Selling Of The President, and the 1972 vehicle for Robert Redford…
Easy Living and Ruination
July 2, 2018 (962 words)
Summertime and the living is easy, according to the lyricist Ira Gershwin. This is especially true for those lucky, early-retirement people, for whom life has unfolded in a most agreeable fashion…
How old is the Earth?
June 16, 2018 (1,787 words)
I was reminded of this burning question by our youngest son, who had a lot of trouble with his just-completed junior year of high school biology. The job of finding a tutor to help with his summer-school…
Love City
June 13, 2018 (437 words)
On the day of the latest British royal wedding, the one between Prince Harry and the American actress Meghan Markle…
Raise Taxes, Lose Taxpayers
June 10, 2018 (2,244 words)
This pithy formula is favored by economists of a libertarian bent, erstwhile academics specializing in theoretical constructions based on elaborate data. Data, as we know, has firmly established itself…
Boy Wonder
June 8, 2018 (333 words)
The Wanderer, a venerable Catholic newsweekly that’s been going to press since October 1867, has now had two of its regular contributors review the new Ross Douthat book on this troubling papacy…
A Father’s Lament
May 28, 2018 (108 words)
One minute, your house is full of cute little kids whose mission in life is to bounce around and spread joy. The next minute these same sweet children have become surly young…
Repealing the Eighth
May 26, 2018 (1,528 words)
Yesterday voters in Ireland overwhelming decided to roll back the Eighth Amendment to their constitution, originally passed in 1983, and remove the restriction it had placed on abortion. In dramatic…
Identifying the Enemy
May 23, 2018 | (2,304 words)
I am now well into my seventh decade of continuous residency on the western fringe of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, though I did enjoy a twenty year sabbatical from belief and practice in the middle trimester, to pursue some bad…
Nearing the End
May 16, 2018 | (1,124 words)
I’ve noticed that people my age are starting to check out and die, which is a most disconcerting development. My long-ago best friend and one-time business partner, Jim Gillis, passed away recently…
A Book, not a Movie
May 9, 2018 | (299 words)
Life is more like a book, than a movie. Consider the way our faith tells us that sexual activity outside of marriage is contrary to the natural law that is written on our…
Conscience and Discernment
May 6, 2018 | (1,883 words)
Pope Francis is certainly a hotly debated topic of conversation these days. The discussion ranges from the uncritical praise of his every act or utterance, to the ruthless criticism of his every ambiguous…
Taking Center Stage
May 2, 2018 | (1,969 words)
The fifty-year anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae is fast approaching (July 1968). That’s the one in which Paul VI reaffirmed traditional Church teaching on the dire consequences of artificial…
Protecting Pluralism
April 28, 2018 | (1,982 words)
William Galston writes for the Wall Street Journal, is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, teaches at the University of Maryland, and was a former policy advisor in the Clinton…
The Heart of the Christian Message
April 14, 2018 (1,300 words)
Yesterday New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat gave an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) in support of his new book, To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism. This is an…
What I Believe
April 3, 2018 | (1,185 words)
The gentleman who is trying to drive traffic to this web site has asked me to provide a series of descriptive words that define it. He has also asked a series of basic questions with the same idea in mind. My descriptive words and attempts at…
Bells and Smells
April 1, 2018 | (141 words)
Provided one is able to muster the necessary stamina, there is nothing like a long, thorough Holy Saturday service at an observant Catholic parish to remind one of the benefits of communal…
False Gods
March 31, 2018 | (816 words)
Yesterday was both Good Friday and the first night of Passover. Late last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, a gentleman on a National Public Radio broadcast explained…
Ties That Bind
March 17, 2018 | (1,000 words)
I’ve been thinking about my wife’s dead parents a lot lately, almost as much as my own. After some thirty-six years in relationship, persistent annoyance interspersed with transcendent joy…
Sustaining Habits
March 11, 2018 | (2,224 words)
Is it just me, or does columnist Ross Douthat also strike you as being fundamentally different from other high profile op-ed writers? His relative youth (b. 1979) is one distinguishing characteristic, to be sure. He is the youngest full-time…
Controlling Access
March 1, 2018 | (869 words)
“For centuries, the Catholic Church sought to limit the circulation of Bible translations in order to control access to the word of God.” This sentence, a little landmine of libel to some of us, is found in the DEUS EX MACHINA essay by…
Understanding Sex
February 24, 2018 | (2,282 words)
In the Fall of 1960, still one full year shy of turning seven and achieving the age of reason, my formal classroom education commenced that September under the watchful eye of a small handful of Catholic nuns.
Creation and Evolution
February 9, 2018 | (1,412 words)
Most of us made up our minds on this subject years ago. So we have no need for, nor do we pay particularly close attention to, the periodic announcements that continue to pop up in the news from time-to-time…
The Feminine Mystique
December 28, 2017 | (1,370 words)
After an exhilarating half-century of sexual revolution, now is a good time to maybe step back and take stock. As everyone knows, our contemporary era of free love was initiated by the invention of a…
The Ages of (this) Man
December 15, 2017 | (91 words)
The first twenty years are an introduction to things. The next forty years are a matter of making one’s way in the rowdy world. Now having given up the chase, the last twenty years of this man’s lif…
Grisly Procedures
November 24, 2017 | (4,346 words)
For those who may be unfamiliar with her work, Linda Greenhouse is a New York Times Contributing Op-Ed Writer who covers the Supreme Court and the law. Her November 12, 2017 effort is entitled “The W…
Pope Francis in Context: An American Responds
October 3, 2017 | (15,215 words)
Well, the long wait is finally over. With “Bergoglio in Context: Have the End Times come to Buenos Aires,” appearing in the June 2017 issue of Culture Wars magazine, readers now know where their fear…
Life in the Universal Church
September 12, 2017 | (295 words)
Some Catholics find themselves drawn to a charismatic expression of their faith, while others are more naturally given to a quiet, contemplative pose. Some are what might be described as being of the…
Civilization and Digestion
August 6, 2017 | (280 words)
Once our children reach the age of reason, a good deal of their subsequent development into civilized human beings occurs at the dinner table. There is the mastery of basic cutlery, of course, along…
A Brief Word on Cultural Diversity
June 26, 2017 | (3,678 words)
It’s now been several decades since the slogan “our diversity is our strength” first became a popular refrain, and entered the vernacular as an accepted piece of wisdom. This is generally considered…
A Commercial Republic and the End of Desire
May 30, 2017 | (5,255 words)
Advertisers, along with Las Vegas odds-makers, possess a Solomon-like understanding of their target audience. With remarkable precision they parse the buying public into pertinent demographic groups,…
A New Pope Registers an Old Complaint
April 3, 2017 | (8,395 words)
The March 2003 invasion of Iraq was a polarizing event for American Catholics. If you recall, we were given a choice between supporting the American gospel of “spread democracy,” and adhering to the…
Fabric Merchants and Fairness
March 1, 2017 | (1,803 words)
At this late date no reasonable person disputes the broad outline of the positive effects of free enterprise, expressed by Arthur Brooks in his essay “Confessions of a Catholic Convert to Capitalism,”…