Home - Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr.

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.

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