Colbert, the Coen Brothers, and Religious Prejudice
September 1, 2010, 12:57 pm
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:
MORE
99.44 % (Morally) Pure.
August 29, 2010, 8:42 am
I would love to hear what Old Testament /Hebrew Bible scholars make of this. . . .
is there a psychological connection between perception of physical cleanliness and commitment to moral cleanliness?
The moral issues they discussed could each be argued to involve a certain amount of pollution --
MORE
Jonathan Mayhew on the Specter of Catholic “Tyranny”
August 28, 2010, 10:46 am
Jonathan Mayhew (1720-66), was a Puritan clergyman whose arguments for religious and political liberty were harbingers of arguments made in the Revolutionary War. In his "Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission," he defends revolting against religious and political tyranny-and
MORE
Archbishop Chaput on the Belgian Raid
August 27, 2010, 11:49 am
In a recent talk in Eastern Europe, Archbishop Charles Chaput criticized increasing ant-Christian sentiment in the West. He gave as an example the police raid of the Cardinal's residence, which he characterized as being conducted without due process.
It seems to me the only question to be asked
MORE
Pets and People
August 23, 2010, 5:35 pm
I haven't had pets for most of my life. When I was a little girl, we lost two dogs in a row to a busy road outside our house. That was it. We got a cat--who was more-or-less an outdoor cat. And I'm allergic to cats. And as an adult, a hectic work and travel schedule made it seem irresponsible
MORE
Roses Would Have Been Better
August 18, 2010, 12:11 pm
Samuel Sewall, whose diary is a wonderful window into Puritan life, tried to woo a second wife by giving her an election sermon.
Election Sermons have unquestionably been instrumental for good in various ways: they have fired patriotic zeal, strengthened resolution, perhaps consoled the sick
MORE
John Adams on Thomas Paine
August 16, 2010, 3:10 pm
Adams wasn't a big fan of Paine--envying his fame while worrying about his radical democratic ideals. And he objected to Paine's increasingly pugnacious deism.
When he wanted to be, Adams was capable of what today would be seen as the highest level of snark. Here's his comment on the title of
MORE
Fire, Brimstone–and Family
August 15, 2010, 12:30 pm
Oh! To be prayed, heard, wept down to Hell, how dreadful is that? You shall be plagued above others, Amos 3.2. Gods hand will follow you, Judg.2.15, and at last you shall die in sin, Ezek.18. 9, 10,. And be cast off for ever, 1 Chron. 29.l9. Jer.16, 12, 13. And go to Hell, though the children of
MORE
“Excommunicate Me, Please”
August 5, 2010, 2:00 pm
It is anguished essays like this that I have in mind when arguing that there is indeed a "tipping point" that has been reached in the most recent wave of the abuse crisis. Members of the clergy who ignore, downplay, mock, or obfuscate this emerging phenomenon among serious Catholics
MORE
Law and Order Probably Doesn’t Like You
August 3, 2010, 5:29 pm
Stanley Fish's entertaining and insightful take on the series that dominates the waves of cable tv
MORE
A Council at Trent: Catholic Ethicists and the World Church
July 27, 2010, 6:17 am
Roman Catholics know that our church is universal–catholic with a small "c", embracing people of every race, region, color, and tongue. Most of the time, however, that knowledge is abstract, and even undermined by immediate evidence, rather like the knowledge that the earth is round.
MORE
Cute Parody
July 18, 2010, 7:49 pm
1. The Famous Old Spice Commercial
2. The Brigham Young University Parody
HT: Joe Carter
MORE
Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Fair Minded Words
July 14, 2010, 11:02 pm
The registration is now open for the conference on abortion at Princeton this fall, which will bring together a range of voices and perspectives for honest but civil conversation.
Here's a link to the program, speaker bios, and other information.
Congratulations to Charlie Camosy and the rest
MORE
“Keeping My Faith”
July 13, 2010, 7:12 pm
The cover article in the Boston Globe Magazine for this week, by Charles Pierce
MORE
Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church
July 4, 2010, 3:57 pm
A conference of moral theologians from around the globe will be taking place in Trent, Italy in a couple of weeks. The organizers have really worked hard to bring people from Africa, Asia, India, and Central and South America, as well as Europe and North America: 567 participants from 72
MORE
Seven Days that Shook the Vatican
July 2, 2010, 3:26 pm
Here's John Allen's latest diagnosis of the events in Rome.
And here's my question or concern: The dichotomy he seems to pose is between the Church "calling the shots," on the one hand, and being a threatened minority on the other.
Isn't there a middle ground? Isn't it possible
MORE
Mac & Cheese & Russian Spies & the Dames of Noter
July 2, 2010, 7:04 am
I think this piece from the Daily Show captured some of the nostalgia for the Cold War experienced by some people when the news of the Russian spy ring broke:
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p /
MORE
Catalogue Living. . .
July 1, 2010, 11:05 am
A lighter note. . . for all of you who are inundated with Pottery Barn catalogues, here is a blog that imagines the lives of people who live in those imaginary rooms!
HT: Daily
MORE
Summer Movies
June 26, 2010, 6:58 am
I have been to two movies in the theater in the past two weeks (foreseen and intended side effect of living two blocks from the theater). SPOILERS AHEAD
The first was Toy Story 3, the last installment in the beloved Disney Pixar animated saga. I know this is going to be heresy, but I didn't
MORE
Maciel’s Mother Was A Saint?
June 24, 2010, 7:55 pm
According to this article in the New York Review of Books, Pope John Paul II was cooperating in the efforts to make the founder of the Legion of Christ's mother a saint.
Three things strike me:
1) For many people, it was about appearances: The Legion looked wholesome and holy. The appearance
MORE
Those Disorderly Senior Citizens!
June 22, 2010, 4:58 pm
How dare they play shuffle-board! The Puritans wouldn't approve! My big issue: Who knew shuffle-board could be so rowdy!
I just came across this passage from the Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, 1648.
Gaming.
UPON complaint of great disorder by the use of the game called
MORE
Holier than Dow
June 22, 2010, 8:03 am
A sign of the broader impact of the sex abuse crisis on the Daily Show. . ."Goldman Sachs is losing a PR war to the Catholic Church. . . and that's hard to do. . . "
Conservative Catholics worry that the crisis has impeded the Church's ability to speak out on abortion. Liberal
MORE
Is He Right about the Right?
June 21, 2010, 12:31 pm
I thought I'd open a thread on EJ Dionne's new column on the webpage
MORE
Are All Religions the Same?
June 16, 2010, 8:09 am
Stephen Colbert talks with Stephen Prothero about his new book:
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:
MORE
The Book of Sports
June 14, 2010, 12:12 pm
It's probably not what you think it is.
There's no mention of soccer.
It's legislation enacted by King James I of England in 1617, in opposition to the Puritan insistence on keeping holy the Sabbath in a manner following Old Testament norms.
"The declaration listed archery, dancing
MORE
My Daddy’s Name is Donor
June 4, 2010, 9:15 am
A new survey by the Institute for American Values showing that children conceived by Artificial Insemination-Donor have questions about their paternity . Some seem to wish they'd been born into an intact family.
The trouble, of course, is that in most cases there is no intact family for them
MORE
Seeking Shiny Perfection
May 26, 2010, 11:07 am
I just got an iPad yesterday. It came well-packed in a box mailed from China, and I carefully opened it, and took it to my main computer to register it and load itunes and photos etc. I did all this without removing the cellophane from the screen.
And then I noticed them. Five big white
MORE
Reginald Foster — and St. Peter’s Square — at Notre Dame
May 23, 2010, 2:19 pm
[caption id="attachment_8466" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Reginald Foster and Caleb Laux at ND Graduation"][/caption]
Fr. Reginald Foster, OCD, who served for many years as the Pope's Latinist, received an honorary degree from Notre Dame last
MORE
What If Bishop Olmsted Had Been the Decider?
May 21, 2010, 1:30 pm
I have a post below on technical issues of moral theology on whether St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix actually participated in an "abortion" in the sense condemned by the Catholic Church.
Here, I'd like to raise a distinct and hypothetical set of issues: What would have happened if
MORE
What Is “Abortion,” Anyway?
May 20, 2010, 8:06 am
The Catholic Church condemns "abortion" as a seriously wrongful act. But what, exactly, is the condemned act? Even a cursory examination of our great moral tradition makes it clear that the moral definition of "abortion" does not precisely track the medical definition
MORE
Vermont Gothic
May 19, 2010, 7:52 am
Do you remember the short story "The Lottery"? I remember reading it in eighth grade, and the chills that went down my spine when I realized what was going down.
The idea came to Shirley Jackson while pushing her child in a baby carriage
MORE
Glenn Beck’s Nazi Tourette’s
May 14, 2010, 9:09 pm
From the Daily Show, by the comic Lewis Black. I don't normally like his segments--he yells too much. And he's rude. But this segment really exposed the absurdity of overdoing the Nazi analogies.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p /
MORE
The Good Wife
May 9, 2010, 8:28 am
We're about to enter into the summer television season, which is increasingly a distinct season of new shows, rather than an endless series of repeats. Still, there are repeats, and I do have a recommendation for any dotCommonweal reader who's looking for something good to watch, whether as a
MORE
“A Challenge to Old Progressives”
May 7, 2010, 3:08 pm
An interesting column on John Allen's account of the coming church by Jamie Manson, a young Catholic woman writing for National Catholic Reporter. We discussed some of the same issues in a post below.
What struck me most was what I interpret as her call to the "Old Progressives" to
MORE
Spiritual Warfare
May 4, 2010, 11:13 pm
I realize this event can be situated in the great tradition of American Christian circuit preachers and revivalists. I also realize that the Catholic Church has a great tradition of itinerant preachers. And St. Peter's Church, which it is sponsoring and benefiting from the event, seems to
MORE
Notre Dame Statement on the Protestors
May 1, 2010, 11:58 am
A recent statement by Father Jenkins--it seems very fair to me
MORE
B+ Catholics: What Will Become of Them?
April 30, 2010, 12:38 pm
Reading this article by John Allen, an image of a future struggle at a future Catholic nursing home popped into my head, as a Millennial liturgical director tries to force Boomer patients to learn more traditional music and ways of worship, depriving them of communion in the hand and "On
MORE
The University of Notre Dame: A State Actor?
April 27, 2010, 10:50 am
Um, no. The University of Notre Dame is a private institution. And whatever you think of the University's strategy about the pro-life protestors, arguing that it is no more permitted to engage in viewpoint discrimination than, say, Indiana University strikes me as a very odd thing indeed for
MORE
Obedience–When, Why, and To What Degree?
April 27, 2010, 7:11 am
Pinch-hitting for Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos, who bowed out of the role of celebrant of the Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, Bishop Slattery of Oklahoma gave a sermon that is being widely praised in the conservative quarters of the Catholic
MORE
Economic Recovery: How Does it Look from Where You Are?
April 26, 2010, 8:31 am
According to the New York Times, the economy is looking up--albeit rather bashfully. How do things look from the perspective of your friends and family
MORE
Fool Me Once. . .
April 21, 2010, 9:36 am
In an article on the Legionary of Christ-published National Catholic Register, Fr. Owen Kearns, L.C., issues a statement admitting his founder Maciel's wrongdoing, and issuing what I think is a tepid apology to Maciel's accusers. The statements comes two weeks after the Legionaries' own official
MORE
“The Dogs I Have Known”
April 19, 2010, 10:54 am
My 7-year-old niece has decided to become an author: This is the projected title of her first book. There are several cute dogs on her block and in her life--she is friends with all of them.
It seems to me that the title proves the importance of context in interpretation. One would expect
MORE
No-Birth Control Pharmacy Closes
April 17, 2010, 6:27 am
Divine Mercy Pharmacy, located in Northern Virginia, recently closed. Its closure was the subject of a rather snarky op-ed in the Washington Post. Nonetheless, the op -ed raises some good questions about moral commitment in our contemporary world.
In particular, it makes me realize that in a
MORE
NYT on Dolan
April 16, 2010, 2:51 pm
Interesting article. But wouldn't the Latin invoked by John Allen be "ad extra" and "ad intra"? Or maybe he meant ad astra, given the celebrities in New York City. That would be quite a change in mission
MORE
Women, The Church, and The Scandal
April 16, 2010, 8:57 am
Peggy Noonan has published a rhetorically powerful piece on the scandal in the Wall Street Journal. The end suggests that if there were women involved in the higher levels of the Vatican, the situation wouldn't be as dire as it has become. Women, she thinks, would have advocated for protecting
MORE
12th and Delaware
April 8, 2010, 7:16 am
Melinda Henneberger's new column is on the documentary about abortion activists, 12th and Delaware. She argues that it is "unbalanced"--the prolife group seems constricted and mean in their outlook, and doesn't resemble people that she knows who are prolife, including herself.
In a
MORE
Ex-Legionaries and Incardination
April 7, 2010, 7:26 am
The National Catholic Reporter is now running yet another shocking story about the Legionaries of Christ, and how they were protected and promoted the highest levels of the Vatican--including and especially--by Pope John Paul II.
It is beginning to seem that Legion and Regnum Christi are and
MORE
Hitchens and D’Souza at Notre Dame Tonight
April 7, 2010, 6:47 am
The tickets were gone in an hour.
It should be interesting. ND students are both religious and very nice and polite. I am curious to see how this goes. Mr. Hitchens's position might be killed with kindness
MORE
What Will the Church Say to the ‘Little Ones’?
April 6, 2010, 9:21 am
Robin Darling Young -- an expert in the history of Christianity--on the crisis in the Washington Post/Newsweek "On Faith" blog.
A recent catch-phrase among anti-abortion Catholics goes: "What will you say to the babies?" It refers to the ancient belief that aborted
MORE
The Internet in 1969
April 6, 2010, 6:31 am
I finally broke down and bought an iPhone. It is astonishing--and beautiful. The little icons sparkling on the shiny black screen remind me of stained glass--in fact, I wonder if there is a stained glass app on the iPhone.
I have not gotten an iPad--but can certainly see the attraction.
MORE
Some Good News: Fr. Reggie Foster to get Hon. Degree from ND
April 5, 2010, 7:27 am
Here is the full list of honorees.
Reggie, as many of you know, was for many years a senior Vatican Latinist. He is also a world-famous teacher of Latin. He has been miraculously recovering from a series of serious health problems. He's doing much better now!
I studied with Reggie in his
MORE
A Conference on Abortion at Princeton
February 15, 2010, 2:32 pm
Charlie Camosy asked me to post a "save the date" for a conference on abortion at Princeton that will try to bring pro-life and pro-choice people together. Given the interest of many members of this blog in the topic, I thought you'd be interested. I'm also a speaker. It's October
MORE
Texas Textbooks.
February 15, 2010, 8:35 am
An absolutely fascinating article on religion, American history--and school textbooks. I had no idea that TEXAS controlled so much of the market in textbooks.
I went to public school, but never had too much history--we got out of some history if we took languages. So I don't really recall
MORE
The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
February 10, 2010, 6:17 am
Here's an interesting new website for a new Evangelical group, deliberately more broadly focused. Note the resonance with Catholic language--the "common good." There's a newly emerging group of "consistent ethic" Catholics and Evangelicals who are striving to instantiate
MORE
Charity Care: The Fate of St. Vincent’s Hospital
February 8, 2010, 9:03 pm
Sad story. Any New Yorkers have any light to shed on the situation
MORE
Any Publicity is Good Publicity
February 8, 2010, 5:12 am
The Tim Tebow ad we discussed below was sweet. None of my worries that it would suggest that the only valuable life is "successful" life materialized. The complaint that it endorses violence against women (an alternative version of the ad features Tim "tackling" his mother
MORE
Mesmerizing
February 7, 2010, 8:22 am
I had no idea that green screen technology had come so far. I have a lot more respect for the actors--who are expected to create New York City in their heads as they deliver their lines, surrounded in actuality by masses of green vinyl, in the middle of California. Hat tip: Inside Catholic
MORE
A Civil Religion–Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast.
February 5, 2010, 9:02 am
President Obama's talk at the National Prayer Breakfast emphasized civility
MORE
The Lovely Bones
January 29, 2010, 9:32 am
After giving three talks in three days in California, which were great fun and very stimulating, I thought I was entitled to a little down time. So I bought a novel for my four hour flight from San Francisco to Cincinnati: The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold.
But reading it wasn't exactly &
MORE
The Devil Made Me Do It.
January 28, 2010, 10:12 am
Here's a link to Archbishop Chaput's reflections on Satan
MORE
Somebody Get this Man an Inhaler!
January 19, 2010, 9:48 am
Jon Stewart on Massachusetts:
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cMass Backwardswww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Crisis
MORE
Evangelization and Religious Indifferentism: Comedy Central’s Take
January 5, 2010, 9:07 am
There's Pope Benedict on religious indifferentism. And then there's Comedy Central. (John Oliver, at the end, by the way, is spoofing the movie Avatar-which gets put on the same level as the great world religions in the sketch--or does it?.) What does evangelization look like in THIS culture--high
MORE
The Chronicle of Higher Education on Notre Dame–UPDATE
January 4, 2010, 2:42 pm
A nice article on Father Jenkins--the "priest-president.
UPDATE:
Thanks to Jean Raber, we have a live link
MORE
Society of Christian Ethics
January 4, 2010, 9:20 am
One of the most important professional societies for me is the Society of Christian Ethics, which is meeting this week in San Jose, California. One of the fruits of the broader, ecumenical conversations that took place after the Second Vatican Council was the participation of Catholics in this
MORE
What is the Role for Catholic Healthcare?
January 1, 2010, 9:54 am
David Gibson gives us a helpful analysis of the recent reports of tensions between the Catholic hospitals and Catholic bishops.
I think, however, there is a tangential and deeper issue. What is the role of Catholic hospitals in a pluralistic society? That's going to affect the lens through
MORE
He’s the Pope. He was Saying Mass
December 31, 2009, 6:18 pm
on Christmas Eve. He wasn't being an "exhibitionist."
Seems like the theory here might need some refining.
Update: It's wonderful to see that the Pope is treating this incident in a pastoral manner. Nonetheless, I think sending Msgr. Ganswein to visit in the hospital a woman who
MORE
I’m Hooked.–UPDATE
December 30, 2009, 10:31 am
Several months ago, I picked up a dvd of the first season of Mad Men--about advertising men in New York in the very early 1960's. It's been such a busy semester, I never got around to watching it.
So I sat down to watch one episode during this nice week between Christmas and New Year's Day, as
MORE
Happy New Year–Happy New York
December 29, 2009, 12:19 pm
If Christmas is for home and hearth, New Year's Eve is for bright lights and big cities--and no city is bigger and brighter than New York City. So Happy New Year to all Commonweal's New York denizens and workers and natives --including bloggers Joe K. and Bob I. and David G.--and all of us
MORE
Saints and Commencement Speakers- UPDATE
December 21, 2009, 9:17 am
I have to say, I really don't get it.
It's not okay for the University of Notre Dame to ask a pro-choice politician to give a commencement speech, and receive an honorary degree, because abortion is the new Holocaust. . . and we shouldn't honor in any form those who who acquiesce in its legality
MORE
Unfortunately, you can’t buy world peace at Target.
December 20, 2009, 11:01 am
Usually, it's the Baby Jesus who disappears from the manger scene, going on walkabout. But I know of a recent case (names suppressed to protect the innocent) where it was the virgin Mary. What happened? The explanatory converation went something like this:
Adult: "I noticed that Mary's
MORE
Going for a Ph.D. in the Humanities?
December 18, 2009, 8:34 am
You may want to rethink things, if you like food and shelter. Very, very grim report on how the recession is affecting hiring in the humanities
MORE
Building a Baby in the 21st Century
December 13, 2009, 12:24 pm
The babies talked about here were brought about by five different people: the putative social parents (2), the donors of genetic material (egg/sperm) (2), the gestational surrogate (1).
And as the article says, this is a matter of state law--and state law is not at all consistent. And it's been
MORE
Stephen Colbert on Epistemology
December 11, 2009, 2:46 pm
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cAndy Schlaflywww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorU.S.
MORE
Conscience and Culture Wars–and Lawyers
December 6, 2009, 10:37 am
Here is link to an essay on "Clashing Consciences" I did for the Washington Post's On Faith Section. Michael Perry of Emory Law School posted it on the Mirror of Justice, and in a flash, my colleague Rick Garnett had a reply up on that blog disagreeing with it. That man has too much
MORE
Our Lady of the Angels
December 4, 2009, 1:52 pm
I only attended Catholic school for a few years--through third grade, at St. Joan of Arc in Cumberland RI. The elementary school was built in the mid-to late 1960's --I remember it as being light and bright, with wide windows, and lots of fire doors. Although it was a one story school, we had
MORE
The War on Christmas
December 1, 2009, 7:29 am
Now that Thanksgiving's over, we're going to start hearing about it again. But there's a lot of shopping to do--so why not watch this clip from last year's Colbert Christmas special, with Toby Keith. You'll pretty much get the whole issue in about three minutes--both sides of it.The funny thing
MORE
“Sweetness and Light”
November 28, 2009, 10:41 am
There have been several recent attempts to reignite the culture wars in the United States--I don't think they will be successful, in large part because people are still focused on economic survival. At the same time, it's worth noting the limitations of the prophetic rhetoric of condemnation in
MORE
While You’re Waiting for the Tryptophan to Kick In. . .
November 26, 2009, 3:45 pm
you might want to watch Arlo Guthrie perform the Thanksgiving Day classic, Alice's Restaurant.
Have a nice nap, everyone
MORE
The Montessori School of Dentistry
November 23, 2009, 7:56 am
One of the major tasks of professional education of all sorts is to help students see that their education is no longer "all about them." It never was, of course--but professional school education has a more immediate -connection to the well-being of vulnerable people, whom the students
MORE
Movie Bleg
November 22, 2009, 8:17 am
Although most of us who teach are growing inexorably closer to the mountain of FALL exams we have to grade, we're also thinking about our SPRING courses.
I'm teaching "Faith, Law, and Morality" this spring--which is about, well, faith, law and morality. In each section, I have them do
MORE
“Good Defense Lawyers are Seldom Deterred by Futility”
November 21, 2009, 8:17 am
A very interesting article by David Feige on trying KSM in NYC
MORE
Powerpoint
November 16, 2009, 8:27 am
This semester, I have been doing something I swore I'd never do--using powerpoint to teach my Contracts class. It was a necessity during the first half of the semester--I couldn't walk to the board to scribble unintelligibly. And then, well, since I started, I thought I might as well finish.
MORE
Jobs and Families
November 12, 2009, 8:00 am
An interesting article in the New York Times on the effects of job loss on family life seems to confirm the tradition of Catholic social thought about the importance of work--a living wage--to family life.
Also interesting is the apparent thesis that a mother's job loss isn't as devastating as a
MORE
How It Works Now: Links on Abortion Funding
November 11, 2009, 7:35 am
I've been trying to figure out how abortion funding actually operates on the ground now--here are a few helpful resources, for those who are interested.
1. Harris v. McRae--Supreme Court opinion on abortion funding.
2. Hyde Amendment-- Current version from pro-life source
3. How the
MORE
The Ecumenical Patriarch at Georgetown
November 9, 2009, 7:14 am
An interesting speech --on social ethics.
Not the filioque: sorry, all you systematic theologians.
In my class on mercy and justice, I have them read selections from D. Constanelos,
Byzantine Philosophy and Social Welfare. As he argues, Constantinople was meant to be society organized
MORE
Time Magazine on Burke/O’Malley
November 8, 2009, 12:41 pm
A while ago I posted on Archbishop Burke's "father of lies" speech about the Kennedy funeral, and the prelates who defended it. Now the controversy has made Time magazine
MORE
New Feminism?
November 8, 2009, 8:09 am
As I was catching up with the news this week, I came across this account of the police officer--the female police officer who stopped the rampage at Fort Hood in Texas.
And then I read this story of Cardinal Rode admitting that the reason he's launching an investigation of women's religious
MORE
Health Care Reform: Will it Work?
November 3, 2009, 7:51 am
One of the things I appreciate most about this blog is the range of expertise. Peter Nixon has an essay on health care reform in the latest issue, and he, like Unagidon works in the insurance industry.
So as it comes down to the wire, what's your take on the proposed reform, gentlepersons? How
MORE
An Intrinsically Evil Blogging Act
November 2, 2009, 11:17 am
(at least it would be if I were pope)
I generally enjoy Zoe Romanowsky's posts. And the substance of this post is very interesting. But there's a problem.
I beg you: NEVER, EVER, EVER post a big picture of a BIG SPIDER without warning the person about to click the hyperlink. I threw
MORE
Oh, Snap!
November 1, 2009, 11:40 am
Over the years, I have heard several priests comment that they'd rather perform funerals than weddings --and I've always wondered why. Aren't weddings happy, and funerals sad?
Well, "Rev. Know-It-All," the pseudonym for an Illinois priest, enlightened me. It's very funny--and very
MORE
AMDG
October 30, 2009, 5:20 pm
Congratulations to America's editor and Commonweal's friend Jim Martin, SJ--who's about to take his final vows--after spending about the same amount of time in the Jesuits that a married couple would beginning planning their silver anniversary! How can that be? In this account, he explains how
MORE
Colbert Report on the Anglicans
October 28, 2009, 6:45 pm
If Maureen Dowd's column --syndicated as it is-- reaches the average Joe and Jane, then Stephen Colbert reaches, well, younger- than- average Joe and Jane.
This isn't just the show, folks --this is also youtube.
The Colbert Report
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Holy Water Under
MORE
Kasper and Wright on Anglican-Catholic Relations
October 25, 2009, 3:47 pm
In the midst of the comment thread on "PR Masterstroke?" Bob Imbelli invoked Cardinal Kaspers's "somber words " about the impact that ordaining women as bishops would have on Anglican-Catholic relations. In response, Crystal Watson pointed to Anglican Bishop Wright' somewhat
MORE
Anglicans, Married Priests, and Contraception
October 25, 2009, 8:46 am
A friend of mine, a former Anglican actually, brought up an issue that I hadn't thought about with respect to the new Anglican rite: contraception. In 1930, the Lambeth Conference declared that contraception was not always immoral, and could be used (for serious reason) to regulate the number of
MORE
Eva Gabor was right. . .
October 16, 2009, 9:48 am
about New York. . . it's so much fun (not that South Bend is Hooterville!)
Unfortunately, the rain was pretty tough yesterday--no cabs. And with my ankle, walking was out of the question. So I took a pedi-cab --a little rickshaw pulled by a biker from the New York Hilton (where I was told
MORE
Colbert on Scalia on the Cross
October 14, 2009, 10:07 pm
No telepropmpter necessary for the Creed.
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:
MORE
Cardinal George and Stanley Hauerwas
October 10, 2009, 5:47 pm
I came across this essay by Stanley Hauwerwas from two decades ago. I found myself wondering what Cardinal George would say about Hauerwas's take on the task of the Catholic Church
MORE
Come say hello at Fordham!
October 9, 2009, 10:48 am
I'm giving the Natural Law Lecture next Thursday, at Fordham 's Manhattan campus. If you're not busy, come by! (You can DVR 30 Rock and The Mentalist --as I will be doing!)
The general idea of my talk is how the common law -- case law --can help us bridge the gap between virtue theory
MORE
Cardinal George’s Plan to Evangelize America
October 7, 2009, 4:54 pm
There is, I think, a little bit of irony in a member of the American hierarchy writing an important and provocative book in which he says, among other things, that some Catholics pay too much attention to members of the American hierarchy!
Still, I can't say from this interview that I know
MORE
Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks: Archbishop DiNardo’s Homily at the Red Mass
October 5, 2009, 9:42 am
You can read the whole thing here. Teaching first-year law students, I was particularly struck by this paragraph:
The proclamation of the Word of God today then invites us to “invite” the Holy Spirit for an action of revivifying and cleansing memories, opening us up anew to a deeper
MORE
Reginald Foster on YouTube
October 2, 2009, 8:40 am
He looks much better than he did last March when I saw him in Rome! This is a true, but a bit more subdued version, of the Reggie we saw in summer class. . . speaking in Latin, but mixing in just enough English so everyone would get the idea! HT: David Gibson
MORE
The Father of Lies
September 28, 2009, 6:11 pm
Rocco Palmo highlights Archbishop Burke's latest speech on the responsibilities of Catholics in the public square. As Rocco notes, the talk seems to be a direct response to Cardinal Sean O'Malley's defense of his decision to give a public funeral to Ted Kennedy, and Cardinal McCarrick's decision
MORE
Breaking News: A Bat Loose in Congress
September 28, 2009, 8:20 am
BREAKING NEWS: BAT LOOSE IN CONGRESS
The first time I saw this, I thought it was real for a couple of seconds).
(It's not. Gotta Love the Onion
MORE
Ubi Reginaldus?
September 19, 2009, 12:30 pm
Here's an article on the Church's most prominent Latinist by CNS. (HT David Gibson).
I talked to him last month, and he is impatient to get back to teaching
MORE
Cult of Personality. . . And/Or Cult of Appearances
September 18, 2009, 8:39 am
The latest update on the Legion of Christ.
I think it is a mistake to reduce the problem to a cult of personality of Fr. Maciel. that's a way of dismissing the problem--he's dead, no more problem. Move along folks--no need to worry about the next group to gain papal favor.
I think an
MORE
Augustine might not approve…
September 17, 2009, 10:16 am
Given his own work on the subject, but this new movie on lying by Ricky Gervais looks pretty funny
MORE
My Mother is a Saint. . .
September 15, 2009, 10:27 am
CNS has an interesting interview with one of the daughters of St. Gianna. I've always been uncomfortable with her story, because of the way her decision left the other children motherless.
Another take on having a saint for a mother is the underrated movie The Third Miracle, with Ed Harris
MORE
Intractable Disputes About the Natural Law–Alasdair MacIntyre and His Critics
September 13, 2009, 6:03 pm
Many of the subjects discussed on this blog touch upon moral issues--and disagreements about moral issues. I thought that some people might be interested in a new book published by Notre Dame Press on the topic, edited by longtime Commonweal contributor, Larry Cunningham. I have an essay in
MORE
Spiritual Combat, Moral Combat, and Physical Combat: Culture Wars
September 12, 2009, 6:00 am
Two prolife activists Two people, one of them a prolife activist, were gunned down in Michigan yesterday. God rest their souls. I can't help wondering -- is this in some sense a crazed retaliation for the killing of Tiller? What kind of a society are we? Those who recognize the Constitution
MORE
Religion and Custody Disputes
September 11, 2009, 9:57 am
My colleague Rick Garnett and I had a chat about this interesting New Hampshire custody case a few days ago. He blogs on it here. I'm afraid I don't see the dire implications for religious freedom here that Jody Bottum and Rick do.
The parents, as far as I can tell, have joint custody of the
MORE
Her Chicago Catholic Bubble
September 9, 2009, 6:13 am
I was fascinated by Peggy Steinfels's memoir of growing up in a Chicago Catholic world. So I thought I'd open a thread, with a question. Which little First Communicant is you, Peggy? I haven't gotten my paper version yet.
Woops--looking again, it isn't first communion. What is it
MORE
“Don’t Sit on a Wall if You’re an Egg”
September 5, 2009, 11:03 am
Ricky Gervais, the creator of The Office, thinks about the real meaning of nursery rhymes in his recent stand-up show on HBO. This one, on the meaning of "Humpty Dumpty," made me laugh so hard I cried.
Warning: Scattered foul language
MORE
“Sine Te, Reginalde, Maxima Calamitas Est!”
August 28, 2009, 8:28 am
Why so late with the Latin on Caritas in Veritate?
Reginaldus non est Romae.
Here's the scoop from the Tablet --Robert Mickens's Letters from Rome. Many thanks to Eugene Palumbo who drew it to my attention:
Exactly two months ago Pope Benedict XVI signed what had been hailed as his “much
MORE
“The Best Years of My Life” (Updated)
August 26, 2009, 9:07 pm
A while back, Gregory Wolfe posted a moving testimony to the force for good that Communion and Liberation hd been in his life --and asked a general question about the role of movements in the Church. Maybe it's the lawyer in me, but I see the possibility of danger, as well as good--and I'm
MORE
Kingsfield Wears Prada
August 23, 2009, 10:13 am
Maureen Dowd's column today is about Anna Wintour, the legendary --and legendarily difficult --editor of Vogue who was reportedly the model for Meryl Streep's character Miranda Priestly in the (very funny) movie The Devil Wears Prada.
But I have a different theory. I think something in Meryl
MORE
Did Jesus Have a Sense of Humor?
August 23, 2009, 8:55 am
Jim Martin, SJ, discusses an important question at NPR.
My view: Of course he did
MORE
Dershowitz, Scalia, and Executing the Innocent
August 20, 2009, 5:23 pm
Writing in the Daily Beast, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz challenged Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to a debate about Catholic moral theology. Dershowitz deeply disagrees with a dissenting opinion in which Scalia (and Thomas) expressed doubts about whether the Constitution
MORE
Celebrity Ethics: Abortion
August 20, 2009, 7:42 am
For all of those dotcommonweal readers who don't subscribe to People magazine, here is a recent story about Kourtney Kardashian and abortion.
The pedagogical power of People is. . . considerable
MORE
Peter Steinfels Talks to Daniel Callahan about Health Care Resources
August 16, 2009, 9:54 am
A "founding father" of the field of bioethics, Dan Callahan's work on the nature, purposes, and limits of health care is essential reading.
Get well soon, Dan
MORE
Michael Place on Health Care Reform
August 15, 2009, 11:21 am
One of the voices most worth listening to on matters of health care policy is Michael Place, former head of the Catholic Health Association, former advisor to Cardinal Bernardin, and charter member of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. He is a moral theologian with extensive, on-the-ground,
MORE
Bioethics Councils and Commissions
August 13, 2009, 11:49 am
The distinguished Christian ethicist Gilbert Meilaender published an essay in this issue of Commonweal lamenting the dissolution of President Bush''s bioethics council, on which he served.
That President Obama would want to appoint his own bioethics council is, of course, not surprising. As
MORE
“Girl on an Elephant”
August 13, 2009, 8:28 am
When I broke my ankle, my sister came out to help for a few days. I told my six-year-old niece that I appreciated her sacrifice of her mother's presence , and wanted to give her a little gift as a token of my appreciation. What did she want: "a girl on an elephant." It was a toy
MORE
Father Feeney and Commonweal
August 4, 2009, 9:40 am
I was taking notes on John Murray Cuddihy's fascinating and provocative No Offense: Civil Religion and Protestant Taste, and came across, well, us--Commonweal.
In a chapter entitled, "A Tale of Two Jesuits: Leonard Feeney, SJ, and John Courtney Murray, SJ", Cuddihy suggests that the
MORE
A Catholic Framework for Evaluating Health Reform
August 2, 2009, 11:37 am
As we go through the health care reform debate, it's worth stepping back for a minute and taking a look at the big picture. Why is health care reform important? What should we care about?
Bishop Murphy's letter on evaluating health care proposals is both comprehensive and concise.
In
MORE
Trust
July 28, 2009, 6:06 pm
Yesterday was my first day of physical therapy for my broken ankle. I've never broken anything before, and never had physical therapy before. I'm a real newbie to this whole scene.
It requires trust. And not simply trust beyond my instincts, but also trust AGAINST my instincts.
Presenting
MORE
Blue Dog Democrats and Health Care
July 28, 2009, 12:04 pm
Paul Krugman's incisive take on the problem
MORE
New York Times on Tiller
July 27, 2009, 4:40 pm
Yesterday, the New York Times had a long, and complex, article on the ramifications of Tiller's death for the American abortion debate. This passage caught my interest, in light of the post below on the "Rorschach" test. There may be division not only between legal prophets and
MORE
Arts in the Classroom
July 27, 2009, 11:33 am
I read this article in the New York Times about the death of Merce Cunningham, a celebrated dancer and choreographer, whose company has performed at Notre Dame . With the flourishing of Notre Dame's wonderful, state-of-the art DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts in the past few years, I've
MORE
Patience
July 26, 2009, 8:50 am
Thanks to my broken ankle, I am spending the summer in a Lay-Z-Boy, with my right leg encased in a big black boot. No hikes. No travel. No swimming. No cute little summer skimmers.
It's a matter of patience. These things take eight weeks to heal. EIGHT weeks? I couldn't believe it when I
MORE
Stephen Colbert Feels the Pope’s Pain
July 23, 2009, 1:42 pm
He wants to get a wrist-strong bracelet to the Pope. And he has enlisted Colbert Nation to do so.
My guess is that the Pope will get his wrist-strong bracelet--Colbert Nation got a bridge named after their fearless leader-in Hungary!.
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:
MORE
A Dopamine Squirt
July 23, 2009, 10:20 am
Maureen Dowd on driving while talking on a cell-phone. Any idea why it's more dangerous than talking to passengers in the car
MORE
Ants in Antarctica–Stephen Colbert on Judicial Neutrality
July 18, 2009, 7:49 am
The Colbert Report
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Neutral Man's Burden
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor
Jeff Goldblum
MORE
Broken
July 17, 2009, 8:48 am
Poor Pope Benedict. I'll pray for him and his wrist, especially since we're going through something of the same thing --I think in some ways, though, a broken wrist would be worse than a broken ankle--especially if it's your dominant hand
MORE
An Undercover Bishop
July 16, 2009, 8:41 am
RI's Bishop Tobin talks about what he learned by going to mass as a "private citizen" on vacation.
I think he's exactly right.
HT: Deacon's Bench (which I've come to enjoy a great deal--not only because of the cool photo with Stephen Colbert
MORE
A Catholic Surgeon General
July 13, 2009, 4:05 pm
HT: Rocco
On the board of the Catholic Health Association, a papal award-winner.
And by the way, she's an African-American woman.
Obama's administration has showcased the diversity of the American Church
MORE
Archbishop Chaput on “Catholics and the Fourth Estate”
July 12, 2009, 11:11 am
An interesting and thought-provoking essay by the Archbishop of Denver on the media. (HT: Deacon's Bench).
I've been watching huge amounts of television lately, confined to a couch or a barco-lounger with a broken ankle. And so I've actually seen the hegemony of the Michael Jackson story in
MORE
Sarah Palin and Michael Jackson and Fame in the 24 Hour News Cycle
July 5, 2009, 9:14 am
The only thing that has been able, it seems, to force cable news to move away--for the slightest time--from Michael Jackson is Sara Palin. Why is that? Despite their enormous differences in nearly every aspect of their lives, it seems to me that they have one trait in common. A large amount of
MORE
More on Palsgraf
June 26, 2009, 8:45 am
In my recent column, I discussed Palsgraf v. Long Island RR, one of the most famous tort law cases in the United States. I got a very interesting email from William Manz, a law professor at St. John's, which I post below. The way law and life interact is fascinating--I'm going to buy his book!
MORE
Obama on Fathers’ Day
June 20, 2009, 9:26 am
He wants boys to become men--to take responsibility.
Is there a possibility of common ground with the new head of Focus on the Family
MORE
Kenneth Starr Supports Sotomayor
June 19, 2009, 4:55 pm
Pepperdine is clearly a happening place.
Doug Kmiec's there too
MORE
And a Little Child (or Teenager) Shall Lead Them
June 14, 2009, 8:26 am
Interesting story of a boy leading his parents back to church. I think I've been inside that church, while on a trip to give a talk at a parish in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The windows are breathtaking
MORE
Illuminata Non Sum
June 13, 2009, 6:49 am
I finally saw Angels and Demons last night--and it was, as the Vatican reviewer said, a really good popcorn movie. The scenes of Rome were terrific--and with my new film class training, I was able to appreciate the athleticism of the camera shots and angles.
Now, you shouldn't expect the
MORE
A Catholic Judge’s Response to a Motion To Recuse Himself
June 10, 2009, 9:05 am
John Noonan, the U.S. Circuit Judge who delivered the Laetare Address at the2009 Notre Dame Commencement, is a well-known Catholic with a well-known record against abortion. Here is his response to a motion to recuse himself from an abortion case.
69 F3d 399 Feminist Women's Health Cetner v.
MORE
Don’t Worry. . . It’ll Grow Back. . .
June 9, 2009, 7:15 pm
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cObama Orders Stephen's Haircut - Ray Odiernocolbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorStephen Colbert in
MORE
Stephen Colbert Guest Edits Newsweek
June 8, 2009, 5:08 pm
What really warmed the cockles of my heart: he said he was going to use the occasion to publish all the letters to the editor he has written over the years that never got accepted.
Wow. Anyone who has ever had a letter to the editor consigned to the dust bin has to take vicarious enjoyment
MORE
“A Generation or Two of Real Darkness”
June 7, 2009, 11:13 am
Donald Cozzens's sobering assessment of the immediate future of the Church in the U.S. Is he right?
Are we basically headed toward a situation in which liberals and moderates drop out, and conservatives are left with an increasingly smaller leaner, and meaner church? Is the Church in the U.S
MORE
My Television Project for the Summer
June 5, 2009, 7:41 am
My Christmas present to myself was the entire boxed set of The Wire, reputed to be the best show on television. I just started watching it, and it is riveting--grim but riveting.
Here's a clip from the third episode, where D'Angelo Barksdale, a lieutenant in his uncle's West Baltimore drug
MORE
Promising Not to be Greedy
June 4, 2009, 7:45 am
One group of teachers--and students-- that have to come to reckoning with the moral causes of the financial crisis are those at business schools. Some are taking an OATH that tracks their moral obligations.
Is this a good idea? Or simply window dressing that distracts from a more
MORE
Conan O’Brien’s Mom
June 2, 2009, 6:12 am
Last night, Conan O'Brien took over from Jay Leno as the host of the Tonight Show. I think one of his first guests should be his mother, Ruth O'Brien, whom I got to know while working at Ropes & Gray in Boston. The second woman partner at the firm, she was welcoming and helpful to new
MORE
Abortion Doctor Shot to Death in Kansas
May 31, 2009, 12:10 pm
This cannot but hurt the pro-life movement in America
MORE
Would you Slap your Father?
May 28, 2009, 11:22 am
And what does it say about your political views?
Historyman, this thread's for you!
P.S. I would never slap my father. And I don't like public restrooms.
So I guess I'm a conservative
MORE
New Ambassador to the Vatican: Miguel Diaz
May 28, 2009, 6:19 am
Miguel Diaz is the new ambassador.
We have a Hispanic theologian as an ambassador to the Vatican! He's a Rahner scholar and an ND Ph.D.
By the way, I was misquoted. I said he wasn't a "big donor or a big politician" . . . not "professor"
MORE
Social Justice and Pro-Life: Are They Compatible?
May 27, 2009, 3:13 pm
I was recently asked by a Chicago Tribune reporter to explain the diversity in American Catholicism. How could Justice Scalia, a conservative, be Catholic, and Sonia Sotomayor, the newest nominee to the Supreme Court also be Catholic? Is the Church large enough to encompass both? I didn't
MORE
Virtue Theory and the Irish Abuse Cases
May 22, 2009, 3:01 pm
The report on abuse in the Irish Church has been released--and it's deeply disturbing.
Most people are virtue theorists -- or rather, practitioners of virtue theory--whether they know it or not. On difficult moral questions, most people trust the judgment of those who have shown themselves to
MORE
Pragmatism or Idealism: Colbert on Notre Dame
May 22, 2009, 1:33 pm
He debates the invitation, and an underlying issue, with himself. No better sparring partner!
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cFormidable Opponent - Pragmatism or Idealismcolbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorGay
MORE
Slumdog Millionaire
May 21, 2009, 8:59 pm
The second film we watched was Slumdog Millionaire; the story of the film's commercial success rivals the story of the main character's commercial success. Nearly released straight to video in the U.S., it ended up capturing a raft of academy awards earlier this year.
So here's one question
MORE
Rear Window
May 20, 2009, 12:22 pm
The first film we watched in our film class, to represent the height of the "classical" period of film-making, was Rear Window, by Alfred Hitchcock. It is (so I learned) a meditation on voyeurism--and what is watching films, arguably, but a type of voyeurism. The key moment of the
MORE
The Daily Show on Notre Dame.
May 19, 2009, 7:47 pm
On to the ironists! No comments from me! I'm still reeling from a critical reading of Rear Window
MORE
Dialogue at Notre Dame — A Lighthouse and a Crossroads
May 18, 2009, 6:57 am
Taken together, the speeches at Notre Dame's commencement outlined the possibility of dialogue between people who who are animated by a commitment to moral truth --who are not moral relativists --but who may not always agree about what the truth requires in particular instances. Abortion
MORE
The Society for the Study of Cardinal Newman
May 15, 2009, 8:24 am
Some interesting resources on the man and his thought. He was very important to the development of Noonan's thought, obviously. I think Noonan and Newman are good additions to the topic raised by Peter's post below
MORE
Obama’s Graduation Tour: The Bigger Picture
May 15, 2009, 7:32 am
Apparently, with the Millennials, we are seeing a generational shift toward the Democrats
MORE
John Noonan on Theology, Morality, and Law
May 14, 2009, 9:22 am
One of the beneficial side effects of the controversy surrounding Notre Dame Graduation --2009 is that people might get more interested in the work of John T. Noonan, Jr., a Catholic jurist and legal scholar whose contributions to both the bench and the academy are prodigious.
If you want to get
MORE
Damon Linker responds to Jody Bottum on Notre Dame
May 13, 2009, 6:28 pm
In a post below, Bob Imbelli linked to Jody Bottum's assessment of the center of the Catholic Church in America in the Weekly Standard. Damon Linker begs to differ from Jody's assessment in the New Republic
MORE
Colbert on Angels and Demons
May 13, 2009, 9:20 am
I'm going to try to see it this weekend --nothing else going on--should be just a boring ol' weekend in South Bend!
1. Colbert's opening.
2. Colbert's interview with Ron Howard -- who looked extremely nervous to me
MORE
John Langan, SJ on “Catholics and Obama”
May 12, 2009, 10:05 am
John Langan, SJ, who teaches ethics at Georgetown, penned this article for America, which was mentioned a couple of times in the comment boxes. I think it's very insightful --typical for Father Langan -- and deserved a thread of its own.
This is the line that struck me as very apt, in light of
MORE
Why Do We Want People to Stay Catholic, Anyway?
May 11, 2009, 5:39 pm
A couple of interesting posts below have worried about the number of people leaving the Church. Is it because they're badly educated? Is it because the Church no longer resonates experimentally with them? Is it because they view the Church as morally corrupt (child abuse)?
As I thought
MORE
Pomp. Circumstance. Controversy.
May 11, 2009, 7:30 am
The center of the controversy at ND is a graduation ceremony --which the class of 2009 has been anticipating, in some sense, since it arrived at ND a little less than four years ago. Here's the valedictorian reflecting on the unusual circumstances
MORE
Conversation with Archbishop Dolan
May 9, 2009, 5:54 am
In the Wall Street Journal.
He suggests that the problem with 20 and 30 somethings not participating in the Church is somehow connected with a lack of certainty.
I'm really not sure what he's saying here. It could be at least two things:
1. These Catholics decide to leave the Church
MORE
Over 82 Million Views on YouTube
May 7, 2009, 8:01 pm
If you're looking for some positive way to communicate the Gospel of Life, it seems to me this video is a good place to start. I defy you to watch this and not smile.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk[/youtube
MORE
Neither for Love Nor Money: Why Doctors Must Not Kill
May 7, 2009, 9:47 am
Thanks to a wonderful discussion on conscience below, I am coming to the conclusion that the debate about conscience ultimately can be reframed as a debate about the medical profession.
The key proposition is that medicine ought not be defined in a way that mandates (or more strongly even
MORE
Kudos to the Vatican Movie Critics.
May 6, 2009, 7:07 pm
Nice response to Angels and Demons.
Non-defensive, amused, and slightly condescending. Gets the point across about inaccuracies without overreacting.
Perfect, actually
MORE
Conscience and Refusal
May 6, 2009, 7:29 am
My recent column on conscientious refusal is not behind the firewall, but available to all. I ended the column by saying that the whole issue of conscience in a pluralistic society needs a lot more conceptual work. Leaving aside the pragmatic questions facing us now (what to do about the Bush
MORE
The Three-Minute Confirmation Stick
May 5, 2009, 11:11 am
The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10cThree-Minute Confirmation Stickthedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesEconomic CrisisPolitical
MORE
Satire for the Common Good
April 29, 2009, 6:37 am
We've recently had a discussion about whether satire can be helpful to deliberation. One way it can be helpful is by allowing people to laugh at themselves, and therefore get perspective. Here's Jon Stewart's satire on swine flu. And zombies.
The Last 100 Days thedailyshow.com
MORE
The Meaning of Intrinsic Evil
April 26, 2009, 6:43 pm
Deacon Greg Kandra, of the Deacon's Bench, seems like a very good man. I think, however, his take on the term intrinsic evil is quite misleading.
Here's an article I did in America on the topic.
Incidentally, I think he's quoting Catholic Anwers's voting guide==not the Bishops'. The term &
MORE
Torture and Teaching Opportunities
April 26, 2009, 7:17 am
In the latest thread on ND below, there is a comment that deserves its own thread by someone named TK: What about torture? The time is now.
I have read and contributed to the discussions about this ‘controversy” here at the COMMONWEAL blog. As I have read and participated - and as I have
MORE
Colbert: Liberal or Conservative? A Scientific Study
April 24, 2009, 8:21 am
When Stephen Colbert first went on the air, I thought his "real" beliefs were similar to mine. At the same time I noticed that politically and religiously more conservative Catholics thought his "real" sensibilities were similar to theirs. So I eventually came to the
MORE
Obedience?
April 23, 2009, 8:11 pm
Is it a virtue? If so, what kind of virtue? A religious virtue? A domestic virtue? A political virtue--in a democracy? Under what conditions
MORE
Reginald Foster, OCD–Update
April 23, 2009, 7:47 am
Reginald Foster, OCD, the famous Vatican Latinist, has been seriously ill for the better part of a year now. He was supposed to teach an intensive week of Latin at ND for Notre Dame students last summer, but was unable to do so because of health issues. Reggie nearly died in January--but
MORE
Natural Religion
April 21, 2009, 12:27 pm
My sister Meg's rewrite of the Baltimore Catechism to reflect the natural worldview of a toddler.
Q. Who made you?
A. MAMA made me.
Q. Why did Mama make you?
A. Mama made me to know, love, and serve me in the daytime and to be with me in the night
MORE
Angels and Demons
April 21, 2009, 6:54 am
I had completely forgotten about the Da Vinci Code, which was such a tempest a couple of years ago. I saw the movie, but never read the book.
Here's the next tempest, it seems.
Ron Howard on the Huffington Post.
I haven't read this book either-but it seems from this is that the problem
MORE
The Moral and Political Power of Stephen Colbert
April 19, 2009, 2:46 pm
In a thread below, Joe K. asked about the influence that Colbert and Stewart have on moral and political discussion. Today's strongly worded -- too insulting, in fact, -- NYT op-ed from Frank Rich furnishes a good evidence that the influence is considerable, thanks in part to the viral nature of
MORE
Kmiec on the Colbert Report
April 17, 2009, 12:38 pm
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cDouglas Kmieccolbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorNASA Name Contest
MORE
Passport Casuistry
April 17, 2009, 6:42 am
People think that Catholic morality is casuistical and legalistic. Hah! For real legalism, you need the law, particularly the law having to do with entry into a country--the point at which, incidentally, you are most legally vulnerable and have the least amount of rights.
I went to Italy,
MORE
Cooperation with Evil–A Case Study
April 16, 2009, 10:12 am
I'm teaching a course this semester on complicity with evil--looking at it from a legal, philosophical, and theological perspective. The past couple of weeks we have been dealing with the doctrine of cooperation with evil--a Catholic casuistical framework that helps us evaluate when, and under
MORE
“God is not a fan of puns, sir!”
April 13, 2009, 10:25 am
Stephen Colbert and Bart Ehrman. I just don't know how St. Thomas Aquinas did so well without the "duck argument" for the divinity of Christ. Joe K., this one's for you!
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cBart Ehrmancolbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical
MORE
Prophetic Discourse in the Public Square
April 13, 2009, 7:05 am
Several people have asked me where they can get a copy of my recent Santa Clara Lecture, Prophetic Discourse in the Public Square. The lecture attempts to come up with rhetorical (as opposed to substantive) guidelines for the productive use of prophetic rhetoric in the public square. In
MORE
A View from Abroad
April 8, 2009, 11:55 am
I was in England last week--so this editorial from The Tablet on the Notre Dame invitation to President Obama was quite interesting to me
MORE
Sophie Scholl and Cardinal Newman
April 8, 2009, 5:20 am
Apparently, Sophie Scholl, the young resister to Nazism, was influenced by Cardinal Newman. (HT: First Things)
I show the movie, and talk about the White Rose Movement, in my class "Faith, Morality, and Law." If you haven't seen Sophie Scholl: THe Final Days, Holy Week is a good
MORE
Winchester Cathedral–Updated
April 6, 2009, 2:15 pm
I was in Europe last week--visiting Father Reginald Foster in Rome (miraculously, he's improving, but he still needs prayers), and attending a conference on my colleague Vincent Rougeau's book on Christians in the American Empire at Notre Dame's facility in London on Trafalgar Square.
While it
MORE
Is Jesus Your Friend?
March 28, 2009, 7:58 am
Pope Benedict's worst liturgical nightmare --early 1970's at its best. I'm back in the Brady Bunch avocado and burnt orange kitchen. But it is pretty funny!
HT Daily Dish.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NOZU2iPA8&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsullivan.theatlantic.com%
MORE
Please, someone, explain.
March 26, 2009, 2:10 pm
This whole thing doesn't make sense to me. Especially since Randall Terry announced, before he went, that he was going to try to get some "soft" prelates removed.
Doesn't anyone google in the Vatican?
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2009/03/burkxploitation.
MORE
Catholic=Republican=Federalist Society? –UPDATED
March 26, 2009, 6:22 am
I've been at Notre Dame long enough to know that controversies here --and on the Catholic blogosphere--are like tempests in a teapot. You talk to someone from somewhere else and they are surprised to learn what's going on--especially if they're not Catholic.
Still, if you grab onto the teacup
MORE
Casting the First Stone
March 24, 2009, 8:54 am
The Archbishop of Washington's sermon on divisions in the Church.
Thanks to David Gibson for bringing it to my attention
MORE
Everyone who disagrees with me is stupid or morally obtuse.
March 24, 2009, 8:07 am
It's a common strategy among prophets. I think it summarizes--though is not a direct quote from--Archbishop Chaput's remarks in Detroit.
But it's not the best way to win converts. I think this article from the interesting blog "Catholic Sensibility" expresses quite well why I found
MORE
Notre Dame Students and Obama
March 22, 2009, 4:27 pm
A bit of perspective on the current student body's political sensibilities
Current ND students appear to have voted for Obama over McCain by about 10 percentage points.
Many of them identified the economy and foreign policy as major factors in their votes
MORE
Big Love
March 5, 2009, 8:41 am
Winters in South Bend are long, and there's something especially long and depressing about a Sunday night in winter.
You need distractions. And one of the best distractions this particularly long winter has been Big Love, a series on HBO about a polygamous Mormon family trying to make it away
MORE
Are You a Christian Hipster?
March 4, 2009, 7:15 pm
Um, no. For so many reasons. . .
But this is funny.
HT: Daily
MORE
Why I Became Catholic
February 24, 2009, 8:45 am
At the end of this week, I will be going to a small symposium sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies in LA on John O'Malley's book, What Happened at Vatican II (reviewed in this issue of Commonweal). Joe K. is also a participant.
So I thought, to get some more ideas for us to
MORE
Chaplain to the Colbert Report
February 24, 2009, 7:54 am
The real plum job awarded in New York yesterday.
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{
MORE
“I am God”
February 21, 2009, 9:50 am
Jean Raber talks about Alec Baldwin's leading man days being over--. Personally, I think he's still got the bad-boy charm going for him. But speaking of bad boys. . . . here's the clip from Malice that his character was referring to by saying "I once claimed to be God in a deposition.&
MORE
“Because we’re aliens . . . and that’s how we roll”
February 20, 2009, 4:01 pm
Alec Baldwin's commercial for Hulu. He actually looks like he will eat the "mushy mush."
Okay, it's Friday. And I'm picking up on Joe K."s "aliens" theme.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m71m-LBqFQ[/youtube
MORE
“I Need Backup! Harvard Didn’t Prepare Me for This!”
February 20, 2009, 7:46 am
I know the New York Archdiocese is trying to encourage people to go to confession. Probably not like this.
A 30 Rock episode in which Alec Baldwin's character, thoroughly lapsed Catholic Jack, tries to go to confession. There's a nice Princeton--Harvard rivalry there. Except, of course,
MORE
Are there things about the Church that the “laity” ought not know?
February 14, 2009, 10:31 am
Rod Dreher's anguished column in USA Today
MORE
African-American Catholics and the Election
February 7, 2009, 9:05 am
My colleague Vincent Rougeau has an essay in America on the topic.
It has never been easy being African-American and Catholic in the United States. Though many of us, along with our Latino brothers and sisters, trace our Catholic roots to traditions that have been present in the Americas for
MORE
God in the White House
February 7, 2009, 8:23 am
A Daily Show interview with religion prof. Randall Balmer.
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.
MORE
“Bombshell Quote of the Day”
February 5, 2009, 6:54 pm
From Whispers in the Loggia:
As frustrated as the pope may be about the continuing debate, at least one Vatican insider thinks Benedict may even consider turning in his resignation. Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of the German language staff at Radio Vatican, said the pope "has his
MORE
The Next Archbishop of New York
February 5, 2009, 8:37 am
"Dynamic, Conservative, and Orthodox"
The first pastoral letter: The Splendor of Truthiness (Veritissitatis Splendor).
HT: The Deacon's Bench
MORE
Moral Gravity and the Legionaires of Christ
February 5, 2009, 7:50 am
In my view, as an ethicist, it is a more serious wrong objectively for any adult to sexually abuse minors or young vulnerable people in one's charge than to have a consensual sexual relationship with an adult -- even if that relationship results in a baby.
When I read the coverage of the
MORE
Catholics and Single Issue Politics=A Historical Perspective
February 4, 2009, 7:35 am
Leslie Tentler's take on Catholics and single-issue politics --from the perspective of 1919.For those who haven't read her book on American Catholics and contraception, I highly recommend it. It talks, among other things, about the bishops' fight to keep contraception illegal in the early-to-mid
MORE
Appearances Can Be Deceiving
February 3, 2009, 8:52 pm
The Legionaries are dealing with more scandal.
A prominent Catholic once told me how much she hope she placed in Regnum Christi and the Legionaries--because they appeared so devout; they young women were so neatly dressed, and the young man so crisp and wholesome. They regularly expressed
MORE
“FOCA Legislation No Threat to Catholic Health Care”
February 3, 2009, 12:55 pm
A Catholic News Service Article on the topic, quoting the head of the Catholic Health Association.
It seems that there was a concerted strategy on the part of the bishops' conference to focus pro-life efforts almost exclusively on the threat posed FOCA. Who thought this strategy up? And did
MORE
On a (Buffalo) Wing and a Prayer
January 30, 2009, 10:10 am
Stephen Colbert's oddly touching plea for patriotic hope:
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.
MORE
Etrade Baby Ads
January 29, 2009, 2:53 pm
I know it's heresy for a Notre Dame professor to admit, but I really am not into football. But I do like the Superbowl ads, especially the Etrade Baby ads, which are available on line. There's supposed to be a new one in the big game. (Note that in the mobile baby one, the blackberry's
MORE
Rock and Theology
January 29, 2009, 11:37 am
Brian Robinette and Tom Beaudoin's new blog. Looks interesting.
Cheer up, Palestrina lovers, I'm sure there's a specialized blog for you too
MORE
Worth a Read: Chris Currie on Cooperation in the Prolife Movement
January 26, 2009, 5:34 pm
This comment by Chris Currie was pasted in the comments on my thread on cooperation below. I thought it deserved more prominence.
I’m not a “moderate” on the issue of abortion. (Despite my beliefs in the legitimacy of compromise in the pursuit of a long-term goal and in a consistent
MORE
“feckless unmen and trashy unwomen”
January 26, 2009, 4:11 pm
Bishop Williamson really doesn't think that women should receive a higher education. Heaven forbid, they might take a course in Jewish Studies--and learn about the Holocaust
MORE
Culture War and the Barriers to Cooperation
January 23, 2009, 4:58 pm
A discussion of the possibility of cooperation between pro-lifers and moderates, centered around Doug Kmiec's article, got started on Bob Imbelli's thread below. So as not to interfere with Bob's thread, which is dealing exclusively with the press coverage of the march, I am moving the question
MORE
My Bad–and My Apologies
January 22, 2009, 9:33 am
I had a thread below on "Bush's Catholic Advisors"--It's now disappeared --inadvertently. I was attempting to post my own comment on my own thread, thought it took the wrong tack, and went to delete it. Instead, I inadvertently deleted the entire thread.
Yet another proof why I
MORE
Obama, Aquinas, and Hope
January 20, 2009, 7:29 pm
As many commentators have noted, Barack Obama sounded a more sober note in his inaugural speech than we have previously heard in his campaign speeches. The times are difficult. We must work hard. We must put the common good first.
Does this mean that he has abandoned hope, the leitmotif of
MORE
Please Pray for Father Reginald Foster, OCD
January 18, 2009, 4:27 pm
He's very seriously ill in a hospital in Rome.
Since he's always and everywhere thinking about teaching Latin, I think he'd like it if we prayed in Latin. Do any of you know of any suitable--and powerful--Latin prayers--for his return to good health
MORE
Magisterium Felix
January 17, 2009, 7:23 pm
I asked some friends what the difference between "bourbon" and "whiskey" is --and we looked it up.
The Roman Catholic Magisterium looks, well, lax when compared to the Kentucky bourbon magisterium.
There is, it seems, a website that is the functional equivalent of a
MORE
Now This is Kinda Mean
January 15, 2009, 8:44 am
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIUPgqnc0Zc[/youtube].
Really funny. But kinda mean. I think Bono can take it. (HT: The Daily Dish.)
(For those of you who weren't watching tv in footed pajamas in the early 70's, Mr. Kinkaid is the manager of the Partridge Family
MORE
Identity Politics: Trying to Have it Both Ways?
January 13, 2009, 10:36 am
Here's my question for Rob Vischer:
If vocal, powerful, and authoritative members of a religious group repeatedly and forcefully claim in the public square that one is a bad member of that group (e.g., a bad Catholic or a bad Mormon) if one does not vote a particular way (e.g., in favor of Prop
MORE
Yahweh or No Way?
January 11, 2009, 2:15 pm
God told Stephen Colbert that he should speak for God. Now the Pope has to go on the Colbert Report!
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.
MORE
The Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics
January 8, 2009, 10:12 am
is being held this weekend at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. It's the major professional society for Christian ethicists, and meets concurrently with the Society of Jewish Ethics. While it was originally founded by Protestant seminary professors, it has become far more ecumenical over the years
MORE
Scary Genius
December 29, 2008, 10:15 am
Kicked out of my office (we're moving), I spent more time working --and procrastinating --at home. I updated my ITunes program on my home computer (which controls the loading of ipods, for those who don't know). And ITunes invited me to add the "genius bar" to the program, and I did
MORE
Boston Globe Interview with Dick McBrien
December 28, 2008, 2:36 pm
Interesting--even a question or two about why he thinks he is such a lighting rod. He seems to have particularly gotten under the skin of somenone named John Zuhlsdorf
MORE
Continuity and Change
December 26, 2008, 11:22 am
I've lived in South Bend, Indiana for over a decade now, and for most of that time, we stayed on eastern standard time all year round. We never changed to daylight savings time. We stayed the same. But everyone changed around us. In the winter time, we were on New York time. But not in
MORE
Peter Steinfels in the NYT on John O’Malley, SJ on Vatican II
December 22, 2008, 6:03 pm
Another good Christmas present.
Continuity or change at V2?-Read the book
MORE
Original Sin and the Milgram Experiments
December 21, 2008, 8:39 am
The Pope is calling for people to think more about original sin. So how do you connect that ancient doctrine about human nature to contemporary frameworks--to make it real--a mysterious truth about everyone, not merely card-carrying bad people?
If I were teaching about original sin to
MORE
The Unbearable Lightness of Supreme Being
December 17, 2008, 12:13 pm
Stephen Colbert's Heartfelt Advice to God---related to theodicy and public relations. After a couple of other things. He thinks that we can't move Christmas from December to June because of the horrific change in wardrobe required for Santa Claus. Yes indeedy.
The last show of the year
MORE
A Church that Can and Cannot Change
December 16, 2008, 3:19 pm
Notre Dame Law School is moving, lock, stock, and bookcase to a brand-new building in a few days. It's hard not to feel nostalgic--or to find layers of meaning here. As I was packing up my books, I came across John Noonan's A Church that Can and Cannot Change, which he delivered as the Erasmus
MORE
Toby Keith’s Take on the War on Christmas
November 26, 2008, 9:12 pm
You could try to respond seriously to the over-the-top war on the "War on Christmas" highlighted Mollie Wilson O'Reilly's post below. Or you could make fun of it--as Toby Keith does on Stephen Colbert's Christmas special. At least I think he's making fun of it.
.cc_box a:hover .
MORE
Suing the Vatican in Sex Abuse Cases
November 26, 2008, 11:10 am
I haven't read the decision yet. Has anyone else? HT: Whispers in the
MORE
A Conservative, Catholic, British(?) View of the Election
November 25, 2008, 9:59 am
Here's John Haldane's take--it strikes me as very thoughtful -- and refreshingly non-prophetic.
Any thoughts?
Also, does "British" really refer to Scotland? Anyone know
MORE
Gold, Fankincense, and . . . Pot?
November 25, 2008, 8:42 am
Stephen Colbert and Willie Nelson do a Christmas duet. Nelson, who has been arrested numerous times for drug use, probably knows that pot wasn't a controlled substance back then![youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8HGswf584E[/youtube
MORE
Prophetic Rhetoric in Cyberspace–A Question
November 21, 2008, 12:08 pm
Here's my question. Who is Cardinal Stafford's audience--and by extension, the audience of others who use prophetic rhetoric?
Whom does prophetic rhetoric convince? Whom is it meant to convince? Is it meant to strengthen the will of those who already agree? Is it meant to convince those who
MORE
The Happiest Place in the World
November 17, 2008, 8:52 am
After giving a talk in Northern California, I prepared for the long winter in Indiana by going on a trip with family to Disneyland--which advertises itself as the "Happiest Place in the World."
You know what--it just well might be.
First of all, the weather --Southern California in
MORE
Abortion and the Law
November 12, 2008, 11:25 am
I have tried to link, in several posts or comments, to several things I've written over the years on abortion and the law in the U.S. The links never worked. But I finally figured out how to do it, thanks to our very talented technology folk at ND. So, if you are not sick of the topic, here
MORE
Blogging–the New Pamphleteering?
November 9, 2008, 11:10 am
Re-reading Sacvan Bercovitch's The American Jeremiad, I came across a comment (p. 169) in which Bercovitch invoked Tocqueville on the form of political rhetoric in the US.
"The contending parties, as Toqueville astutely noted, did 'not publish books to refute each other, but pamphlets which
MORE
Weigel’s Column
October 16, 2008, 12:41 pm
I just returned from giving a Commonweal Lecture at the University of Wyoming to discover that George Weigel reads dotCommonweal. Good for him!
So . . . the Newsweek column. Doug Kmiec, Nick Cafardi and I will be responding in Newsweek in a more substantive fashion. Here, a few quick
MORE
Maureen Dowd–Future Ambassador to the Vatican?
October 12, 2008, 11:00 am
Only kidding. But she does love Latin
MORE
Kmiec’s Review of Chaput and Korzen/Kelley
October 12, 2008, 8:28 am
Here you go. I thought I'd open the thread for you all.
Although I have to finish a Commonweal lecture I have to give this week, so don't have time to post
MORE
Mary Ann Glendon–Abortion and Divorce in Western Law–Selected Passages
October 4, 2008, 3:19 pm
I've blogged quite a lot on this book, which I think offers one of the best discussions of the topic of abortion and the law that is around. It situates the abortion issue more broadly in the context of social justice and family policy. So I've (finally!) collected a few passages for your
MORE
Social Justice and Family Policy
October 3, 2008, 8:19 am
Some Catholics present the Catholic social teaching as if it were a nice option--but quite secondary to promoting family values. That's a distorted reading of the tradition, in which the dependence of the vulnerable, including vulnerable families, upon social networks, including governmental
MORE
American Exceptionalism
October 2, 2008, 10:33 pm
In her debate tonight, Governor Sarah Palin endorsed "American exceptionalism:--she invoked the Puritan ideal of a "city on a hill"--a New Jersualem.
This is a topic on which we at dotccommonweal are prepared to debate--in fact, we have debated in the past.
Any new thoughts
MORE
Jon Stewart Interviews Bill Maher–Who Really Doesn’t Like Religion
October 1, 2008, 8:39 pm
Bill Donohue, whom I expected to shred the movie, gives it only one "thumbs (pitchfork?) down" --not two. I was surprised.
But, then, Maher actually may be more nuanced than his nasty bluster first suggests. It appears from the interviews that it's not faith, but certainty that
MORE
The Fighting Irish
September 30, 2008, 11:51 am
A Wall Street Journal article with Fr. Hesburgh.
In the Huddle, the student activities building at Notre Dame, there is an immensely moving photograph of him at a civil rights march with Martin Luther King, Jr
MORE
Jim Martin and Jim Wallis on the Financial Crisis’s Moral Roots
September 29, 2008, 12:28 pm
Very interesting. But it's the financial and economic background that I don't get very well yet.
Can anyone recommend two or three good basic books for someone (me) whose idea of effectively coping with the crisis is limited to throwing Fidelity statements, unopened, into a box under the bed--
MORE
The Lonely Planet Guide to the Catholic Blogosphere?
September 28, 2008, 8:26 am
Not yet -- but this is a start
MORE
“Three Generations of Imbeciles are Enough.”
September 27, 2008, 9:37 am
Good for Archbishop Hughes.
But he's wrong in saying we Americans have always condemned eugenics. That's the problem. We haven't.
I do not believe in whitewashing history--the history of Christianity or the history of the United States. And I do believe in making contemporary citizens and
MORE
De Hæretico Comburendo (1401)
September 25, 2008, 9:52 am
When we think about religious freedom, and the proper relationship of church and state, we tend to think of it in general terms. Of course we believe in the separation of church and state--but not the separation of religion and culture.
There's plenty to complain about in contemporary culture
MORE
John McCain–Wedding Crasher?
September 14, 2008, 7:28 pm
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myu9USHP61o[/youtube]
I just turned on the TV, and saw that Wedding Crashers, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, was starting. In the scene in the front of the church a man with a very familiar profile was shaking hands with Kathleen Cleary (Jane
MORE
Ghostwriters
September 6, 2008, 7:18 am
One issue that the Palin nomination raised that fascinates me is the use of ghostwriters. It's no secret that Palin's speech was written by someone else; in fact, the campaign disclosed the fact (apparently breaching ghostwriting etiquette, if not ghostwriting ethics). And it's no secret that the
MORE
The Magdalene Laundry
September 4, 2008, 8:32 am
Perhaps those of us who are more progressive ought to realize that a cultural milestone has been reached when conservatives take for granted positions that were first espoused and fought for by liberals. We ought to take a deep breath, and see how far we've come. I see two points of progress
MORE
Palin and The Culture Wars
September 3, 2008, 11:57 am
Is this what's going on? Mmm. And suppose you think (as I do) that continuation of the culture wars is a very bad thing for both the country and the church?Does that mean ignoring the whole thing
MORE
Consensus? -UPDATE
September 1, 2008, 7:23 pm
It seems to me that the partisan fighting in an election year may obscure a more important consensus on key issues--which might be important to mark. Judging from the reaction of conservatives and conservative blogs to the Palin nomination, it seems to me that liberals and conservatives might now
MORE
The Daily Show and Colbert on Palin
August 30, 2008, 12:02 pm
Warning: The language in the first is a bit, well, edgy
MORE
Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul
August 25, 2008, 5:46 am
On September 11-12, David Gushee at Mercer University is sponsoring a summit on torture, which includes people representing a number of religious traditions. If you're near Atlanta, you might want to consider attending.
My task is to say something about the Catholic approach to the question--in
MORE
Books on Tape?
August 21, 2008, 9:16 am
Bill Saunders over at the Catholic Thing has an interesting piece on audiobooks of the great classics. I have to say, the idea intrigues me. At night, my eyes are often too tired to read for pleasure. But maybe audiobooks are just the thing. Anyone else tried them
MORE
Stephen Colbert and Jane Mayer on Torture
August 15, 2008, 7:41 am
"Stephen asks Jane Mayer why she has to see enhanced interrogation as the glass being half empty, instead of half full with a guy's face in it."
MORE
New Barna Group Survey on Religion and the Presidential Election
August 12, 2008, 10:27 am
Senator Obama seems to be ahead of Senator McCain among most faith groups.
Among Catholics, he leads 39 percent to 29 percent. But he has slipped since June.
What's interesting to me about polling, although I know nothing about it, is the formulation of categories. Here is what the
MORE
Inequality and The Common Good
August 4, 2008, 5:28 am
Joe Pettit asked an important question on a thread below: Do social and economic inequality matter? If so, which candidate offers the best chance of addressing the problem appropriately?
Here is his question:
"Entrenched and deep inequality, not just economic, but racial as well. We
MORE
The Big Sort
August 2, 2008, 9:54 am
Bill Bishop's book about the clustering of like-minded people. Thansk to Mike McG in the comments on Peter Nixon's post below for bringing it into the discussion. Here's the interview with Jon Stewart
MORE
The Starbucks Under My Desk
August 1, 2008, 7:31 am
Stephen Colbert complains about the economic downturn's effect on Starbucks.
They came comparatively recently to South Bend--only six years ago or ago. Thank God they're here. They get me to work on time
MORE
The New Jerusalem?
July 29, 2008, 2:45 pm
Another Justice Department investigation reveals a concerted program--conspiracy may not be too strong a word--illegally to weed out Democrats and liberals from prestigious entry-level positions.
The unwritten story, here, it seems to me, is the connection of religion to politics.
I wonder to
MORE
The New England Mind
July 18, 2008, 7:25 am
As a couple of my posts may have indicated, I've become fascinated with Perry Miller's writings on New England Puritanism over the past six months or so. They are not so much social history as intellectual history--an examination of the evolution of the ideas that brought New England Puritans from
MORE
Charlie Bit Me
July 10, 2008, 9:23 am
This is one of the most popular videos on You Tube. Okay, I put it up because it's really, really cute. But we can make it theologically relevant: What would Saint Augustine say about Charlie?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM[/youtube
MORE
Obama and Faith-Based Initiatives
July 4, 2008, 12:20 pm
Last week, Sanator Obama announced his commitment to a Presidential Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
One of the reasons that I support Senator Obama for President (I’m on his National Catholic Advisory Council) is that he’s willing to take good ideas from all sources
MORE
Whatever you do, don’t annoy the youth
July 3, 2008, 6:26 am
Free Expression and World Youth Day in Australia
A big with the problem with the law under the US framework would be that its vagueness interferes with legitimate rights to freedom of expression.
If I were a police officer in Sydney, however, the last thing I'd be looking forward to was
MORE
Archbishop Burke to Rome
July 1, 2008, 9:42 am
A Roman Catholic is chief justice of the highest court in America. And now, an American is "chief justice" of the highest court in Roman Catholicism. (Too bad we can't design a moot court that would allow them both to sit!)
What does Archbishop Burke's promotion mean for the Church
MORE
Rhode Island and The Surprising Experience of Religious Toleration
June 29, 2008, 11:24 am
Perry Miller, The New England Mind, vol. 2: From Colony to Province, p. 124:
"In 1657 Commissioners of the United Colonies tried to force Rhode Island (which was not, of course, in the Union) to banish Quakers; that colony replied with the curious observation that Quakers had proved, when
MORE
May God Bless and Keep Henry Chadwick
June 22, 2008, 8:11 am
His writings on Early Christianity are a treat to read.
“Nothing is sadder than someone who has lost his memory, and the church which has lost its memory is in the same state of senility
MORE
A New Alignment of Religion and Politics?
June 20, 2008, 6:49 am
Robin Lovin thinks so.
HT: Mirror of
MORE
May God Bless and Keep Tim Russert
June 15, 2008, 8:52 am
and give comfort to his family. He is a model of the difference a Catholic education and culture can make, not only to individual lives, but also to the common life of a nation
MORE
A “Locutionist” in Ireland
June 12, 2008, 6:34 am
Deal Hudson writes about a woman who is receiving visions and other communications from heaven
Any bored historian of theology want to procrastinate for a moment and put private revelation in a broader theological context
MORE
Symposium on Catholic Social Thought and The Law
June 11, 2008, 5:25 pm
This fall at Villanova. Submit a paper proposal, or go listen to someone who did. After all, it's only right: Commonweal started the discussion by publishing John Coleman, S.J. twenty years ago. I'm told he will be speaking there.
Symposium on Catholic Social Thought and the Law
Catholic
MORE
It’s IRISH Catholic Guilt, it seems!
June 11, 2008, 10:19 am
My ND colleague Christian Smith has conducted a study that shows that young Catholics aren't feeling all that guilty after all
MORE
Stephen Colbert: A Primer
June 10, 2008, 6:44 am
He spoke at Princeton's graduation this year. I really wish we could get him to Notre Dame
MORE
A Change in Leadership
June 8, 2008, 1:33 pm
and it seems, style, in the Pontifical Council for the Family.
HT: Whispers in the
MORE
Sex and The City — the Movie
June 6, 2008, 8:01 am
I saw it last night. Four quick comments.
1. The movie is about the clothes. The people are essentially minor characters, who wear the clothes.
2. There is a sense of humor about the clothes. Carrie's first wedding dress (from Vogue) had a turquoise bird on the veil, which, conjoined
MORE
NPR Interviews Kmiec
June 4, 2008, 5:46 pm
I cannot forget that Archbishop Burke and Archbishop Chaput strongly implied in 2004 that voting for a pro-choice candidate was a serious sin. I suspect this priest is simply walking in their footsteps.
If this is the case, it seems to me that they bear indirect, and partial, responsibility for
MORE
Media Coverage of the Pope: A Retrospective
June 3, 2008, 8:53 am
Commonweal editor Paul Baumann has a very interesting article on media coverage of the Pope's visit--written as a participant observer. Any other comments on the pope's visit and the media
MORE
A Double Feature (It is summer, after all): Stephen Colbert on McCain’s Preachers
June 2, 2008, 10:40 am
A Luminous Mind
May 25, 2008, 7:28 am
One of the things I'm trying to do this summer is fill in culpable gaps--read books that have been on my shelf since graduate school, and which I confess that I didn't read then, no doubt attracted by the more immediate and gratifying lure of conversation with my fellow graduate students. They
MORE
Starhawk and George Weigel
May 22, 2008, 9:02 am
are both panelists on the Washington Post's On Faith blog. As is Peggy Steinfels, and now, me. So if you really think you don't spend enough time on line at dotCommonweal, check it out
MORE
Archbishop Chaput. . .
May 20, 2008, 6:27 pm
well, as we lawyers say, res ipsa loquitur. (Common translation: the thing speaks for itself.)
HT: First
MORE
Tired of the Culture Wars?
May 3, 2008, 8:55 am
Lots of people are, it seems- including some Evangelicals
MORE
Blessed Week Ever
April 28, 2008, 2:57 pm
Samantha Bee from The Daily Show commenting on the Pope's visit; she irreverently reminds us that it's what we do, not what we say, that counts - no matter how reverently we say it
MORE
Catholics and Obama
April 22, 2008, 3:15 pm
Pope Benedict XVI has gone home after a spectacularly successful visit to the United States, but we American Catholics are still making news. Today is the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, and the “Catholic vote” is widely perceived to be important in determining this outcome. The numbers
MORE
Avery Dulles’s Farewell Address and Bob Imbelli’s Response
April 16, 2008, 7:59 am
Interesting to think about in connection with Pope Benedict XVI's visit. It must have been a moving event
MORE
The New Feminism?–My Column
April 7, 2008, 3:17 pm
The preceding issue of Commonweal has a column by me on "The New Feminism? Pope John Paul II and the 1912 Encyclopedia."
Grant has very kindly taken it off the restricted list, so that it is available even to those who don't subscribe.
There is an interesting discussion of the
MORE
Tips for Joining a Doomsday Cult
April 5, 2008, 9:35 am
I myself wouldn't be tempted to join a doomsday cult unless the doomsday cave were a Westin or a Ritz-Carleton. H.T. Daily Dish
MORE
Democralypse Now
March 28, 2008, 7:04 am
Stephen Colbert on the tensions in the Democratic Party, and the Wright Controversy
MORE
What Does the Resurrection Mean for Her?
March 24, 2008, 5:44 am
As I went through Easter weekend, I was haunted by this story.
It struck me as a type of crucifixion (cruciare--to torture or torment).
And I found myself pondering the question in the title of the post
MORE
Culture Wars? How 2004.
March 11, 2008, 7:41 am
EJ Dionne on the end of an era.
As he notes, we've been at these cycles a long time in the U.S. I've just read, cover-to-cover, for the first time (I'm ashamed to say) Perry Miller's marvelous Errand into the Wilderness. Religious fervor comes in cycles. Just ask Jonathan Edwards
MORE
In Treatment
March 7, 2008, 8:27 am
The long winter is hard in Northern Indiana. The snow still covers the ground in March, and the benefits of traveling to a warmer climate are erased by the difficulties of air travel. So what to do? Well, you could get therapy. But that's expensive, emotionally difficult, and let's face it--in
MORE
The Laetare Medal
March 4, 2008, 11:25 am
Here's the official information on the Laetare Medal at Notre Dame.
What is most impressive to me about the Medal is its catholic conception of Catholicism: The award recognizes that a powerful witness of faith is not simply the province of "professional Catholics," but can be found
MORE
What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?
February 27, 2008, 9:22 am
(Fooled you. . . . I bet you thought from the title that this was a Bob or Joe post not a Cathleen post , didn't you!)
A couple of posts below, there is an interesting conversation on the recent Pew Forum Study, which shows that a substantial portion of the American population (10 percent) are
MORE
The Future of the Church in the US?
February 19, 2008, 4:11 pm
In a review essay in Catholic World Report, Russell Shaw quotes a strikingly pessimistic passage from former Commonweal columnist David Carlin:
"Reviewing the evidence of decline in his book The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America (Sophia Institute Press, 2003), David Carlin
MORE
Who is Your Brain’s Choice For President?
February 17, 2008, 9:10 am
This Harvard study will tell you (HT: Andrew Sullivan
MORE
Aggiornamento and Resourcement in American Democracy?
February 11, 2008, 11:20 am
I thought I'd open an thread on E.J. Dionne's fascinating cover story in the new Commonweal. The last paragraph particularly struck me:
"If Pope Benedict, that staunch defender of orthodoxy, is able to acknowledge his own tradition’s debt to “the positive aspects of modernity,”
MORE
The Transitive Property of Huckabee
February 11, 2008, 8:40 am
Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Conan O'Brien have some fun.
Who created Huckabee
MORE
Pop Goes My Heart
January 27, 2008, 11:39 am
How best to encapsulate the difference between early baby boomers and late boomers/Gen X? Well, in their formative years, the early boomers had Hendrix, Dylan, and Joplin. The late boomers/Gen Xers, and early Ys had music, well, like this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0A7dtdc-nU[/
MORE
Barack Obama–Grownup
January 27, 2008, 8:12 am
Living in Indiana, I know that my vote in a primary probably won't make a difference. So I've tried to sit lightly in thinking about the candidates in the primaries.
But I have to say, I thought Barack's speech last night was a tour de force. It was spellbinding, riffing on King and Kennedy
MORE
Please Come to Boston . . .
January 25, 2008, 10:08 am
College on February 7 and say hello, if you have time
MORE
Is He Dreaming?
January 23, 2008, 3:38 pm
Jon Stewart interviews Jim Wallis on life in a post-religious right America.
BTW, I think both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are doing really well without writers. These guys are very smart--and very funny
MORE
Huckabee – Colbert in ‘08?
January 16, 2008, 12:49 pm
Maybe they'll put Jon Stewart on the Supreme Court
MORE
The Falling-Down Professions
January 7, 2008, 2:08 pm
Sobering but not surprising--especially for those of us who train professional students
MORE
Too Absorbing
January 3, 2008, 1:41 pm
If you have friends and family flying this week, you can track their flights, and listen to the air traffic. It's very interesting. I really admire Air Traffic Control people--all of our lives depend upon them, and their tasks come at them very fast.
Lots of airports have broadcasts (O'Hare's
MORE
Juno
January 2, 2008, 2:25 pm
I saw the movie Juno over the holidays. It's a film about a sixteen year old girl, Juno McGuff, who unexpectedly finds herself pregnant after engaging in sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker to stave off boredom. She goes through with the pregnancy, and chooses a yuppie couple as its adoptive
MORE
Top Religious Stories of 2007?
December 30, 2007, 3:29 pm
I was watching Nightline last week, which proposed two stories as among the most significant stories on religion in 2007.
One was about a "Garden of Eden" Diet, which encourages people to eat like Adam and Eve did (mainly vegetarian) for long life and vigorous health. The other was
MORE
For Everyone Still Grading . . .
December 28, 2007, 5:42 pm
Father Guido Sarducci's "Five Minute University."
HT: John Borst on the Commonweal yahoo group.
His "Theology" course is pretty funny.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4[/youtube
MORE
My Favorite Christmas Commercial
December 22, 2007, 8:42 am
One of the nice things about the blog is it becomes like a family--you can predict what someone will do. I knew that Bob Imbelli would post something very profound, and beautiful. And important.
And he knows I would post something that's, well. . . not. But it is funny.
The only thing
MORE
Anscombe Society-Response
December 19, 2007, 4:57 pm
Here is the Anscombe Society's response to the situation:
http://princetontory.blogspot.com/2007/12/nava-situation-anscombes-response.html
I was thinking about culture clashes. It seems to me that the position of an Anscombe Society at a place like Princeton, which is liberal in the sense of
MORE
Saving Grace
December 19, 2007, 2:42 pm
Last night was the season finale of Saving Grace, a TNT original television series starring Holly Hunter. Here's the website.
The nutshell plot is this: Grace is a hard-living Oklahoma City police detective who is visited by an angel named Earl, who is struggling to save her soul. I originally
MORE
The Golden Rule of Evangelizaton: Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You
December 17, 2007, 11:28 pm
Bob Imbelli started a thread about the CDF dcoument on evangelization below. For all those who wish to discuss that document in a more focused manner, the thread is still there. But I want to propose a practical question, which may not interest him but does interest me, greatly. I should have
MORE
Princeton, the Anscombe Society, and the Culture Wars
December 17, 2007, 8:28 pm
A very sad event for all of us who went to Princeton.
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=930
The young man from the Anscombe Society made the whole thing up.
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/12/14/news/19743.shtml
My question: Leaving aside the particular situation
MORE
Question: Apologetics
December 3, 2007, 10:51 am
As noted in the comment boxes on Paul Lauritzen's post on The Golden Compass, prominent Catholic apologists are gearing up for an attack on Pullman's trilogy. I'm not terribly interested in the book, or the movie, but I am interested in apologetics. And I also realize I don't
MORE
This YouTube Clip Will Make You Cry
November 27, 2007, 6:16 pm
"Britain's Got Talent" is the equivalent of our "American Idol"--complete with Simon Cowell--he does double duty. Here's the qualifying round for one Paul Potts, a cellphone salesman from Cardiff. Bob Imbelli, you'll like this one. Really. I promise.HT:
MORE
MAC v. PC. . . . NFP v. Contraception
November 27, 2007, 2:49 pm
You have to admit, this is pretty funny. And gutsy. . . especially for the seminarian who plays the contraceptive
MORE
The Other Health Crisis: Why Priests are Coping Poorly
November 24, 2007, 12:48 pm
For those of you who aren't watching football, shopping, eating, sleeping, or catching up on work, I thought I'd open a thread on this week's cover article"The Other Health Crisis: Why Priests Are Coping Poorly."
MORE
The Evolution of Dance
November 23, 2007, 12:16 pm
Very funny. Especially if you remember, to your chagrin, most of the videos he's spoofing.But who could forget "Ice, Ice, Baby."For those of you who didn't waste your time in a manner that enables you to get the allusions, contemplate this:Over 65 MILLIION people have watched this on
MORE
Who Says First Things and Commonweal Have Nothing In Common?
November 8, 2007, 8:11 am
We all love Stephen Colbert. Nice job, Mr. Peters
MORE
Knocked Up
November 6, 2007, 8:54 am
A couple of entries below, there was a discussion of abortion and film, centering around the movie Bella, which I haven't yet seen. I finally got around to seeing Knocked Up this weekend, which isn't an abortion movie, as much as it is a baby movie --as in "why not have a baby, if you're
MORE
Film Ratings Systems
November 3, 2007, 7:43 am
A thread below, on abortion and film, evolved into a question of film ratings by the NCCB. How helpful are they?Grease, to my surprise, is rated "O"==morally offensive--by the Bishops' Conference. It's the same rating as Last Tango in Paris and Saw.Is a ratings system
MORE
Don’t Stop Believin’
October 30, 2007, 7:22 am
Remember the end of the Sopranos last June? David Chase, the creator weighs in.That makes sense to me; I never thought Tony was wacked in the diner. I thought life was going on--that didn't mean Tony wouldn't be killed someday, of course--but probably not then. What a wonderful show=
MORE
The Evangelical Crackup
October 29, 2007, 7:34 am
An article from the New York Times describing the turmoil within Evangelical circles.It seems some evangelicals are tiring of the culture war lanaguage as well
MORE
Birth Control Foe Appointed Head of Family Planning Agency
October 18, 2007, 8:44 am
If moderate Christians are forced to to choose between a secular liberal world and a conservative Christian world, which will they choose?Isn't there somewhere in between?Stories like these two make me fear there really is no other choice, given the polarization in American politics today
MORE
What Shourld Religious Moderates/Progressives Do Now?
October 13, 2007, 8:16 pm
Here's the question I've been pondering. It seems that religious moderates/progressives have been left out in the cold politically in recent years in the US. The secular left has no use for them, the religious right disdains them as unorthodox" and "unsound" and "unreliable.&
MORE
Presidential Platform 2048
October 12, 2007, 7:15 pm
"More places to live. . . more places to eat. . . more lemonade stands. . . and more hoedowns."
My four-year-old niece's answer to the question what her platform will be when she runs for President of the United States.
Sounds pretty good to me
MORE
The Daily Show: Our Brave, Fighting Words
October 9, 2007, 8:15 am
making the ultimate sacrifice . . . .losing their definitions for the sake of the country
MORE
The Death of Blogs
October 8, 2007, 7:58 am
may or may not be iminent, but at least it's good for a blog post
MORE
Do you know what’s in a Big Mac?
October 4, 2007, 12:00 pm
Of course you do. "two-all-beef-paties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a sesame-seed- bun."Do you know all the 10 Commandments?Mmm.HT: CNSSurvey: More Americans know Big Mac ingredients than Ten Commandments
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Quick. Name each of the Ten Commandments
MORE
Cooperation with Evil
October 3, 2007, 7:35 am
No, it's not a new beach novel. It's a very abstruse theological doctrine--with new relevance in today's world.When can Catholics --institutions and individuals--contribute to wrongful actions on the part of other agents? Moralists in the Catholic tradition have discussd this under the heading of
MORE
Archbishop Burke and Communion Redux
September 29, 2007, 3:27 pm
Archbishop Burke has just published a scholarly article entitled "The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Preserving in Manifest Grave Sin."It's implications are not entirely clear to me, but he seems to be saying that each individual minister of
MORE
Faith, Sex, Catholicism and College Students
September 28, 2007, 8:30 am
An interesting white paper on some of the issues we discussed below, produced by St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict
MORE
How Can You NOT Like Him?
September 26, 2007, 8:24 am
An interview in Parade Magazine with Stephen Colbert
MORE
Sex & Christianity: How Has the Moral Landscape Changed?
September 25, 2007, 4:31 pm
I thought I'd open a thread on Charles Taylor's cover article in this week's issue
MORE
“Is ‘Do Unto Others’ Written in Our Genes?”
September 19, 2007, 7:08 am
A fascinating article in the New York Times
MORE
The Master Key in the Fake Rock Outside the Door to Success
September 12, 2007, 7:24 am
The Daily Show on success in Iraq
MORE
Leona Helmsley Dies
August 21, 2007, 10:42 am
Here is the New York Times obituary. I remember seeing her ads for perfect hotel rooms in the New York Times Magazine in the 1980s. ("I wouldn't setle for skimpy towels. Why should you?")Like Martha Stewart, and Hillary Clinton, she seems both to fascinate and repel large segments of
MORE
World Youth Day
August 13, 2007, 4:39 pm
When I was in Australia, I got a chance to catch up with a fellow ethicist and lawyer, Bishop Anthony Fisher, OP. We've been at the same conferences, and talked about teaching law and ethics. But he doesn't have the luxury of leisurely planning his next semester's courses. He's now a very busy
MORE
Robby George on Current Moral Dangers
August 6, 2007, 7:00 am
First Things doesn't have comments enabled. So I thought I'd enable them here on Robby George's latest plea to American Catholics
MORE
Stephen Colbert Interviews Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
August 3, 2007, 6:21 am
On her new book on religion and politics.  
MORE
If anybody could make pocket protectors not nerdy. . .
July 26, 2007, 6:38 pm
He could. For anyone who didn't spend their time listening to the top 40 while doing their homework in the 1970's, here is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody
MORE
Do Magazines Matter?
July 19, 2007, 8:54 am
In light of the very interesting announcement about Crisis below, here's a question for the blog. Do magazines matter? Would it matter to you if Commonweal weren't in print format anymore? And why?I think there are two issues. One, the print form itself, and two, the process that goes into
MORE
Final Comment on the Sopranos
June 14, 2007, 2:58 pm
A few people have asked me how my read of the finale of the Sopranos fits in with the themes I explored in "Salvation and the Sopranos," which argued that season five (and the first part of season six) can be fruitfully considered in terms of redemtion and fate. I don't think there's
MORE
Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey 1981)
June 12, 2007, 8:00 am
I wasn't going to do this, but I think it might be necessary. For those of you who haven't experienced the wonder of the power ballad, here is a hit from the year 1981. The Sopranos finale ended with the words "Don't Stop."
MORE
Made in America
June 11, 2007, 11:55 am
As yesterday afternoon wore on, I was thinking about how sad I would be in five or six hours, after I had seen the series finale of The Sopranos. Whether or not Tony himself died, the world of the Sopranos would have expired. I was wondering whether to email Bob Imbelli and ask if he could say a
MORE
Abraham Joshua Heschel–The Prophets
June 9, 2007, 1:57 pm
Congratulations to America Magazine for its new website, and for its fascinating article, "Lovingly Observant," by Doris Donnelly and John Pawlikowski. It's an interview with Susannah Heschel, who holds a chair in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth, about her father, the great Jewish rabbi
MORE
Rudy, Lightning, Abortion, and the Theology of the Daily Show
June 8, 2007, 8:30 am
Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, interviews John Oliver, Senior Campaign Theologian of The Daily Show, about the implications of the lightning accompanying Rudy's discussion of abortion in the recent Republican debate
MORE
Providence Bishop on Rudy
June 6, 2007, 10:59 am
Taking off my moral theologian hat, and putting on my hat as a native Rhode Islander, I found this column to be rather ironic. Very few people in Rhode Island would vote for Rudy anyway. In addition to being one of the most Catholic states in the nation, it's among the bluest of blue states. In
MORE
Carhart Criticised from the Right
June 5, 2007, 11:29 am
Here (ht Melissa Rogers) is a strongly worded open letter criticizing James Dobson and Focus on the Family for supporting the Partial Birth Abortion Act.There is an interesting underlying question about whether incremental legislation on abortion is moral, and under what circumstances. For those
MORE
Don’t Mess with Nancy Drew
June 4, 2007, 4:33 pm
Previews have started for a Warner Brothers Nancy Drew movie,opening June 15. The preview suggests that they are going to pull a "Brady Bunch Movie" on her, taking her out of her time (the wholesome 1940's and 1950's) and making her a smart, loveable dork in today's teenage den of
MORE
The Blue Comet
June 4, 2007, 11:47 am
A luxurious passenger train streaking over the Pine Barrens between 1929 and 1941, the Blue Comet was a marvel of speed, luxury, and glamor. It was also, and essentially, New Jersey’s marvel–it carried its well-heeled passengers back and forth between Jersey City and Atlantic City. It
MORE
Catholic Intellectuals in the 1960’s
May 30, 2007, 6:23 am
Many thanks to Paul Lauritzen for his fascinating profile of Dan Callahan. Equally deserving of a profile is his wife Sidney, a longtime Commonweal columnist whose work at the border of psychology and ethics is extremely helpful. The article got me thinking about Catholic intellectuals in the 1960
MORE
Why Can’t a Human Be More Like a Machine?
May 26, 2007, 7:00 am
I finally got a new car last week, and I got one that had a navigation system. It seemed like a good , maybe necessary, idea -- I am, to put it politely, "directionally challenged." And this navigation system is great. I talk to it ("find ATM") and it talks to me ("
MORE
The Second Coming
May 21, 2007, 10:46 am
The Second Coming
(1920)William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned
MORE
From Silver to Gold: The Next Twenty-Five Years in Law and Religion
May 18, 2007, 9:22 am
Emory Law School's Center for the Study of Law and Religion is putting on an amazing conference about the next twenty-five years in law & religion, scheduled for October 24-26, 2007. Here's a summary of what the conference organizers, Professors John Witte and Frank Alexander, have set as the
MORE
Kennedy and Heidi
May 14, 2007, 9:14 am
"Poor you.”
A major source of Tony’s Soprano’s depression and violence was his mother, Livia Soprano – for those of you who have seen or read I, Claudius, think Livia (58 bc - 29 ad) the consort of Augustus Caesar, mother to Tiberius and step-mother to Claudius. Tony’s mother
MORE
In-Flight Turbulence
May 10, 2007, 9:34 am
Poor Pope Benedict. Maybe he'll watch the movie, rather than talk to the reporters, on the way home
MORE
Walk Like a (Made) Man
May 7, 2007, 2:08 pm
In the moral world of the Sopranos, fate and moral failing regularly combine to
bring about a character’s doom. Last week’s episode focused on luck --or fate --and
its fickleness. This week’s episode demonstrated how very limited the
opportunities for a good moral choice can be,
MORE
The Unquisition
May 4, 2007, 8:09 am
You could read Michael Buckley's brilliant book, The Origins of Modern Atheism today. Or you could just watch this video clip, and take a nice walk in the spring air, vowing to read Father Buckley next week. It's Friday, after all. And it's spring
MORE
Luck Be a Lady Tonight
May 1, 2007, 7:53 am
In last week’s episode (spoilers follow), Tony Soprano was worried about Paulie Walnuts talking to the feds, because he was all alone–he had no family, no connections to keep him stable. This episode eliminates the other option –the illusion that a “stable” family life in the mob is a
MORE
A Taste of the Sopranos
April 30, 2007, 9:22 am
I've been posting regularly on The Sopranos, and I have been wondering how to give those readers who don't watch the series a small taste of the show. I think the best way to do that is through the opening credits. We watch Tony Soprano leave Manhattan, move through the Lincoln Tunnel, drive
MORE
Remember When. . .
April 23, 2007, 7:45 am
The Continuing Saga of the Sopranos. (Spoilers follow.) The first episode two weeks ago dealt with the porous boundary between family and The Family, the episode last week focused on the thin line between reality and film or fiction. Last night's episode, entitled “Remember When,” continues
MORE
Archbishop Chaput and the 2004 Election
April 20, 2007, 2:30 pm
In her recent column in Commonweal, Melinda Henneberger recounts an interesting–and disconcerting–interview with Archbishop Charles Chaput from Denver. Apparently, he’s quite astonished about the reaction his foray into presidential politics created in 2004. I quote from the column: “He
MORE
Audrey Santo Passed Away
April 20, 2007, 6:52 am
My mom sent me this link from the Boston Globe. It is an interesting read in light of Mathew Schmalz's fascinating essay, "The Saint of Worcester."
MORE
Cleaver
April 16, 2007, 7:45 am
[Warning: Sopranos spoilers ---follow]In last night's episode, Christoppher Multisanti goes to the apartment of JT Dolan, the recovering drug addict and addicted gambler who wrote Cleaver -a slasher/gangster film film that Christopher is producing with mob money; he describes it as "Godfather
MORE
Rudy and Abortion, II
April 11, 2007, 10:09 am
Austin Ruse asked me to post these three responses to Rudy's stand on abortion:Maggie Gallagher's colum, "Rudy to Pro-LIfer: Drop Dead,"Bill Donohue's press release "Giuliani and Casey: Making Life Decisions"
MORE
New Chaplain of Yale is a Catholic Laywoman
April 10, 2007, 10:05 am
From Yale Alumni Magazine: (HT: America magazine). New chaplain will minister to all faiths
by Mark Alden Branch '86In a development that would no doubt have astonished Yale's Puritan founders, the university has appointed Sharon Kugler, a Catholic layperson, as Yale's seventh University
MORE
Swan Song
April 9, 2007, 8:57 am
After nearly a two year break between the first half of season six and the last half, I feared that the voices of the Sopranos might have lost their full range and subtlety. I needn't have worried.Last night's episode was about boundaries and borderlines, and crossing borders and boundaries:
MORE
Resurrecting the Sopranos
April 7, 2007, 2:48 pm
Tony Soprano will be "resurrected" for a few short episodes. HBO debuts the final half of the sixth season tomorrow night. Easter Sunday. I can't wait. Maybe I was too pessimistic. I sure hope so!Warning: the "Seven Minute Sopranos" linked in the NYT article is a
MORE
Georgetown Law Denies Funding to Intern at Planned Parenthood
April 6, 2007, 2:15 pm
This isn't going to be controversial at all
MORE
What Are We Doing Here, Anyway?
March 29, 2007, 8:46 am
The recent conversation on the Catholic Blogosphere's at St. Joseph's is up on Busted Halo. Featuring our very own blog moderator, Grant.So, dotCommonwealers, is this what we're doing
MORE
An Interview with George Lindbeck
March 27, 2007, 2:13 pm
about many things, including the polarization in the Catholic church
MORE
Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force
March 13, 2007, 10:57 am
If you're living near Ann Arbor, you might be interested in this conference at the University of Michigan Law School.The conference title, "Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force," comes from Simone Weil's essay on the Iliad, where "she uses it to refer not only to systems of
MORE
“For God So Tough-Loved the World. . . “
March 7, 2007, 5:05 pm
Stephen Colbert on Christian physicians and conscience. Key ethical distinction:"But this latest case is a real breakthrough. It's not Christian medical professionals refusing to provide treatment they don't approve of. It's Christian medical professionals refusing to provide treatment to
MORE
Jon Stewart and Jesus’s Tomb
March 6, 2007, 7:46 am
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is the Colbert Report's parent show--Stephen Colbert got his start as a "reporter" on the Daily Show. It's enormously popular with younger people--in fact, a substantial proportion of younger people say they get their news just from the Daily Show. The
MORE
Pope is Warned of a Green Antichrist
March 2, 2007, 12:18 pm
or so sayeth the UK Times.I guess that type of sermon will convince someone, but not me. . . I don't know about you, but the summary prompted me to check into Jean Raber's post below-- especially Inheriting from the Raptured. Because global warming hasn't hit Indiana yet (it's snowing here
MORE
Who Runs Right?
February 25, 2007, 1:00 pm
The Christian Right is having a hard time coming up with a candidate for president.What will happen to the Christian right if it's Rudy v. Clinton
MORE
Sex and the City of God
February 22, 2007, 1:03 pm
A Conversation about Sex, Catholicism, and Contemporary Culture.At Notre Dame next Wednesday night.If you're around, and not busy, come to the discussion.We have a very good panel, as the news release shows. One of the great blessings of teaching at Notre Dame is the capacity to assemble an
MORE
Victim Souls –Marie Rose Ferron
February 20, 2007, 8:39 am
I was fascinated by the article about the saint of Worscester, in part because I grew up not far from there, and in part because this notion of "victim souls" is not unprecedented in that neck of the woods. A couple of years ago, I was in Rhode Island for Chrstimas, and I picked up a
MORE
Tony Perkins and Stephen Colbert on HPV Vaccination
February 18, 2007, 3:48 pm
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:
Stephen Colbert
MORE
Pyrrhic Victory?
February 16, 2007, 4:32 pm
I have a lingering sense of unease over the flap around the Edwards bloggers. What Donohue et al have shown is that Catholics are an effective political interest group in this country--we protested because we felt insulted, and the offending bloggers are no longer with the campaign. We are just
MORE
Breach
February 15, 2007, 9:22 am
A WaPo review of the new movie about Robert Hanssen. The director is Billy Ray, whose movie Shattered Glass (about Stephen Glass, who made up stories for the New Republic) was an absolutely fascinating study in contorted motives and twisted loyalties. I think the movie opens Friday
MORE
War with Iran?
February 14, 2007, 7:38 am
My colleague Mary Ellen O'Connell explains why this would be a bad idea, from the perspective of an international lawyer
MORE
First Woman President of Harvard
February 12, 2007, 9:11 am
Harvard names first woman president.Cool. But Princeton (my alma mater) got there first
MORE
Pew Forum on Generation Next
February 9, 2007, 10:26 am
An Interesting Survey by Pew on "Generation Next".
Their major goal. . . to be rich and famous
MORE
Latin is Dying . . .
January 28, 2007, 11:55 am
And the Pope should offer tutorials to save it.. . . Or so sayeth Reginald Foster, to the UK Telegraph
MORE
“I have a dream. . . ” UPDATE
January 26, 2007, 12:00 pm
"I have a dream that my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King, 1963We all still desperately need that dream, and to work to make it reality. This is heartbreaking
MORE
Boston Catholic Charities Redux
January 24, 2007, 10:56 am
English Church embroiled in same-sex adoption issues.  
MORE
Who Understands Us Best?
January 22, 2007, 10:12 am
Who understands us best?The people --or computers -- who sell us stuff, of course!(For those of us who buy a lot of books on Amazon, it is spooky seeing those suggestions
MORE
Goddess Worship: No.
January 22, 2007, 7:58 am
Wendy Doniger a University of Chicago proefssor, argues that Goddess worship isn't the way to increase respect for women.But I wouldn't predict her enrollment in Opus Dei or Regnum Christi soon. Her basic reason: men are even more likely to fear and repress women's power if they think that
MORE
The Sopranos
January 18, 2007, 2:10 pm
HBO is running the first half of Season 6 of the Sopranos, again, in preparation for the second half of Season 6--the end of the series. The first few episodes of Season 6 are really interesting--I'd encourage people to watch.By the way, in a couple of weeks, Commonweal will be running my article
MORE
On the Runways in Milan . . .Soutanes?
January 16, 2007, 3:33 pm
Well, not quite, but close.HT: Whispers in the Loggia.
As New Year's Resolutions lose their strength, who wouldn't agree with Donatella Versace that "It is the moment to display the muscles of the mind, not those of the gym."
MORE
Bishop Curry, Argument & Tradition
January 13, 2007, 8:33 am
An interesting question raised by Bishop Curry's piece is when a tradition is in good health. Is it when people placidly move along in time, without fighting, argument, or criticism? He seems at points to worry that that all the argument, all the intellectual jostling since the Second Vatican
MORE
Religion and the 2006 Elections
January 10, 2007, 3:53 pm
Interesting study by the Pew Foundation.Table 5 looks at which issues mattered most, broken down by religion. The issue that mattered most to white Catholics was the economy. The war in Iraq was second. Corruption: not the major issue at all.On "value issues" such as marriage and
MORE
Colbert Interviews Peter Singer–In a Life-Size Creche
January 8, 2007, 6:32 pm
Come on . . .you know you want to watch it
MORE
Crisis at Ave Maria University
January 8, 2007, 4:17 pm
Ave Maria University has had its share of of troubles (including with the federal government over its student loan program, and troubles with faculty and students about the move to Florida). Apparently, it's having financial problems as well.(HT: Whispers in the Loggia)I wonder whether there is a
MORE
Deliberately Stunting the Growth of a Child with Disabilities
January 5, 2007, 8:54 am
Parents of a child with severe disabilities took drastic steps to keep her small, portable, and more easily cared for.I don't doubt the love of the parents for their child, and realize that carrying for an older child/adult can be quite burdensome physically. Nonetheless, I found this very
MORE
If the Devil Can Quote Scripture. . .
January 3, 2007, 11:06 am
then there is no reason the Mafia can't quote it in Latin. Apparently, the police are seeking the Vatican's help in translating Mafia messages encoded in the Latin Vulgate Bible.(The event that led me to find out about this was I got a call from the BBC this morning, who wanted to track down
MORE
Canon Law and Planet 9 From Outer Space
January 1, 2007, 10:11 am
I have to say, I found this delightful. Sacred Heart Major Seminary canonist Edward Peters presents the footnotes to the 1917 Code of Canon Law in terms of the worst movie of all time-- or more precisely, the best worst movie of all time: Planet 9 From Outer Space.And Jody Bottum fears we lawyers
MORE
Sophie Scholl — Again
December 30, 2006, 8:14 am
A while ago, I posted on the movie Sophie Scholl, which I recently watched again. It really is structured in the form of Christian stories about martyrs--and it's really worth watching. It's now available on Netflix.I use the movie in a class I teach from time to time on "
MORE
The Second Coming
December 23, 2006, 11:12 pm
Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full
MORE
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
December 16, 2006, 2:18 pm
My favorite Christmas special of all time (still) is Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The lyrics in the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" are really quite clever -- in a totally insulting way, of course! But as we all enter into the final lap of the race toward Christmas,
MORE
Ambivalent Archbishop
December 12, 2006, 4:54 pm
This is an interesting article in the Tablet about the Archbishop of Canterbury's reaction to his visit to Rome (subscribers only
MORE
Truthiness
December 9, 2006, 1:25 pm
"Truthiness" --coined by Stephen Colbert -- truth that comes from your gut rather than reference books -- has been named the word of the year.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/09/word.year.ap/index.html
"We're at a point where what constitutes truth is a question on
MORE
Ecu-Menace
December 5, 2006, 10:10 am
Okay, I'm back in South Bend after a week on the East Coast. I got to see the Commonweal offices for the first time -- great view guys. But alas, no Colbert tickets were forthcoming from my heartfelt bleg. I guess his ten brothers and sisters must read First Things, not Commonweal (Hi Jody --I
MORE
Tickets to Colbert?
November 22, 2006, 10:26 am
OK, I'm giving a talk at Columbia early next week. I'd love to see a taping of the Colbert Report on Tuesday night. It would do my eternal soul some good!Anybody in the Catholic blogosphere have a connection? Please!Shameless, I know, but I thought it was worth a shot
MORE
Thanksgiving Movies
November 20, 2006, 10:55 am
OK, we're all about to have a four-day weekend with friends and family. If you're not a football person, what movies should you get for the DVD? I suggest a Coen Brothers film festival.1. Fargo2. Raising Arizona3. The Big Lebowski-- the Dude, after
MORE
Borat
November 19, 2006, 6:41 pm
I saw it in Washington. I found it quite offensive. And not very funny. Anyone else see it
MORE
Evangelicals and Catholics Together–at a U2 Concert?
November 14, 2006, 1:57 pm
Newsweek has an interesting article by Marc Gerson on the shifting moral and political concerns in the evangelical movement. The person young evangelicals most admire as the model of Christian activism: Bono.
Maybe we older people ought to buy some U2 albums. Come to think of it, though, U2 was
MORE
Rocco Palmo on the Election (From Busted Halo)
November 12, 2006, 11:37 am
This is well worth reading, in my view
MORE
Deadwood Update
November 12, 2006, 10:49 am
Okay, I'm almost through the first season of Deadwood. I have to admit, Grant was right. I've gotten hooked (well, apart from the part where they killed the teenage thieves, for which I had to leave the room --and . . . those pigs. . . )But the dialogue is very, very good. And Al is beginning
MORE
The Election and the (Culture) War
November 9, 2006, 11:33 am
What does the 2006 election mean for Catholic participation in American political life? I think this country is sick of endless war – literal war and metaphorical war. Political commentators say that the midterm elections were a referendum on the war in Iraq, which is spilling the blood of both
MORE
Wrongful Life?
November 1, 2006, 8:03 am
In the last issue of Commonweal, my fellow columnist Barbara Whitehead wrote about the ambivalent reactions of now-grown children conceived by artificial insemination -donor. The Linacre Centre, a Catholic bioethics institute in England, has just announed the publication of a book entitled Who Am
MORE
Moral Values and the Election
October 27, 2006, 4:45 pm
The presdient is using the New Jersey Supreme Court decision giving state constitutional protection to same sex couples as an attempt to rally family values voters to the polls. Is it going to work this time, or are the war, torture, gas prices, corruption in the government, etc. going to eclipse
MORE
Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
October 26, 2006, 2:58 pm
Okay, I confess (no rack necessary): I never watched Monty Python, and smiled politely when people would say such things as "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition" in college. I always wondered, vaguely, what they were talking about, but it was always too much trouble to find out.
MORE
Cooking with Feminists
October 24, 2006, 7:01 am
Stephen Colbert (in character) interviews Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem -- in the kitchen. He's his own version of a new feminist
MORE
MacIntyre on Higher Education
October 18, 2006, 7:50 am
In a provacative and lucid article in this week's Commonweal, Alasdair MacIntyre proposes a new model for Catholic higher education: it's an update of the medieval trivium; instead of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, there would be math / science, hisotry, and literature. "All three have a
MORE
The Deadwood Challenge
October 14, 2006, 11:47 am
Okay, it is the first weekend of fall break. I've sent my essay on the Sopranos and Redemption off to the editors, and am looking for a new television series to obsess about for a while. Grant recommends Deadwood (which he says is BETTER than the Sopranos!). I'm skeptical--but I must admit it's
MORE
Coincidence or Strategy?
October 12, 2006, 6:20 am
Has the Pope adopted a distinctive new rhetorical style that attempts to combine dialogue with confrontation? If so, is it likely to be successful? I found myself asking these questions after I read this news report of a sermon at a general audience. The quote from Jude Thaddeus, which
MORE
Guardian Angels & Smugness
October 4, 2006, 1:07 pm
In a post below, Peter talks about having had an experience of being saved--guided --and wonders whether that was attributable to a guardian angel. I have sometimes had such experiences too. But then, sometimes, when I read the news, I wonder whether I am being too smug. Where were the guardian
MORE
No Such Thing as “Goovil”
September 28, 2006, 10:10 am
Stephen Colbert on the Culture Wars. "The best way to fight evil Islamic fanaticism is with good Christian fanaticism."
MORE
Americans are More Religious than Previously Thought
September 11, 2006, 10:54 am
See this article in USA TODAY.What struck me is the dominant image of God: just, but not merciful, it seems
MORE
Help Name a Bridge in Hungary After Stephen Colbert
August 31, 2006, 9:44 am
Vote as often as you can. As Stephen says, "Carpel Tunnel is a small price to pay for giving this gift to the Hungarian people."
MORE
Venit Vidit Vicit
August 28, 2006, 9:26 am
Reginald Foster spoke at Notre Dame last Thursday. We had an overflowing crowd-- people from all parts of the University, and many of his former students from good distances, made the trip in to see him. Liberals and conservatives in the same room, to hear the same speaker! It was great.It
MORE
The Changing Role of Women in Orthodox Judaism
August 22, 2006, 8:47 am
We Catholics tend to think we are the only ones who have trouble redefining and rethinking women's roles in light of a strong tradition of patriarchal leadership. Orthodox Jews have an analogous set of troubles. But here is an interesting article about shifts in that community
MORE
The First Day of School
August 21, 2006, 12:42 pm
Today is the first day of school at Notre Dame. Now, as someone who has been teaching a while, and who has gone through twenty-third grade herself (try telling that to an eight-year-old and watch their eyes pop!), I've had my share of first days of school. But it is still exciting. It's a new
MORE
Cui Bono?
August 18, 2006, 8:08 am
Looking at the contretemps between Commonweal and First Things, I found my legal instincts kicking in: I felt like I was missing some piece of the puzzle. So I began to ask myself: who benefits from this dustup? 1. January 2006: Commonweal starts a blog.Perhaps not a bestseller as far as blogs
MORE
Reginald Foster, OCD –Vatican Latinist– at Notre Dame
August 10, 2006, 11:18 am
Given the interest in Latin on this blog, I thought people would like to know that Reginald Foster, OCD, the well-known Vatican Latinist, will be speaking at Notre Dame soon.
Is Latin Really Dead?Why the Academy and the Church Should Preserve the Latin LanguageAn informal conversation
MORE
Strangers with Candy and Stephen Colbert
August 8, 2006, 3:56 pm
Over the weekend, I saw Strangers with Candy, the movie based on the cult tv series of the same name. It was written by Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, and Paul Dinello. It was crude, rude --and I have to say, very funny. Two things:
1. I once thought that conservative Catholic apologists (e.g., Amy
MORE
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
July 30, 2006, 8:46 am
I recently taught a course on "Faith, Morality, and Law" in the Theology Department at Notre Dame. The course ends with a film about martyrdom in opposition to participation in an unjust legal system. I gave Thomas More (A Man for All Seasons) a well-deserved vacation and substituted a
MORE
How Views of Law Influence the Pro-Life Movement–UPDATE
July 24, 2006, 12:34 pm
Richard John Neuhaus quoted from an article of mine in the "While We're At It" section of the latest issue of First Things. A couple of people have asked me for more information. It's based on a talk that I gave last year at Villanova, and it is published in Origins, the NCCB
MORE
Crunched Cons
July 21, 2006, 11:00 am
Rod Drehere's book, Crunchy Cons, has been getting some attention in the some segments of the blogoshpere. I haven't read the book, suspecting it was a gimmick, ("You can be conservative and cool, too!") and probably won't get to it now, after Gilbert Meilaender's review in First Things
MORE
Stephen Colbert on Stem Cells
July 18, 2006, 2:28 pm
Check out last night's hilarious and sharp interview with Princeton biologist Lee Silver. Two things: 1) Colbert is very, very smart; and 2) Lee Silver actually found a fairly successful way of dealing with the Colbert character: treat him like a slightly idiotic child
MORE
“Latin Will Kill You”
July 14, 2006, 5:19 am
In his summer class, Vatican Latinist Reginald Foster not only teaches the language six hours a day, six days a week, to those able and willing to learn, he also assigns a weekly "Ludus Aestivus" -- otherwise known as a homework sheet.
Once we had to translate this inscription from
MORE
Ad Astra per Aspera (atque Gratiam)
June 27, 2006, 5:41 am
Well, I'm off to Italy for a little while, to get myself a Latin booster shot in Rome with Fr. Reginald Foster, who has made the preservation of the language his life's work. http://frcoulter.com/latin/foster/foster2.html He's simply amazing. Then on to Padua, where there's an international
MORE
Evangelicals and Catholics Together?
June 24, 2006, 7:44 am
Here is an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i42/42b00601.htm, witten by the distinguished Barnard historian of religion Randall Balmer, on what he would say if invited back to Wheaton College to speak at its convocation. Balmer is a cradle
MORE
Commonweal, Bob Imbelli, and the Pope at Auschwitz
June 12, 2006, 11:58 am
I want to comment on Bob's comments on the editorial's comments on the pope.
1. Bob's first point is that the editorial does not recognize that "one does not "explain evil. One might seek to situate it, to probe its scope, to discern its ramifications."
I think the editorial's
MORE
Axis of Mid-term Evil: Gay Marriage, Flag Burning and the Death Tax
June 12, 2006, 10:14 am
OK, so Bill was sort of right. I WAS going to post a clip from the Colbert Report, which takes on, well, absolutely everything.
So I waited a day, just to have a decent interval, and here it is
MORE
Penitential Cinema
May 30, 2006, 11:16 am
John McGreevy is so optimistic. Rather than disappoint his hopes, I'd like to shift the topic to Anthony Lane's delightful concept of penitential cinema. What movies could justly be imposed instead of mortification of the flesh by a severe but just confessor?
Here are three:
1. Cold
MORE
The Rocky Da Vinci Horror Code
May 21, 2006, 8:16 am
I saw the movie on Friday night. No protesters, no big deal at the movie theatre.
Here's my take: It's camp. A type of religious camp, but camp nonetheless. See Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" (1964) Sontag distinguishes between pure camp, which is naive, and conscious camp, which
MORE
Sex, Sin & Salvation–Maciel & the Theology of the Body
May 18, 2006, 3:29 pm
John Allen reported the breaking news about Maciel on May 18. His "The Word from Rome" for this week, dated May 12, talks about a major conference on "Loving Human Love: The Heritage of John Paul II on Marriage and the Family." It ws sponsored by the John Paul II Institute on
MORE
The Da Colbert Code
May 17, 2006, 10:56 am
This video clip is brilliant, and hilarious. Stephen Colbert used the "Da Colbert Code" to predict, with 100% accuracy, everyone that won the 2006 Oscars
MORE
John McGreevy’s Question
May 15, 2006, 5:53 pm
John McGreevy's post, below, got mixed up with all sorts of questions about bloggers, and responses, and alternative magisteria. Good stuff, all of it.
But his question got lost. It's a good question. Let's look at it again --leaving aside the other stuff:
"Isn't the cultural
MORE
Stephen Colbert: Theologian of the People
May 3, 2006, 12:38 pm
Okay, that's over the top. But I have to admit to being addicted to the Colbert Report--he's smart, funny, and sharp. He's also, in my view, extremely interested in, and sophisticated about, religion. He treads a very fine line--he makes fun of excess, and stupidity, but not of religion itself. In
MORE
Notre Dame and the Popular Imagination
April 8, 2006, 3:30 pm
Speaking of Catholic higher education, I have to confess I still don't quite get it --and I'm two steps removed from getting it. "It" is the tremendous attention that ND's internal operations provoke from all sorts of people -- not just alumns, but also people who never went here, and
MORE
Britney Spears, Pro-Life Icon????
March 24, 2006, 9:46 am
It's Friday and I couldn't resist posting this. I am not at all opposed to using pop culture as a vehicle to consider more profound questions about the meaning of life. But everybyody has their limits. I have to say, that I think this is past mine. May God forgive me, if this is actually
MORE
HBO’s Big Love
March 13, 2006, 12:25 pm
So last night was worth the exorbitant price of cable with HBO, for two reasons. First, "The Sopronaos" reappeared after an eighteen month hiatus. Second, immediately following "The Sopranos" came the new HBO series "Big Love" -- about polygamy. I'm not going
MORE
