Perspective
Our Dreyfus Case
In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus of the French Army was convicted of treason on the grounds that he had given military secrets to France’s mortal enemy, Germany. The charge […]
Perspective
The ever-present totalitarian temptation
First circulated underground in communist Czechoslovakia in October 1978, Vaclav Havel’s brilliant dissection of totalitarianism, “The Power of the Powerless,” retains its salience four decades later. It should be required […]
Perspective
Lay collaboration and episcopal authority
The Vatican is a hotbed of rumor, gossip and speculation at the best of times — and these times are not those times. The Roman atmosphere at the beginning of […]
Perspective
Cleansed and conformed to God’s will
“Father, We Thank Thee, Who Hast Planted” has long been one of my favorite hymns. Its tune, taken from the 16th-century Genevan Psalter, is eminently singable. The hymn text — […]
Perspective
Roots of Catholic anger
After a month out of the country, working in Rome at Synod-2018 and helping mark the 40th anniversary of John Paul II’s election at events in Brussels and Warsaw, I […]
Perspective
Courage in the Slough of Despond
I never took a class from historian Frank Orlando, but the motto he placed in the faculty section of my college yearbook — “History is an antidote for despair” — […]
Perspective
Why we stay, and the Vigano Testimony
The Sunday Mass Scriptures during this summer of horrors have often been eerily appropriate, beginning with Jeremiah’s polemic against malfeasant shepherds who mislead the Lord’s flock (July 25) and continuing […]
Perspective
Affirming and celebrating ‘Humanae Vitae’
July 25 was the 50th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae,” Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical on the integrity of love and the appropriate means of family planning. Issued during the cultural meltdown […]
Perspective
The dictatorship of relativism
You’ve probably never heard of the Waupoos Family Farm. I hadn’t either, until I met some folks involved in it during a recent visit to Ottawa. Their story vividly illustrates […]
Perspective
Roe v. Wade Derangement Syndrome
The defense of the indefensible often leads to a kind of derangement in otherwise rational people. That was the case with the defenders of slavery and legalized racial segregation; it […]
Perspective
Memory, identity and patriotism
The second volume of my biography of St. John Paul II, “The End and the Beginning,” benefited immensely from the resources of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance [IPN, from its […]
Perspective
Conscience and grace: a Lenten meditation
The Scriptures of Lent in the Church’s daily liturgy invite two related reflections. The weeks immediately preceding Easter call us to walk to Jerusalem in imitation of Christ, so that, […]