Perspective
Risky businesses
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report recently whose alarming rhetoric about carbon dioxide emissions — “code red for humanity” — got me thinking again about nuclear […]
Columns Archive
Perspective
The moral analysis of boxing
In 1996 when Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic flame on international television, the issue of sports-induced brain damage was raised to new prominence. One of the greatest boxers in history, […]
Perspective
A retirement project like no other
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness.” — Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “Don Quixote” What should a retired philosophy professor […]
The Sunday Gospel
Welcome the Word that has been planted within you
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The Book of Deuteronomy provides this weekend’s first reading. In this reading, Moses presents to the people the revelation that he […]
The Sunday Gospel
Each of us must decide whether to accept Jesus, or reject Him
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time John 6:60-69 The Book of Joshua, the source for this weekend’s first reading, looks at the period in the history of God’s people when Joshua […]
Perspective
When tomorrow is a day too late
The human tendency to postpone and procrastinate is at times breathtaking. It can also be fatal. Now that Americans are starting to believe that COVID-19 variations can be more efficiently […]
Perspective
Let the consumer beware
Within 24 hours of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, my almost 4-year-old daughter asked me if she could take a gymnastics class. Then she wanted to begin swimming […]
Perspective
Hannah Arendt, totalitarianism, and the distinction between fact and fiction
I am currently making my way through D.C. Schindler’s marvelous book, “The Politics of the Real: The Church Between Liberalism and Integralism.” This text will be of interest to anyone […]
The Sunday Gospel
Mary knew that through Christ, salvation had come to all
Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 1:39-56 The Book of Revelation supplies the first reading on this feast of the Assumption of Mary. Some Catholics remember […]
The Sunday Gospel
Peace and everlasting life are found in Jesus
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time John 6:41-51 The First Book of Kings provides this weekend’s Liturgy of the Word with its first biblical reading. As the name implies, the kings […]
Perspective
Life is just beginning: expansion at any age
I submitted two articles tonight, and moments after I hit send, I was struck by the parallel. Sure, they both involved retired Catholics. But in my focus on the specifics of […]
Perspective
What young people could most profit from hearing about marriage
Young people today experience various pressures and expectations that can make them anxious. In a recent essay, Professor Timothy P. O’Malley, of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, crisply […]