Perspective
Grandma remembers: the secret of 90
It has become a four-generation tradition to head south of the cities and take in a small-town celebration of fall. Our route winds between soaring bluffs and a shimmering lake. […]
Perspective Archive
Perspective
Physician, heal thyself
The Catholic Medical Association convened its 88th annual educational conference recently in Nashville, Tennessee. This was the second time I have attended the national conference, and my bride accompanied me […]
Perspective
Invest for a clean economy
This essay is the third and final installment on the Vatican’s dialogue on “The Energy Transition and Care of Our Common Home.” It describes the second of two statements signed […]
Perspective
Discernment and ‘the real’
I was speaking recently with a colleague and friend of mine at the seminary regarding discernment, and he shrewdly pointed out that no one discerns — or even should consider […]
Perspective
Pushing back against evil
During a recent speech in Texas, I mentioned that “Drag Queen Story Hours” are being sponsored by local public libraries across the country. Toddlers and kids are brought in and […]
Perspective
The fleeing nones
I grew up in a family of seven kids, which I considered a midsized Catholic brood. I knew families that could field entire baseball and even football teams. As a […]
Perspective
It’s far harder to love
The kid was tired, rubbing his eyes with tiny fists, lips quivering as tears began to well up because he couldn’t get comfortable. Who can, really? Airplanes aren’t designed for […]
Perspective
Historical clarity, today’s contentions
One of the curiosities of the 21st-century Catholic debate is that many Catholic traditionalists, especially integralists, and a high percentage of Catholic progressives make the same mistake in analyzing the […]
Perspective
The beauty of inner silence in a tango
At a past gathering at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Parish here in Washington, D.C., there was a demonstration of different dance styles. One of our young adults, Lola, is a student […]
A more human society
Are there still unalienable rights?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty […]
Perspective
What kind of ‘believers’?
This past June I was in the Munich area for four days, giving a public lecture on Evangelical Catholicism and doing a lot of media interviews. My hosts were exceptionally […]
Perspective
Prayers for the sick
There is an old New Yorker cartoon that shows an angel bringing God a stack of petitions about wars, natural disasters and other calamities. God waves him off with a […]