It is important to understand how the American Catholic experience is unique in the history of the Church. Rally for Religious Freedom March 23, 2012, Seattle Is it possible for one to be both an American, and Catholic, in the 21st … [Read more...]
Being an American Catholic Today: The Historical (and Current) Challenge
March 31, 2012 by Fr. Richard Gribble, CSC
A Review of Cullen Murphy’s “God’s Jury”
March 7, 2012 by Book Reviews
GOD’S JURY: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World. By Cullen Murphy (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) 310 PP. ISBN 978-0-618-09156-0. Mr. Cullen Murphy never claims to be an historian. His edited c … [Read more...]
“Non Angli, sed angeli!” The Pope’s visit to Britain
The Pope’s visit to the U.K. in September may be the catalyst for a revitalized British faith.
October 1, 2011 by Donal Anthony Foley
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain, September 16-19, marked a very special moment, and one which may still have wider repercussions for the rest of the world. Its high point was the beatification of John Henry Newman (1801-90) at … [Read more...]
On the beatification of John Paul II
The pontificate of John Paul II was a gift from God to the faithful entering the third millennium.
May 1, 2011 by Fr. Matthew J. Albright
The unique significance of a recent Vatican announcement has settled on the minds and hearts of Christ’s faithful. The joyful news of the beatification of Pope John Paul II on the first of May contains layers of meaning for the Church and t … [Read more...]
The Catholic Holocaust of Nagasaki—“Why, Lord?”
The witness of the Catholics of Nagasaki shows God’s providence in the darkest of times.
August 1, 2010 by Br. Anthony Josemaria
On August 9, 1945, God’s inscrutable providence allowed an atomic bomb named “Fat Man” to be dropped from a B-29 into the heavily populated city of Nagasaki. The epicenter of the blast was the Urakami district, the heart and soul of Catho … [Read more...]
The ambiguity of Islam
November 1, 2009 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
“When some fanatics kill children, women, and men in the name of pure and authentic Islam, or in the name of the Qur’an or of the Muslim tradition, nobody can tell them: ‘You are not true and authentic Muslims.’ All they can say is: ‘Your re … [Read more...]
Renaissance saint and scholar
A THOMAS MORE SOURCE BOOK.Edited by Gerard B. Wegener and Stephen W. Smith (The Catholic University of America Press, P.O. Box 50370, Baltimore, Md. 21211, 2004), xxxii + 395 pp. PB $34.95.
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
St. Thomas More is one of the few intellectual and moral giants of the second millennium. He was truly a Renaissance man, being outstanding as a poet, scholar, husband and father, lawyer, statesman, and in addition to all of that a saint of … [Read more...]
European Christophobia
THE CUBE AND THE CATHEDRAL: EUROPE, AMERICA, AND POLITICS WITHOUT GOD. By George Weigel. Basic Books (2005), $23
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
In the closing months of his pontificate, John Paul II turned repeatedly to the “Europe question.” He insisted that a failure to mention the common Christian heritage in the drafting of the E.U. constitution would tear apart the very cul … [Read more...]
What Civilization Owes to the Church
HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT WESTERN CIVILIZATION. By Dr. Thomas Woods, Jr. (Regnery Publishing, Inc., One Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001), 256 pp., HB $29.95.
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
If modern studies credit the Catholic Church with anything positive, it is usually limited to faint praise in the realm of music and the arts. Dr. Thomas Woods, however, offers an alternative view in his unambiguously titled best-seller, … [Read more...]
Twentieth Century Catholicism
THE CHURCH CONFRONTS MODERNITY. Catholic Intellectuals and the Progressive Era. By Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (Columbia University Press, 61 West 62nd St., New York, N.Y. 10023, 2004), 228 pp. HB $29.50.
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
In the first two decades of the 20th century, American intellectuals moved away from a Christian view of the world and opted for a secular philosophy of Pragmatism and empiricism. Two of the main figures of the day were William James and … [Read more...]
The Church as True Pilgrim
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THROUGH THE AGES: A History. By John Vidmar, O.P., Paulist Press, 997 Macarthur Boulevard, Mahwah, N.J. 07430), 360 pp. PB $18.95.
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
We are somewhat inundated with new church histories featuring interpretations that allow for no trace of magnanimity toward the Church’s actions in the midst of her various conflicted episodes. One notes with frustration that some of t … [Read more...]
Ultimate Issues in Politics
BECKET & HENRY: The Becket Lectures. By James J. Spigelman; foreword by George Cardinal Pell (St. Thomas More Society, GPO 282, Sydney, NSW 1043, Australia, 2004), 308 pp. US$35.00 + P&H.
April 9, 2009 by Book Reviews
(NOTEb Corresponding with the above address is apparently the only way to get this book, if it actually is still in print! Otherwise, check your local library - rjg) The account of Thomas à Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral four da … [Read more...]
How American Catholicism Was
THE EDGE OF SADNESS. By Edwin O’Connor (Loyola Press [Loyola Classics Series], 3441 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60657, 1962/2005 reprint), 640 pp. PB $13.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Once upon a time, before the priest scandals, Catholicism in Boston was rampant with good ol’ Irish “Cat’lics” who looked at religion as an extension of their everyday lives. Families were proud of the priests in their ranks, all went to Mas … [Read more...]
The Church in the world
BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM: Five Reflections on the History of the Church. By Glenn W. Olsen (Ignatius Press, P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, Colo. 80522, 2004), PB 236 pp. $14.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Beginning at Jerusalem presents the reader with an interpretation of five different stages of the history of the Church from a deeply Catholic perspective and draws out the significance of events of each period for the life of the Church … [Read more...]
A Crusading Pope
THE DEEDS OF INNOCENT III. Edited and translated by James M. Powell (Catholic University of America Press; order from Hopkins Fulfillment Service, P.O. Box 50370, Baltimore, Md. 21211, 2004), 320 pp. HB $59.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Innocent III was one of the most significant popes in history and certainly the most important pope in the medieval period. A skilled and energetic figure in the papal bureaucracy, Lothari di Segni was elected pope in January 1198 at the … [Read more...]
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