The problem of authority is not merely a political problem or even simply a problem of faith. It instead requires a gathering up of the whole of life, indeed the world in all of its rich multitude of aspects, in relation to its meaning-granting center. Anxious about trends he was witnessing in the ’60s and [...]
Today in America, people of faith are binding up the unraveled fabric of civil society in tangible ways. We hold the threads individually, but when they are bound together, we can reweave a picture of order and beauty in human souls, woven in the vibrant colors of love. People of faith have given our culture [...]
Timothy Carney’s "Alienated America" tackles a crucial question that too few policymakers and news commentators even bother asking anymore: What is at the root of America’s contemporary cultural and social malaise? The short answer, according to Mr. Carney, is the deterioration of civil society. Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Other Places Collapse, by [...]
Why did I help organize a new men’s event? Well, the short answer is that it’s needed. Much contemporary Christian life is dominated by women, for good and for ill. One of the ill parts of this is that there is a certain feminized quality to many events that turns men off. Our catchy name [...]
Solitude. It is a word that is coming to define the 21st century, so says Derek Thompson in his recent article in The Atlantic, “The Anti-Social Century.” Citing statistics from the American Time Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the article focuses on how Americans have, over the past several decades, gained [...]
The resort to violence has become the characteristic American response to a world that seems to many to lie beyond their control. Almost from the beginning, violence wrote itself into the American story. Violence seems now to be inscribing itself onto the American soul. Although the story has disappeared from the news cycle, Luigi Mangione’s [...]
The fact is that “unity” is not always good, and “division” is not always bad. Indeed, some unity is downright diabolical. There is, for instance, nothing more united than a mob. The mob mentality is nothing other and nothing less than toxic unity. When G.K. Chesterton first came to the United States and visited New [...]
We have increasingly placed our faith in the power of government to provide solutions for human misery. What was once a strong level of responsibility and autonomy at the city, county, and state level has shifted toward a massive concentration at the federal level. When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 1830s, he marveled [...]
Architects and homeowners have long assumed that the only way to keep houses cool and comfortable is to equip them with central air conditioning. However, as electric rates increase, many homeowners are looking for alternatives, especially in very hot climate zones. Some have resorted to so-called passive homes that rely upon massive amounts of insulation, [...]
The upcoming presidential election will determine the next leader of the nation and representative of America to the world. Election Day offers the prospect for a new voice and a new option. The American Solidarity Party fits that description. Its principles and public policy are in quest for the common good. Its political approach, emphasizing [...]
In his analysis of alienation in the modern world, Robert Nisbet recognized an important truth about the human person, which makes “The Quest for Community” timely even today: The individual cannot be understood except in relationship to other individuals in time and space. The abstract, autonomous individual does not exist nor can he ever exist. [...]
We have handicapped children by letting our concern for their safety overrule the enormous benefits that come with the way they naturally play. Last semester, some of our faculty recently participated in on-site CPR training on a Saturday morning. And again, this semester, on a Friday evening. Aside from the comfort you should derive knowing [...]
What is at the heart of the success story of the World Villages for Children? Not just a school, not just vocational training, but the Catholic faith. The joy, hope, and faith of the young Sisters of Mary is infectious. The Catholic faith teaches that, with God’s help, we can change—change ourselves, change our families, [...]
As the plane landed, my fascinating conversation with the lady with the hat ended. It was like a window into a sector of the American public normally not engaged in the culture war. The incident gave me insight into what might be happening beneath the surface of the material paradises that dot the national landscape. [...]