What is the worst thing about living in the rubble of a civilization? It is not that you shed a tear for the noble churches and courts and town halls you once knew, as you recall years filled with religious services, parades and block parties. It is that you do not even suspect that such [...]
Strong memories—of good times, of challenges met, of shaping experiences commonly shared—are the critical foundation of a good and meaningful life, particularly if you are young. Cherished memories of days passed can spur us on, can exhort us, and can motivate us when our own days seem dark and unendurable. On my desk sits a [...]
Pope Paul VI’s controversial encyclical Humanae Vitae cuts across modernity’s default epicurean position by insisting that sexuality is a profound participation in hope, an affirmation that every God-given human life has inestimable worth, not a negotiable value… This summer marks the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s controversial encyclical Humanae Vitae. Like most of our [...]
Men, let’s encourage one another to become true fathers again. In an age when fear dominates every relationship, we need real fathers more than ever—men who are beacons of light and who provide companionship, love, and hope in a world filled with loneliness, pain, and despair. Writing about Mother’s Day is a joy. But writing [...]
Is it time for today’s parents to reverse course and begin teaching their children to respect others first, instead of their own little selves? Let’s face it. Almost every child has likely had some type of meltdown in public, causing great embarrassment to both the child’s parent and to other witnesses in the vicinity. But [...]
Compared to today’s decidedly pragmatic US President, the tradition-minded Cambridge medievalist proves to be more exclusive and more provincial, for it is the creator of the beloved Narnia series who would resist tenaciously any attempt to flood his country with Norwegians, however law-abiding and productive. So before preaching the Benedict Option or crusading for pro-life feminism, let the [...]
Those soldiers gave my grandfather’s graveside service a gravity and dignity it would have lacked otherwise. They shared a bond with him that I can never understand, for I am a soldier’s grandson but not a soldier. A former coworker once referred to me as a “late adopter.” I suppose that’s true. Long after the [...]
Until individuals, families, institutions, and government are restored to their proper roles, America will continue crashing through the debt ceiling… It is official: The national debt has now exceeded $21 trillion. The tragic news comes just six months after it hit $20 trillion last September 8. This problem is obviously not going away. By voting to suspend [...]
Why are so many American white men killing themselves and others? And what’s to be done about this phenomenon?… Not long ago I was traveling back from a speaking engagement when I pulled into a Waffle House for breakfast. Waffle House is usually populated by working-class men at that time of morning, and this day [...]
We need to challenge the economic conditions that inhibit family formation: Family life does not occur in a vacuum. But even if America was prosperous and economically booming, it does not necessarily follow it would also be demographically booming. Although economics may play a factor, the malaise lies deeper. The rot has cultural roots… A [...]
The outcome of a recent court case, in which parents had taken a local school to court for refusing to re-enroll their children, signifies a victory for both Catholic schools and for religious freedom. “The court does not have the authority to meddle in this decision,” Superior Court Judge Donald A. Kessler said in his [...]
A genuinely ordered marriage is predicated on producing something more beautiful than the mere sum of its two parts, in the form of a third and synthesizing part: a child. Indeed, what they produce together is something new, something worthwhile, something beautiful. After all, two chords played separately are still not as beautiful as two [...]
The birth control for which Margaret Sanger so passionately fought has led not to freedom, but to slavery of the worst kind, for both men and women. Of this, we as a nation should be very afraid. Margaret Sanger, the great champion of sexual liberalism, is about as modern as they come in many ways, [...]
Education is not a question of “rights” to be imposed by the state, but of the “freedom” of parents to choose the sort of education that they believe is best for their children… The late Joseph Sobran (1946-2010) was a journalist who thrived on controversy. He was the sort of writer who did not try [...]