Historical consciousness is to civilized society what memory is to individual identity. Without memory there are no workable rules of conduct, no standard of justice, no basis for restraining passions, no sense of the connection between an action and its consequences. A culture without memory will necessarily be barbarous. I am delighted to be with [...]
A certain tension between religion and society marks the higher stages of every civilization. Religion begins by offering magical aid to harassed and bewildered men; it culminates by giving to a people that unity of morals and belief which seem so favorable to statesmanship and art; it ends by fighting suicidally in the lost cause [...]
This past September, scholars at the Leipzig municipal library announced that they had discovered a previously unknown string trio (for two violins and cello) by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The unearthed manuscript was not in the composer's hand but was deemed to be a copy made a decade or so after it was penned. [...]
The truth is that for all its failings, America has provided more opportunity, security, and freedom to a group of people more diverse than any other nation in history. It is not because America is systemically rotten; but because it is foundationally good. Justice for all calls for those foundations to be defended, not destroyed. [...]
Pope Gregory XVI believed that, even if it were true that immediate spiritual advantages might be gained by revolt, or by the introduction of liberal measures, the shock to the monarchical system involved by such changes would be disastrous to the Church and Society. Revolution and Papacy: 1769–1846, by E. E. Y. Hales (Cluny Media, [...]
For any academic—family man and consecrated religious alike—solitude must be actively sought. And only then, when quiet of soul is found, can one throw all the powers of his mind and heart into his work. In the glories of spring, stepping away from the books more than usual to smell the flowers and soak in the sun [...]
As Election Day approaches, many have raised serious moral questions regarding how to vote. Sadly, in our great nation, we confront a situation in which both major political parties espouse certain agenda which are flagrantly contrary to the most fundamental tenets of the moral law, agenda against the inviolable dignity of innocent and defenseless human [...]
We now live in a world, as I suppose we always have, that needs to relearn what happened in Oklahoma City 29 years ago. We need to know and feel what radical violence looks like, what it means to snuff out human life for no reason... how it crushes the survivors, and disfigures the communities [...]
Petrarch’s Canzoniere is often referred to as merely love poetry, dedicated to the poet's lost love, Laura. This is an important observation, but it overlooks other elements of the text such as the themes of forgiveness, repentance, and the connection to the divine. Claiming that the Canzoniere is merely love poetry is not only an underestimation [...]
As shocking as it might seem to those who knew Russell Kirk as a bad (in terms of practice) Catholic, he deserves sainthood. Here is my case for Saint Russell of Mecosta. When I first started reading the works of Russell Amos Augustine Kirk in the fall of 1989, that most joyously fateful of seasons, [...]
Reading presents thoughts as gifts, and the best books, by preventing us from passively succumbing to other people’s pictures and their self-serving agendas, cooperate in saving our souls. You’ve all probably heard the expression “preaching to the choir,” which means trying to persuade the faithful of what they already believe. The opposite of preaching to [...]
As another Halloween approaches, the memory leads me to ponder this annual festival of all that is ghoulish and ghostly. Is it all harmless fun or, in our increasingly secular age, are we in danger of dabbling with dark forces beyond our understanding? In the early 1980s when I was a young Anglican priest I [...]
Fear and fun mingle in a dark embrace in these days of late October and early November. All these magical feelings are at the historical heart of Halloween, and Ray Bradbury has the children in "The Halloween Tree" unravel this mystic chain that unites us with our ancestors of long ago. Among Ray Bradbury’s many [...]
It’s October, and the urge for theatrical, spooky music always arises for me right about this time. Cue a visit to the essay I wrote years back, “Ten Spooky Classical Faves for Halloween.” Each year, it seems, I have a different relationship with the music and its composers. This year, I’m taking a particular interest [...]