America’s Catholic bishops are princes of diplomacy, highly educated, erudite, men of tact, propriety. They’re asked to shepherd the flock with a long historical timeframe—like, say, eternity. They tend not to have knee-jerk reactions to issues of the moment. And so, it’s not often when a paragon of decorum, namely, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik, publishes [...]
On Tuesday evening, I had the honor of attending the State of the Union address as the guest of Congressman Mike Kelly (PA-03). Here are my impressions in abbreviated form: The address seemed more like a rewrite of previous speeches than an original work. Sure, there were new anecdotes and fresh twists on old policy [...]
While reading a tale of adventure and combat on the high seas, say a novel by Patrick O’Brian or C.S. Forester, I can recall a vivid description of two ships of the line, engaged in a deadly duel, in which one of the vessels manages to inflict a particularly crushing fusillade on its opponent, described in a [...]
“People ask me, ‘What will convert America and save the world?’ My answer is prayer.”–Blessed (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta The battle is on… got your weapon? It’s no secret that our beloved country is entrenched in an intense struggle. It’s a war between the culture of life and the culture of death; between economic stability [...]
Republican Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich’s comments during the Presidential Republican debate on January 19, 2012 and the audience’s reaction are telling, and saddening. An angry Newt Gingrich criticized the media at the start of tonight’s Republican presidential debate for focusing on questions about his personal life, including allegations that he asked for an “open marriage” [...]
Although many Muslim leaders openly articulate their efforts as part of a larger picture—one that culminates in the resurrection of a caliphate adversarial by nature to all things non-Muslim—many Western leaders see only the moment, either out of context or, worse, in a false context built atop wishful thinking. Among other things, this myopia causes [...]
The rise — at least temporarily — of Rick Santorum has given rise to speculation of late, most notably by David Brooks, that it might facilitate a rethinking on the right about how America addresses some of the hard-to-deny social pathologies that characterize much of American society. Chiming in to this debate is Michael Gerson. He argues [...]
Between 1967 and 1993, just a few hundred Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza won the right to live in Israel by marrying Israeli Arabs (who constitute nearly one-fifth of Israel’s population) and acquiring Israeli citizenship. Then the Oslo Accords offered a little-noted family-reunification provision that turned this trickle into a river: 137,000 residents [...]
If Mitt Romney gets the GOP nomination, prepare for a season of class warfare in America unlike any before. Not only has President Obama been pushing class warfare unceasingly for three years now, but his chief strategist, David Axelrod, has been employing precisely this tactic against Romney, and well before Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry [...]
As reported by ABC News, while fielding questions at a campaign event in Windham, NH on January 5th, Rick Santorum was challenged to defend his faith by a voter who said, “We don’t need a Jesus candidate, we need an economic candidate.” “My answer to that,” Santorum responded, “We always need a Jesus candidate. We [...]
In politics, as with many competitive enterprises, frontrunners love to promote the myth of inevitability. Having squeaked out the narrowest of wins in Iowa and now polling favorably in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney is attempting to capitalize on the notion that his nomination is inevitable. If Republicans want to defeat President Obama come November, primary [...]
There is one thing…that must strike all Englishmen who have the good fortune to have American friends; that is, that while there is no materialism so crude or so material as American materialism, there is also no idealism so crude or so ideal as American idealism. America will always affect an Englishman as being soft [...]
The surprising results of Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses have reinforced the conventional wisdom about this season’s Republican primary battle: Nothing about this race is conventional. Presumptive frontrunner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won Iowa — but by only eight votes. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum stole Romney’s thunder with a come-from-behind quasi-victory that catapulted him from [...]
I live in Western Pennsylvania, just across the county line from where former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum grew up. My wife went to the same high school as Santorum. I’ve followed his career very closely. I’m surprised—but I’m not surprised—by Santorum’s performance in the Iowa Republican Caucus. I’m surprised because it looks like he’s changing. [...]
“May you have a happy and prosperous new year!” This warm and well- intentioned greeting in the week before and after New Year’s Day, is one we offer each other each year. It is a good thing to wish someone prosperity. God wishes His people prosperity. In the Book of Deuteronomy, we find the Jewish people [...]
The most vexing video of 2011 may be this clip of Congressman Dan Lungren questioning Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Stockton on December 7. Though Stockton’s evasiveness is in line with the government’s history of not calling Islamism the enemy — recently exhibited by scrubbing FBI training materials and labeling the Fort Hood attack as [...]
In case you haven’t noticed yet, the battle for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has been a highly volatile, highly unpredictable roller coaster ride. With a different candidate emerging at the top of the polls week after week, it would be folly for any of them to take their chances for granted. It is no [...]
After the most recent GOP presidential debate, reasonable people can disagree as to who came out on top. It was abundantly clear, however, who was smothered beneath the pile. As Ron Paul waxed naive from his perch in Sioux City, Iowa, on issues ranging from foreign policy to judicial activism, one could almost hear his [...]
During their brief existence, the Occupy movement has already yielded some benefits on the economic front. As Fr. Thomas Massaro of Boston College puts it: My gratitude to the Occupy movement grows directly out of my identification with Catholic social teaching…. In these years of high unemployment, blocked opportunity, crushing debt, anxieties about future economic [...]
I recently strolled down Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh and was struck by two images. First, there was the stirring life-sized Nativity that each year is displayed on the property of the giant U.S. Steel building. It is an inspiring sight. As I walked along, however, my eyes were distracted by something I was not [...]
The formal end of the U.S. war in Iraq on Dec. 15 enhances neighboring Iran as a major, unpredictable factor in the U.S. presidential election of 2012. First a look back: Iran’s mullahs already has one opportunity to affect American politics, in 1980. Their seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days haunted [...]
Vaclav Havel is dead. Among other forces and powers, he is among the seven individuals most responsible for peacefully ending the Cold War; the great liberators who brought freedom and democracy. They are Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa, and Havel. With Havel’s death, a majority of [...]
Provocation does carry consequences: First the Seattle government sent its riot police to drive Occupy Seattle out of its campsite at a downtown park, Westlake Center, and subsequently from its campsite at Central Seattle Community College. Adapting imaginatively to the new situation, Occupy Seattle took the initiative. On December 12th, hundreds of marchers barricaded entrances [...]
As you probably know, the so-called “healthcare reform” legislation known as “ObamaCare” – which was narrowly passed by Congress (and only after intense pressure tactics from the White House) – is now facing its toughest challenge ever. It’s being challenged in court over the constitutionality of its key provision of requiring every U.S. citizen to [...]
