Regarding the election of Barack Obama, an aggressive abortion supporter, as president of the United States, a central fact must be borne in mind: this election wasn’t a referendum on abortion. Exit polls show that Americans voted overwhelmingly — and…

“We are all to blame.” I read that once, then read it again. It was an economic commentator’s attempt to assign responsibility for the financial crisis. By “we” he meant you and me and everybody else. I’ve seen others, including…

It was a gorgeous setting for an argument. The Swiss journalist and I were lunching in a hillside restaurant overlooking the sparkling volcanic lake that lies below the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. Unexpectedly, he asked me how the…

Scratch the surface of American politics and there’s a good chance religion will bubble up. That’s a bitter pill for secularists to swallow and for the rest of us a mixed blessing at best. But whether pill or blessing, it’s…

“As for the appointment of Supreme Court justices, it seems safe to say that both candidates will be shamelessly partisan. McCain will make more of an effort to cloak his decision making behind the rhetoric of activism and restraint. Obama…

“It was like pulling teeth.” The retired pastor was describing his experience trying to get lay people to participate in decision-making by serving on the parish council in his former parish.

He’d read my book on communication problems in the Church,…

Are Douglas Kmiec and Father Michael Pfleger destined to be the representative Catholic voters of the election of 2008? It could be.

Kmiec is the California law professor with conservative, prolife credentials who early this year made a name for himself…

Eighty-three years ago Walter Lippmann published a brilliant, deeply disturbing book called Public Opinion. Bearing in mind that John Dewey called it “the most effective indictment of democracy…ever penned,” Americans need to take what it says to heart in 2008…

Was Humanae Vitae prophetic? Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical condemning contraception has often been described that way, and, not to be coy about it, I’ve often called it prophetic myself. But with the 40^th anniversary of this remarkable document at hand July…

Stirrings in Rome suggest that the movement to beatify Pope Pius XII may be on its way to getting back on track. If so, it’s a development that fair-minded people should welcome.

The beatification of Pope Pius, who headed the Church…