The Reformation Is Over?

Last updated on: July 20, 2012 at 12:30 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

I do open my piece on National Review Online today about evangelicals and Catholics suing the federal government together with a colorful quote involving Martin Luther. Evangelical Wheaton College joining the Catholic University of America in suing the Department of Health and Human Services over is contraception/sterilization/abortion-inducing-drug mandate did give me the opportunity to meet Phillip Ryken, the president of Wheaton (and grad of, with long and deep family ties there). It is shamefully outrageous that we are at a... Read more

Mitt Romney and the Tower of Babel

Last updated on: July 20, 2012 at 1:40 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Cynicism about politics is real and widespread and justified. And despite relentless hyperventilating about Citizens United, it’s not the money that is at the heart of the problem. Our politics has become a bit terrifyingly like the biblical story of the tower of Babel. All too often, political communicators are speaking — or texting — to someone, but very rarely outside our comfort zone. Very rarely advancing conversations. Very rarely doing much more than talking in circles with one another,... Read more

Excuse Me While I Talk about Contraception

Last updated on: July 20, 2012 at 5:50 am By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Mary Eberstadt’s new book is an important one. An interview here. More to come! Read more

Why Did Mitt Romney Get a Standing Ovation Today?

Last updated on: July 18, 2012 at 10:34 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Because we still value religious liberty? Read more

Know This Man, Be This Man

Last updated on: July 18, 2012 at 10:27 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

For just a little under an hour, it is still the feast of Saint Camillus de Lellis. This depiction of Camillus (who I knew nothing about at the time) at the North American Pontifical College in Rome stopped me in my tracks on a visit there two months ago: Everyone we meet … it could be Him. Everyone we meet is loved by Him. Each one of us is! Read more

‘religion is our lifeline and a sort of love letter to our families, our ancestors, and our better selves’

Last updated on: July 18, 2012 at 10:03 am By Kathryn Jean Lopez

I have an interview up on National Review Online with David Gelernter about the revolution that has taken place in the United States in recent decades. You might find his discussion of religion of particular interest. Here: Post-religious thinkers don’t even live on the same spiritual planet as Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Americans. Old-time atheists struggled with biblical religion and rejected it; modern post-religious thinkers struggled with nothing. Since the Bible and biblical religion underlie the invention of America, it’s... Read more

Heartbreaking

Last updated on: July 17, 2012 at 8:14 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Elton John, via the Daily Mail, on his son: It’s going to be heartbreaking for him to grow up and realise he hasn’t got a mummy. I think we’re a culture sharing in heartbreak. Contributing to it. Suffering from it. Read more

Morality & Markets

Last updated on: July 17, 2012 at 8:20 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

If you were encouraged by Paul Ryan, you may appreciate this interview with Fr. Robert Sirico. From the conversation: LOPEZ: How can you get more greed with socialism than capitalism? FR. SIRICO: To the extent that socialism holds back creativity and thus productivity, it increases poverty. When people become desperate, even good people can become self-centered. Few of us are at our best in crowds where everyone is trying to get out the same exit, or when trying to grab... Read more

Freedom, Justice, and the Space for Flourishing

Last updated on: July 17, 2012 at 1:16 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Paul Ryan continues an important conversation: Government helps create the space for innovation and prosperity, but government does not fill that space – and it should not try to, as the last few years have shown us. Only free citizens create things that improve our lives. A free economy and strong communities are the best means to reward effort with justice, to promote upward mobility, and to build solidarity among citizens. The President’s vision of a government-centered society – reflected... Read more

The Catholic Church Isn’t a Left-Right Thing

Last updated on: July 13, 2012 at 4:41 pm By Kathryn Jean Lopez

George Weigel: “the cowboys-Indians/left-right optic is incapable of grappling with the fact that the Catholic Church is about true-and-false, not liberal-and-conservative.” Read more