On the First Things blog, Archbishop Chaput has responded to the use of some of his prior statements by the group Roman Catholics for Obama. Chaput begins by detailing his support for the RFK and Carter campaigns, and then notes: In the years after the Carter loss, I began to notice that very few of the people, including Catholics, who claimed to be “personally opposed” to abortion really did anything about it. Nor did they intend to. For most, their... Read more
We have not written too much about it, but May is Mary’s month and I have only recently decided to pray the Rosary in the morning before my kiddo wakes up. It is so soothing and sets the tone for the rest of my day. I am interested to hear about who gave you your Rosary/or where you got it and what memories your Rosary elicits? Two Stories: 1)My Rosary is from an old roommate. She is a Korean convert... Read more
Today the Eastern tradition (Catholic and Orthodox) honors Sts Constantine and Helen. While the West might have ignored St Constantine’s elevation to sainthood, Rome nonetheless acknowledges and accepts the East’s devotion to him. So much has been said, and will continue to be said, about Constantine and his religious faith. I hold no doubts as to the sincerity of his faith. I do not think he was a cynical ruler using the Christian faith for political gains. If he were he could have done it so much... Read more
Recently, I was graciously invited to the BENS 2008 Washington Forum. Many influential people were there, giving important speeches about the problems we are currently facing as a nation, but also, the kinds of struggles they see that the United States will have to address as the world continues to change around us. A major concern of many at the conference was the rapid increase in technology, the kind of resources needed to keep up with technological advances, and the new kinds... Read more
Probably not. While a crude calculation, it will work for my purposes. Take the one-way commute mileage times the price of gas times 25, and you have the fuel cost of Mom working. (The assumed car is one that gets 20 mpg.) So if Mom drives 20 miles to work each day and gas goes up $2/gal, the household is out of an extra $1,000. Where Mom gets dinged wage wise has been the physical cost of the extra vehicle, insuring... Read more
“[S]ocial justice activists as well as U.S.-based liberation theologians often criticize U.S. policies, but they do not critically interrogate the contradictions between the United States articulating itself as a democratic country, on the one hand, while simultaneously founding itself on the past and current genocide of Native peoples, on the other hand. That is, even progressives tend to articulate racism as a policy to be addressed within the constraints of the U.S. nation-state rather than understanding racism and genocide as... Read more
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh wonders what would happen if the U.S. adopted an “open borders” policy. The consensus view seems to be “way too many” though exact figures tend to vary greatly, as one would imagine. I don’t necessarily disagree with that assessment, but I do wonder whether people may be overestimating the number of people who would actually come to the U.S. and/or overestimate the negative impact that such unlimited immigration would have. The first thing... Read more
Religion is the lifeblood of a culture. It provides the store of symbols, stories and doctrines that enable us to communicate about our destiny. It forms, through the sacred texts and liturgies, the constant point to which the poet and the critic can return — the language alike of ordinary believers and of the poets who must confront the ever-new conditions of life in the aftermath of knowledge, of life in a fallen world. – Roger Scruton, writing about T.S.... Read more
Wal-Mart is famous for its low prices, but according to a new analysis by a couple of University of Chicago profs, Wal-Marts price cutting has also cut something else (or at least restrained its growth): inequality. Steven Levitt reports: Inequality is growing in the United States. The data say so. Knowledgeable experts like Ben Bernanke say so. Ask just about any economist and they will agree. (They may or may not think growing inequality is a problem, but they will... Read more
This past weekend my husband & I sat down to watch the documentary film “The Conscientious Objector.” It was so outstanding, we made my entire family watch it at a family gathering yesterday. Here is a little unknown part of American history for you. Desmond Doss was the FIRST Conscientious Objector in American History who has won America’s highest honor She can possibly bestow; the Congressional Medal of Honor (the other one to receive the Medal of Honor was Tom... Read more
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