Globalization and Our National Anomie
by Nayeli RianoGlobalization has become an ineluctable reality. Technocrats and cosmopolitan politicians are abetting globalization for political influence, economic gain, and utopian delusion. We might add another incentive: A forgotten or deliberately ignored reverence for civic life. Might a hyper-focus on global advancement be contributing to a growing state of national anomie in liberal democracies worldwide? [MORE]

Tolkien & Anglo-Saxon England: Protectors of Christendom
by Bradley J. BirzerJ.R.R. Tolkien believed that the Anglo-Saxon world might offer us strength to redeem Christendom. The hero of The Lord of the Rings, after all, is an Anglo-Saxon farmer turned citizen-warrior. The myth became one of universal—rather than national—significance and import. The Christian should embrace and sanctify the most noble virtues to come out of the northern pagan mind: courage and raw will... [MORE]

Where, Then, Is Time?
by Eva Brann
​If it is the case that time never makes its appearance out in the world but only motion is in evidence, then either time is not or it is in the only other venue of which I can think, inside our soul—to be internally imagined rather than externally projected. When physical time has been shown to lack all physical evidence and therefore to be scientifically void, it might still be theologically real... [MORE]

History’s Answer to Modern Despair
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
“Having trivialized the past by equating it with outmoded . . . fashions and attitudes, people today resent anyone who draws on the past in serious discussions of contemporary conditions or attempts to use the past as a standard by which to judge the present… A denial of the past, superficially progressive and optimistic, proves […]

Liberalism and Idolatry Go Hand in Hand
Michael Pakaluk
“Considered in itself, idolatry is the greatest of mortal sins.” So begins the old Catholic Encyclopedia’s entry on the topic. I was surprised to read that this is the greatest of all mortal sins. Was it worse than murder? Worse even than the sexual abuse of minors? “For it is, by definition,” the entry continues, […]Read More

Our Lady Is the True Guardian of Womanhood, Not Feminism
Donald DeMarco
On the night of October 29, 2019, Meghan Murphy, a freelance writer, spoke at a Toronto library to an audience of roughly 100 people, mostly women. Her topic, entirely unwarranted just a few years ago, was “Gender Identity: What Does It Mean for Society, The Law, and Women?” Her main point was that “allowing men […]Read More

Turkey: Arming Genocide of Christians in Nigeria?
by Raymond Ibrahim 

1989 and the Persistence of Ideology

Why did the Wall fall, 30 years ago?
​By George Weigel on Nov 20, 2019 03:01 am
November 9 marked the 30th anniversary of the peaceful breach of the Berlin Wall — the symbolic high point of the Revolution of 1989, which would be completed seven weeks later by the fall of [...]
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GUY SORMAN
When the Wall Came Down
Thirty years on, a reminder of the truth about all totalitarian regimes

Some Vagaries and Evagaries of Avarice

• Beyond the Ideological Lie: The Revolution of 1989 Thirty Years Later
• Should the Fed Be Run by Economists?
• Anxiety and Mystery in Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Why Did the Berlin Wall Fall?
by Barbara J. ElliottThe Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain seemed to be permanent fixtures of the political landscape of Europe after 1961. But to everyone’s surprise, the Berlin Wall opened on November 9, 1989. This stunning event triggered a chain reaction throughout Eastern Europe, accelerating a process that had begun a decade earlier. As it turns out, I was an eyewitness to much of this chapter of history. I was there in Germany when the Berlin Wall opened up in November 1989 to great jubilation, and I helped people who fled communism start a new life in the West... [MORE]

Remember, Remember the 9th of November
by Bradley J. BirzerSocialism did not kill merely the body—it sought to extinguish the soul and all belief in anything transcendent in the human person. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is time to remember and reclaim man’s oldest faith, a faith in one Almighty God who make each of us in His glorious image. Only then can we challenge the so-called wisdom of this world... [MORE]

Candles Behind the Wall
by Barbara J. ElliottIn this video, Dr. Barbara J. Elliott remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall, and draws attention to the individuals who, through faith and love, made this momentous event possible. Having interviewed many of those who were imprisoned, beaten, ostracized, and forced underground during the rule of the communist East German regime, Dr. Elliott tells with passion the stories of the triumph of these tireless souls. They were the ones who chased away the darkness with the light of their hope. They were, as Dr. Elliott so aptly puts it, the candles behind the wall... [MORE]

The Infinite Imagination
by Paul KrauseThe Christian imagination, unlike the imaginations of the Far East or the pagans, calls the mind upward into the vast expanse beyond the stars to meet with God face-to-face. For man, differentiated from the rest of the animals, has his head situated to gaze upon the infinite expanse of space and be called to communion with the God of inexhaustible abundance... [MORE]

The 30th Anniversary Of The Fall Of The Berlin Wall
featuring Peter M. Robinson, Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Kotkin, David Holloway, Timothy Garton Ash, Norman M. Naimark, Niall Ferguson, Robert Service, Victor Davis Hanson, Michael McFaul, Amir Weiner via Hoover Daily Report

A Century Of Ideas: Labor And Capital Market Policy: From Ideas To Actions Over One Hundred Years
via The Hoover Centennial
Nowhere are good economic ideas more important for growth and stability than in labor and capital markets. Enormous technological, political, and demographic shifts in the past one hundred years have changed what is feasible and what works in practice. Panelists will discuss how ideas about the roles of government and private enterprise have changed, how good ideas stressing economic freedom can be advanced into action, and the influence of globalization on the ability of governments to apply good ideas to capital flows and immigration.

Why Ireland Snubbed St. John Henry Newman
John P. McCarthy
Ireland, particularly its government, is now in the strange position of being simultaneously hostile and indifferent to Catholicism. An indication of the seemingly indifferent attitude toward the Catholic Church by Irish officialdom occurred in connection with the recent canonization of John Henry Cardinal Newman. Newman was the founding rector (or president) of University College Dublin. […]

William Shakespeare: Poet, Playwright—Catholic?
Joseph Pearce
A recent film, All Is True, released this past May and starring Kenneth Branagh as Shakespeare and Ian McKellen as Shakespeare’s patron, the Earl of Southampton, purports to be a depiction of the Bard’s final years in Stratford-upon-Avon following his retirement from the London stage. Making no effort to remain true to the known facts […]

Bill Barr Is Right. That’s Why He Terrifies the Left
Robert R. Reilly
Attorney General William Barr was excoriated by the mainstream press and the social media offenderati for his speech at the (Roman Catholic) University of Notre Dame last week. Yet the A.G. was simply spelling out the reality of life in modern America: here is what we have lost, here are the reasons why, and here’s what’s happening as […]

Beware the Neo-Marcionites
Fr. Tim McCauley
Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis has warned of the return of the ancient heresy of Pelagianism. Pelagius was a fourth-century monk who believed that the human will is capable of attaining perfection apart from God’s grace. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis writes of the “self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagianism of those who ultimately trust in their own […]

Out of the Ruins: Walker Percy Explains
Walker Percy
Editor’s note: in this fascinating interview with Crisis Magazine, the acclaimed novelist Walker Percy discusses the vocations crisis, abortion, Vatican II, popes, and (of course) literature. The interview originally appeared in the July 1989 print edition of Crisis. It has been edited for brevity. CRISIS: There is tremendous intellectual opposition in the Church to Pope […]

Santa Muerta, Don’t Pray for Us
Sean Fitzpatrick
 When godlessness reigns, it’s not surprising to see false gods rise in response to the human hunger for spiritual fulfillment. It is surprising, however, to see people turn to death to fulfill their lives. In recent decades, a cult has risen out of Mexico with an unholy rival to the Virgin of Guadalupe: Nuestra Señora […]

A Thomist’s Perspective on the Church in Crisis
Josef Pieper
Editor’s note: in this far-ranging and prophetic interview with Crisis Magazine, Josef Pieper discusses the vocations crisis, the failure of catechesis, liberation theology, feminism, and something very much like the Benedict Option. The interview originally appeared in the March 1990 print edition of Crisis. It has been edited for brevity. Crisis: Some people claim that St. Thomas is […]

Hell Is Real—and It Isn’t Empty  Casey Chalk
 Bishop Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and a pioneer of online evangelism, is hardly prone to controversy. Yet the telegenic prelate stirred something of a firestorm back in June that continues to spill ink today. In fact, it isn’t a new debate at all. Commenting on the Gospel reading for June 25 […]

The Islamicization of Public Education Continues Apace
Fr. Mario Alexis Portella
 On October 15, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition presented by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) to hear Wood v. Arnold, a case brought by Caleigh Wood, a Christian student in the 11th grade at La Plata High School in Maryland. Wood refused to take part in a school exercise she felt would […]

Cardinal Sarah’s Guide to the New Counter-Reformation
Michael Warren Davis
In 1577, St. John of the Cross was taken prisoner by a group of Carmelites from Toledo who were opposed to the reforms of the Order he was undertaking with St. Teresa of Ávila. For eight or nine months, he was held in a six-by-ten-foot cell. The ceiling was so low that John (not a […]
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Abandoning Apostolic Celibacy Would Be a Mistake
Eoin Cronin
In the eighteenth-century comic poem Cúirt an Mheán Oíche (“The Midnight Court”), the narrator expresses frustration at her lack of marriage prospects, berating the young men of her day for their scheming, selfish ways. In spite of an abundance of attractive young women eager to marry and start families, these lazy men would rather chase […]
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The First Virtue of Old Whigs: Prudence in Burke and Lincoln
by Daniel E. Ritchie
Weiner’s Old Whigs offers a persuasive account of how Burke and Lincoln negotiate the tensions between principle and prudence. Read More »
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• Trump, Tocqueville, and American Democracy

EPPC

Thomism and Political Liberalism, Part 2
​By Joseph G. Trabbic on Sep 19, 2019 12:14 am
Are political liberalism and Catholicism friends or enemies? The debate surrounding this question has been going on for a couple centuries. It was already well underway in 1832 when Pope Gregory XVI intervened in it [...]
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Cardinal Etchegaray, Henri de Lubac, and Vatican II
​By Bishop Robert Barron on Sep 17, 2019 05:24 pm
Last week, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray passed away. Perhaps his was not a household name, but this very decent man made a substantive contribution to the life of the Church, serving in a number of different [...]
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Viganò Speaks: the “Infiltration” is Real
Julia Meloni
Jonah began his journey through the city, and when he had gone only a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose […]

Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing
Jane Clark Scharl
It was only a year ago that the Philadelphia grand jury released its report on sexual abuse by priests. It was only a year ago that allegations broke about Theodore McCarrick and the network of sexual abusers who have infiltrated the highest levels of the Church. It was only a year ago that Archbishop Viganò’s […]

The Wars of Religion are only beginning
Chilton Williamson, Jr.
 The postmodern world is fond of congratulating itself that, owing to the withering away of ancient superstitions and the final triumph of science, religious warfare of the 16th and 17th centuries can never be renewed in Western societies. What can we possibly be thinking? Religious warfare has not only reestablished itself: it’s doing so in […]