Ecclesia et Civitas

We live in unusual times, and Donald Trump is, to put it mildly, an unusual politician. We need to understand him to deal with him, and with that in mind, I will present my own […]

The men who discussed and approved the documents of the Second Vatican Council also oversaw their implementation. The Church’s response to the Council was nonetheless very different from what they expected. Why did that happen? […]

Chesterton called America “a nation with the soul of a church.” He was largely right. Not all Americans buy into the whole of our national creed, but it’s real, and it dominates public life. It […]

Modern politics go to extremes. There are a variety of reasons for that. One is that modern thought likes to draw far-reaching conclusions from a few simple principles. In the natural sciences, where exact verification […]

Recent trends in America point toward either tribalism or social disintegration. There is no neat solution to the problem. Still, the Church will be in a position to help mitigate it—not directly, through social engagement […]

Why is there so much political hatred today? It’s not just online discussion, where it can seem that everybody hates everybody. Nor is it just the Church, where the Francis papacy has heightened differing positions […]

Does an American political tradition still exist? It seems it must. After all, Americans have been carrying on politics together for hundreds of years. And when people do things together for such a long time, […]

Like nature and grace, law and love have a complex and subtle relationship. Many Catholics insistently favor bridges over walls, inspiration over tradition, the spirit over the letter, and love over laws and institutions. They […]

Misconceptions about human life and social order lead to endless trouble. So, I’ll make a few more comments on current misconceptions that relate to social justice. One misconception is an overemphasis on individual choice that […]

I’ve written before about the difficulty of carrying the Gospel over to political and economic life. The difficulty seems basic. Jesus had no residence, property, wife, children, gainful employment, or official position. Instead of giving us […]