Russell Shaw
The Roots of the Crisis
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is one of the most remarkable documents in American history – a serious theological meditation... Read more
In Defense of Homeschooling
Although a Harvard law school professor’s recent proposal that homeschooling children be banned provoked a predictable hornets’ nest of justifiably... Read more
End Times? Yes and No
One of the more predictable byproducts of the coronavirus pandemic has been an uptick in apocalyptic warnings that the end... Read more
Security in a Pandemic
Security. Safety. Safekeeping. The human craving for protection against harm is universal and reaches its anxiety-ridden peak in the face... Read more
Lockdown Debate, Catholic Edition
It now appears that the legacy of the coronavirus pandemic is going to include an ongoing, sometimes ugly debate on... Read more
After the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of abating as this is written, but it’s none too soon to start thinking... Read more
Building Community in a Pandemic
So much has been said and written about the novel coronavirus that if words could stem a pandemic, we would... Read more
Abortion Decision: Waiting on the Court
For all practical purposes or at least most, the Supreme Court likely has already decided the most important abortion-related case... Read more
The Court It Is a-Changin'
“Chances are that abortion rights cases will look very different very soon.” That is the cautious assessment of Thomas H.... Read more
Facing the crisis
When the U.S. bishops gather in plenary assembly in Baltimore two months from now, their immediate task will be putting... Read more
Pius XII and the Jews
In his exhaustive history The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914 to 1958, Cambridge University historian John Pollard expresses... Read more
Abortion politics
Let us agree that the 44 Democratic senators whose votes last month blocked the Born Alive Protection Act aren’t monsters.... Read more
Sticking With the Church
This column is being written on the eve of a much-publicized summit meeting of bishops from around the world whom... Read more
The Court and the Cross
Two years after his death, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is missed for many reasons, not least among... Read more
The laity and the crisis
Can a one-day conference at a university breathe life into a cause that lately appears to have stalled: involving the... Read more
Vatican PR
One day back when I was doing media relations for the American bishops’ conference, a journalist asked me what my... Read more
Primacy vs. synodality
Something that happened at a bishops’ meeting nearly half a century ago raises questions about the Vatican’s action last month... Read more
Prolife Prospects Hopeful but Uncertain
When thousands of prolifers turn out for the annual March for Life in Washington on January 18, four days before... Read more
In Praise of Rudolph, et alia
Deploring the commercialization, secularization, and general thinning-out of the spiritual meaning of Christmas is part of the stock in trade... Read more
The roots of secularist coercion
When, several weeks ago, a Christian couple who own a bakery in Northern Ireland won a court ruling allowing them... Read more
