Russell Shaw

The White House.

How Not To Elect a President

Russell Shaw

Oct 22, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Let me begin with what I suspect will be a welcome promise – I won’t tell you which candidate to... Read more

The March for Life before the Supreme Court of the United States, Jan. 22, 2015.

The Court Confirmation Ordeal

Russell Shaw

Oct 8, 2020

By Russell Shaw

When did confirming someone for a seat on the Supreme Court become a traumatic ordeal for the candidate and the... Read more

Gerard David's 'The Marriage at Cana' (c. 1500)

Of Miracles, Fast and Slow

Russell Shaw

Sep 24, 2020

By Russell Shaw

A friend asks me to write about miracles, taking as an example the events that brought him and his wife... Read more

Statue of Karl Marx in Moscow.

The Rise of Cultural Marxism

Russell Shaw

Sep 10, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Some years ago, Lee Edwards, a veteran conservative writer and a friend of mine, launched an organization, the Victims of... Read more

On the Road to Polyamory

Russell Shaw

Aug 27, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Under the heading “A fair chance for children” the New York Times editorial board recommends four measures to help low-income... Read more

Castle Howard, used in the 1981 TV serial adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.

On Revisiting Brideshead

Russell Shaw

Aug 13, 2020

By Russell Shaw

In the late spring of 1945, as World War II was drawing toward a close, a novel called Brideshead Revisited... Read more

Sharonell Fulton has fostered more than 40 children through Catholic Social Services. Photo courtesy of Becket.

Religious Liberty After Bostock

Russell Shaw

Jul 30, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Does the Catholic Church have a right to follow its convictions about sexual morality in its own institutions without being... Read more

John Roberts testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during confirmation hearings to be Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Sept. 13, 2005.

Sound Advice from the Chief

Russell Shaw

Jul 16, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Disappointed prolifers were predictably angry at Chief Justice John Roberts for providing the fifth vote in the five-member Supreme Court... Read more

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, meets with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, in Munich, Feb. 14, 2020.

China and Rome

Russell Shaw

Jul 1, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Not long after coming to power in 1933, the German government headed by  Adolf  Hitler sought a formal agreement with... Read more

Michelangelo's The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise from the Vatican's Sistine Chapel (1508-12).

The Roots of the Crisis

Russell Shaw

Jun 18, 2020

By Russell Shaw

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

Russell Shaw

Jun 4, 2020

By Russell Shaw

Although a Harvard law school professor’s recent proposal that homeschooling children be banned provoked a predictable hornets’ nest of justifiably... Read more

Detail from Michelangelo's fresco The Last Judgement, in the Sistine Chapel (1536-41).

End Times? Yes and No

Russell Shaw

May 21, 2020

By Russell Shaw

One of the more predictable byproducts of the coronavirus pandemic has been an uptick in apocalyptic warnings that the end... Read more

Rembrandt's The Parable of the Rich Fool (1627).

Security in a Pandemic

Russell Shaw

May 7, 2020

By Russell Shaw

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

Russell Shaw

Apr 23, 2020

By Russell Shaw

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

Russell Shaw

Apr 9, 2020

By Russell Shaw

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

Russell Shaw

Mar 26, 2020

By Russell Shaw

So much has been said and written about the novel coronavirus that if words could stem a pandemic, we would... Read more

The Supreme Court of the United States.

Abortion Decision: Waiting on the Court

Russell Shaw

Mar 17, 2020

By Russell Shaw

For all practical purposes or at least most, the Supreme Court likely has already decided the most important abortion-related case... Read more

The March for Life outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2015.

The Court It Is a-Changin'

Russell Shaw

Feb 27, 2020

By Russell Shaw

“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 

Russell Shaw

May 12, 2019

By Russell Shaw

When the U.S. bishops gather in plenary assembly in Baltimore two months from now, their immediate task will be putting... Read more

Pope Pius XII / public domain

Pius XII and the Jews

Russell Shaw

Apr 15, 2019

By Russell Shaw

In his exhaustive history The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914 to 1958, Cambridge University historian John Pollard expresses... Read more