John Paul Begs Your Pardon, Masterfully
“Say you’re sorry,” we tell a child who has pinched another or swiped a favorite toy. Apology is a form of human behavior akin to the crossing of the fingers, the kissing hello on both cheeks. Apology...
View ArticleThe Power! The Glory! And All Those Corrections!
So putting aside whether or not that New York Times reporter is the major-league asshole George Bush and Dick Cheney say he is, let’s look at the bigger questions. Is there a nest of assholes over on...
View ArticleManhattan Gets Oxygen-ated … Survivor’s Snuffing Filmmaker … Tom Jones Does...
Wednesday, Nov. 21 You can feel it in the air, can’t you? After the longest of waits, Oxygen is finally on the verge of bubbling into Manhattan. You remember Oxygen-the super-duper cable network of...
View ArticleSexual Orientation: Practice or Politics?
Under a headline reading “Homosexuality in Priesthood Is Under Increasing Scrutiny,” The New York Times the other day began an article with the following lead: “With the Roman Catholic Church...
View ArticleA Holy Outrage, Or Mere Hypocrisy?
Boy, you go to the beach for a few days in August and while you’re there, news happens, the lights go out and the Mets put together a winning streak. We have some catching up to do: · The Vatican says...
View ArticleAbe, Mel and the Christ
Abraham H. Foxman sat in his office suite with its expensive United Nations view, wondering when the WNBC camera crew would get there. The afternoon would soon be spent: It was Friday, and the national...
View ArticleAs John Paul Fades Away, His Revolution Continues
Old editions of the Yale Songbook included a German drinking song called “The Pope.” This was its first stanza: “The Pope, he leads a jolly life / He’s free from every care and strife. / He drinks the...
View ArticleWest Remains Captive To Materialism’s Dogma
If they watched the overnight vigil in Saint Peter’s Square as the Pope lay dying, the good doctors of the Netherlands must have shaken their heads in bewilderment. “Watson, the needle,” Sherlock...
View ArticleMeet The Pope! For Benedict XVI, A Wary Welcome
When New York’s Al Smith, the first Catholic Presidential candidate in the nation’s history, lost the 1928 election, comedians said that Smith sent a one-word telegram to the Pope: “Unpack.” With the...
View ArticleCardinal Edward Egan
As tourists packed the pews, Cardinal Edward Michael Egan stood under the vaulted ceiling of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday morning, celebrating Mass in his thick Illinois accent. The cardinal’s...
View ArticleCatholic Politicians’ Confessions: Something Else Dershowitz Is Wrong About
In reading Dershowitz’s rebuttal to Mearsheimer and Walt, I noticed something else he said: “It is rightfully considered vile to suggest that American Catholic politicians such as John F. Kennedy and...
View ArticleEgan in Crisis Mode
Yesterday’s unusual reply by Cardinal Edward Egan to a critical and anonymous letter about him circulating in New York’s archdiocese would have once sent major ripples across the city’s political...
View ArticleRomney’s Speech Doesn’t Put the Religion Question to Rest
The remarkable thing about Mitt Romney’s speech yesterday, an aspect that was overlooked in much of the (mostly positive) coverage of it, is that it went well beyond the Kennedy-esque assertion of...
View ArticleArchbishop Dolan Wishes the Media Would Just Lay Off
Pesky media, always getting so bothered about the sexual abuse of children. Yes, yes, writes New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan: abuse is VERY BAD. But couldn’t the media just give the church a break...
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