Relocating temporarily from Washington, D.C., to Florida from January 10 to February 20 was a kind providence. True, Florida had its coldest weather in 50 years, but don’t cry for me, northern America. Down there, “cold” means about 45 degrees Fahrenheit early in the morning, rarely below that. Some afternoons it hit 70 degrees. Meanwhile, Washington had some three feet of snow. My visiting nephew had to have the flat part of Karen’s studio roof shoveled after each of the two storms, lest the weight of the snow and backed-up ice do serious damage.
But the great joy for me was not the weather. It was teaching a mini-course on “Religion and the U.S. Founding” at Ave Maria University. It reminded me that my true vocation, next to writing, is teaching young people. I loved all ten of the “kids” in my seminar. We covered much ground in a short amount of time (and they got it), and we had good talks including a weekly lunch. They took down clear outlines of key points, and had a lot of laughs at my stumbling efforts to recover old skills at teaching. (I meander more than I used to.) Each student wrote two papers — for extra credit, some wrote a third — and they were all really quite good.Read more »
The First Enlightenment Published in National Review Online blog The Corner December 25, 2009 December 25, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
Those of us who are of Catholic mind do not believe that the Enlightenment began with Kant (“What is Enlightenment?”), or Locke or Newton, or even with Descartes. We cherish Plato, Aristotle, Cicero. But the first Enlightenment began with Christ Our Lord.
It was only with the Christ that EQUALITY meant every human being, barring none. From then on, no one was “barbarian.” Each bore in his own soul the mark of being called to be a dwelling of the Father and the Son — being called beyond all other calls a son of God. Neither mother nor father, neither civil society nor state, can answer to this call for you or me. None has any deeper bond or precedence than the relation of Creator and human creature. It is a bond of Spirit and Truth.Read more »
On October 11, 2009, at the invitation of former President of the CzechRepublic Václav Havel, Michael Novak delivered the following keynote address at Forum 2000, an annual conference held in Prague to map the globalization process and to note its positive results as well as the perils encountered by an increasingly interconnected world.
This year’s theme of Forum 2000 is “Democracy and Freedom in a Multipolar World” – in a word, “Democracy After 1989.”
That theme is too rich for a brief introduction. Surely, though, one of the dramatic differences between 1989 and 2009 is the new salience of nearly all world religions in matters of democracy. As Jürgen Habermas wrote after September 11, 2001, the notion that the world is secular, and becoming more so, is no longer tenable. In fact, after September 11, secularism seemed to Habermas like a small island, surrounded by a sea of turbulent religion.
Accordingly, I will make four points this evening on the bond between religion and democracy.
Celebrating Karen Laub-Novak Published in National Review Online's blog The Corner August 18, 2009 August 18, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
Karen Laub-Novak was laid to rest yesterday after her long fight with cancer. Her youngest child, Jana, delivered the eulogy during Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Washington:
(Photos below include scenes from the recent National Review cruise and Karen Novak's artwork.)
Hi. My name is Jana, Karen and Michael’s youngest.
I thought that perhaps I ought to start by explaining why I’m wearing such a bright colored dress. No — much to my brother’s disappointment as well — it is not in honor of Syracuse University. Instead, I wanted to wear bright colors to honor my mother.
It’s not just about her art — though you can’t forget her love of bright reds and oranges in her paintings — nor about her personality — though you also can’t forget her bold and sunny personality — but also about her own fashion.
Honestly, did you ever spot her when she did not have on at least a splash of bright color?
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Lack-of-Progress Report First published in National Review Online August 4, 2009 August 05, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
After six months in the Oval Office, Pres. Barack Obama has a lower job-approvalrating than did ten of the last twelve presidents at the same point in their presidencies. Rasmussen reports that the daily tracking poll of the president’s popular standing shows eleven points negative: Twenty-eight percent “strongly approve” and 39 percent “strongly disapprove.”Read more »
What on Earth Is Caritas? Published in National Review Online July 23, 2009 July 24, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
The Catholic sense of the world as a gift of God’s love is the central theme of the pontificate of Benedict XVI. For him, caritas means the love proper to God’s own inner life, dispersed throughout The City of God. Yet that City, St. Augustine stressed, is under constant siege by the self-centered, egoistic City of Man, characterized by lies and self-deceptions. That is why Benedict’s new encyclical tightly links caritas to veritas. You can’t have the one without the other.Read more »
L’Osservatore Betrayal Published in National Review Online May 26, 2009 May 27, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
For several weeks now, L’Osservatore Romano has published glowing, star-struck, teenage praise of Pres. Barack Obama, while blithely ignoring what its praise means in the American context. It fails to grasp the full threat Obama poses for the American Catholic conscience. Several leading American bishops are distraught, and have asked for help: L’Osservatore Romano must learn of the immense scandal it is causing in America.
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Notre Dame Disgrace Published in National Review Online April 9, 2009 April 09, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
Did the University of Notre Dame invite Sen. Stephen Douglas of nearby Illinois to receive an honorary degree in 1858? That was the year Douglas was defending the principle of choice: the right of western territories to make a choice between permitting slavery and maintaining liberty. His opponent in the most famous of American debates was Abraham Lincoln, also of Illinois. There and elsewhere, Lincoln made a simple point based on natural law and natural right: No man is in a position to will himself into slavery, so no one can commit another to slavery. On top of that, the Union itself cannot survive half-slave and half-free. Finally, the Declaration of Independence makes it brilliantly clear that every human being is endowed by his Creator with an inalienable right to liberty.
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Ashes to Ashes Published in National Review Online February 26, 2009 February 26, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
At the heart of Christianity are sinners. It is a matter of simple self-knowledge that we have done things we know we ought not to have done, and have not done the things we know we should have done. The only honest thing to do is to repent. And try to do better.
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The Coming Fall Published in National Review Online January 23, 2009
Presidents are, inevitably, something like Christ figures. They all suffer and, eventually, fall.Read more »
March for Life Published in National Review Online's Blog The Corner January 22, 2009 January 23, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
As we think of the first African-American president in history, our minds drift to one class of Americans who will never be allowed to become president—the 45 million lives aborted in the womb since 1972.
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Studying Obama's Rhetoric Published in National Review Online's Blog The Corner January 20, 2009 January 22, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
The change from President Obama's campaign rhetoric to his presidential rhetoric is striking. The change was, in fact, so abrupt that the vast crowd seemed largely puzzled by it, and applause was neither frequent nor greatly animated—even though the pilgrims on the cold two-mile Mall seemed ready to burst out with emotion.
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Christmas Atheists Published in National Review Online January 4, 2008 January 04, 2009 :: Filed in: National Review Online
Over the last two weeks, leading American atheists have registered complaints about all the attention given to Christmas in the United States. These atheists have issued three challenges. First, they insist that being atheist does not mean being immoral. Second, they want other people to see that atheists are law-abiding, compassionate, and generous to others—that one does not have to be Christian or to feel “the Christmas spirit” to care for the poor and the needy. Third, they insist that monotheists have a harder time being tolerant of others than atheists do. Atheists, they think, are more humble, tolerant, and sweet-tempered; since monotheists think that they “have” the truth, and know God’s will, they are more stiff-minded.
In my own experience, though, many different belief systems are found among people who call themselves atheists. Here is just a small collection:
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A Surprise for Pope Benedict! Posted on "The Corner," National Review Online April 16, 2008 December 17, 2008 :: Filed in: National Review Online
"The portrait catches the pope's shyness, strength, and almost physical presence, in stirring colors of light gold against the dark."Read more »
Remembering 1968 Published in National Review Online May 5, 2008
"In effect, the United States had convicted itself of hypocrisy and set out to rectify it, first legally and then in the practices of everyday life."Read more »
No One Sees God
