Even longtime readers of America may be unaware of the origins of this periodical. It was born in April 1909, during the worst days of the anti-Modernist crusade in the Catholic Church. Hysterical paranoia ran rampant, and Catholic intellectuals and writers were one after another accused of heresy b

The 1985 bestseller and nostalgic spoof Growing Up Catholic included a parody of The Baltimore Catechism and asked the following question: “Who’s really in hell?” The answer: “We cannot say for certainty that anyone is in hell, except for maybe Hitler and Judas.” Even t

Upon John Gregory Dunne rsquo s death of a heart attack in December 2003 the many obituaries and eulogies for this famous man of letters stressed the deft touch Dunne brought as a writer to those subjects he knew well the Irish-American experience the chaotic and morally bankrupt culture of Holly

When The Wall Street Journal announced last year that Bob Dylan had lifted lyrics in his most recent album from an obscure Japanese author it came as no surprise to generations of Dylan fans who had long recognized him as music rsquo s most prolific borrower When ldquo Blowin rsquo in the Wind r

As letters to America go, this one was nothing special. A Catholic physician had written to argue for a married Catholic clergy, listing a number of familiar arguments, including the superior ability of married Protestant ministers to relate to their congregations, the equivocal witness of early chu