Elizabeth Ann Seton has only officially been a saint for 49 years, a blink of an eye in the timeline of the church. But in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States, she is a towering figure.
Catholic Book Club
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The British Fulton Sheen: What Catholics should know about C. C. Martindale, S.J.
C. C. Martindale, S.J., played an important role in the life of the Catholic Church in Great Britain in the 20th century—and brought more than a few seekers along with him.
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Edna O’Brien: the quintessential Irish writer (who was occasionally banned in Ireland)
Edna O’Brien, who died on July 27, seemed to be in many ways the quintessential Irish writer. But her career began with a highly acclaimed novel that was widely condemned on the Emerald Isle.
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Remembering Gail Lumet Buckley, chronicler of African American history and a ‘pluralistic Catholic’
Gail Lumet Buckley, who died on July 18, was an award-winning chronicler of the African American experience. She once wrote of herself in ‘America’ that “I choose the cross of faith over the sword of ideology.”
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Biden didn’t do something unthinkable. LBJ also withdrew from the presidential race.
President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election is surprising—but don’t call it unprecedented. It happened once before, in 1968.
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You’re reading this online. Walter Ong had thoughts about that.
The contributions of Walter J. Ong, S.J., to American letters are countless, and he remains a renowned figure in the study of communications, literacy, group psychology and mass media.
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John Gregory Dunne, the ‘Irish brawler’ who explored the nation’s soul
John Gregory Dunne had a unique ability in his writing—fiction or not—to show the saintly and the sinner all at once.
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Why we miss Tom Wolfe in the Trump-Biden era
Tom Wolfe would have loved to write about a debate between a billionaire former president who is also a convicted felon and an octogenarian sitting president whose public mental lapses are vociferously denied by many of his own confidantes.
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Fooling Hitler: Illustrator John Hapgood and the ‘Ghost Army’ of WW2
The longtime ‘America’ illustrator John Hapgood served in World War II in the “Ghost Army,” a unit dedicated to deception and trickery that ran 21 different ersatz military campaigns between D-Day and the surrender of Germany in May 1945.
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How Jürgen Moltmann’s ‘theology of hope’ inspired liberation theology
Jürgen Moltmann’s influence on theology extended far beyond his native Germany or his religious denomination. His “theology of hope” influenced everything from liberation theology to contemporary politics.