Books
Elizabeth Ann Seton’s saintly journey
Elizabeth Seton—who overcame innumerable obstacles to pursue her vocation—was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be named a saint.
How to read virtuously: Fall Literary Review
With this Fall Books literary issue, we offer writers and texts that we certainly feel are best read closely and conscientiously.
Is your job necessary?
Americans work an awful lot. But what are we doing at the jobs we believe are so important?
Review: An accurate look at Muslim beliefs
Two timely texts can help elevate our thinking and improve the ways we relate to our Muslim brothers and sisters.
A spiritual reading of T. S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’
T.S. Eliot attracts and repels all at once—but reading his ‘Four Quartets’ has been a formative experience for many a spiritual seeker.
Graham Greene’s ‘The Quiet American’ argues that to write is to be political
At a moment when reporters are being criticized from all sides, ‘The Quiet American’ feels painfully prescient.
Review: Finding a Native American Identity in Oakland
In Tommy Orange’s debut novel, Oakland becomes a character as much as any of Orange’s other individuals: regularly erupting into violence, steadily erasing the history of its impoverished citizens who jump from apartment to apartment, existing in a series of “long, grey streets” that seem to go nowhere when you’re a kid on a bike…
Can Catholic literature build on its rich heritage?
A Catholic literary culture that works in continuity with its rich heritage will give us a contemporary literature that both gazes unflinchingly at the messiness of our present moment and artfully works out its characters’ salvation or damnation.
The Catholic literary vision of Dean Koontz
Two questions arise: First, is Dean Koontz to be listed among serious novelists at all? Second, what makes him a Catholic novelist?
James K. A. Smith’s Theological Journey
James K. A. Smith has spent much of his energy thinking about alternative communities and the politics of Jesus—about what role Christians should play in the American political project.
Review: The famous Weegee, up close and personal
“People who have never heard of Weegee can describe him,” Bonanos writes, because he created Hollywood’s idea of the newspaper photographer.”
A new academic opus from a once-familiar name: Foucault
The major foci of Foucault’s work were the histories of madness, the social sciences, penitentiaries and sexuality.
Tomie dePaola’s books help us find the sacred in stories of service and stillness
Many of dePaola’s most delightful characters are those who persevere in the worthy effort to simply be themselves.
Poetry
Echoes
I woke with Lycidas on my tongue, and I should have known.
Joan of Arc in Her Prison
her wrists are shackled, / her head’s in her hand.
Last Take
How I learned to read for fun again after graduate school
My ultimate cure? Book club.
Catholic Book Club
A Catholic Book Club milestone (and more)
The Catholic Book Club continues to flourish, approaching 2,000 members.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts