The Roman imagination is vast, and so is the human propensity to wonder. That is why Rome endures.
Read More
Between its sturdy build and historical and spiritual content, the 1962 missal is not yet a museum piece, even if its contents haven’t been updated in 56 years.
Read More
Part of my goal in rebooting The Monthly Memo has always been to launch an interview series. On the website I put up a brief article laying out what this series will entail: interviews with prominent Chicagoans about Chicago. I have noticed over time that a lot of very famous and well known people get their starts here, even if they move out eventually. My goal with this series is to shine the spotlight on Chicago by talking to the people the city has put out into the world.
Read More
I realize that it is now April and I am sending out March's Memo. When Loyola made the NCAA tournament earlier in March I figured I would send this out once they lost and March's Memo would be a good recap of things. But then they won. And they won again, and again, and again. They made the Final Four for the first time since 1963, where they finally, heartbreakingly, lost to Michigan.
Read More
The Monthly Memo is changing! Read more here about what you can expect in the near future.
Read More
This month I had a great opportunity to read Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived, a new collection of mostly unpublished speeches by the late, great Antonin Scalia (in the above photo he is wearing a hat that well-known jurist and Catholic saint Thomas More was known to wear)
Read More
For those who have been subscribed to this newsletter from the start you may remember this article from all the way back in April(!). After a number of delays and a few rejections, this article finally found a place at The Federalist.
Read More
The case of sick baby Charlie Gard has reignited the debate on the role of state in making health care decisions for those who are incapable of doing it themselves. In this case, should Charlie's parents be allowed to bring him to the United States for experimental treatment, or is it really in his "best interest" to be taken off life support, as the state claims?
Read More
The office of the President of the United States is unique for a number of reasons, not least of which is the way the president is elected. But in this piece, I wanted to write about the tension behind the office that has come into focus over the course of time.
Read More
This month I want to preview an article that I am currently writing. The Great Altars of the Catholic Church (like the one above from St. John Cantius in Chicago) are artistic treasures. But more than that, they fulfill an aesthetic need that centers and grounds the rituals of the Mass by reminding us of the celebration's solemnity. Unfortunately, post-Vatican II churches have largely done away with their altars and replaced them with bland ones, usually made of simple cuts of marble.
Read More