2019 Summer Reading Recommendations

I recently listened to a podcast in which the show host offered a provocative description of a public building that is somewhat distinctive to the American landscape and ethos. He said that public libraries are “temples of sharing.” This initially … Continue reading

Who is Jesus After All?

“All men by nature desire to know.” Aristotle’s opening line of the Metaphysics was true of humans then and is true of humans now. Children still explore the front lawn on summer mornings, asking eternally: “What’s that?” But what about … Continue reading

Latin and the Language of God

Prayer can be described as conversation with God, but in what language? What if, when God speaks, it sounds like nonsense to us? Learning to pray, to be with God, to converse with him, is a bit like learning a … Continue reading

Quizbowl and the Rosary Lady

Can you name this sixth President of the Uni…Bzzz! John Quincy Adams! In high school I enjoyed being on the “It’s Academic” team, which competed with other high schools on two televised quiz-shows each year, along with the lower-stakes, but … Continue reading

Your Saint Too

On Saturday, we Dominicans celebrated the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas with special solemnity. For us, the feast is always accompanied by a certain sense of fraternal pride. After all, this great saint and Doctor of the Church, held … Continue reading

Christian Birding

One of my closest friends in college, Christian, was a borderline-manic birder. When he was thirteen, he (and his binoculars) went missing one morning during a Texas family vacation. Hours after his disappearance, as his distressed mother was describing her … Continue reading