The Docile Visionary, James V. Schall, SJ
Several years ago I began a review of The Modern Age (St. Augustine’s Press, 2011) by noting the error of the author, Fr. James Schall, in citing Psalm 90, verse 10’s estimate of the standard […]
Articles by David Paul Deavel
Analysis
Accompanying, Discerning, and Integrating—in the Way of the Master
Chapters one through seven and chapter nine of Amoris Laetitia are largely a joy to read. Filled with poignant observations from the participants at the two previous Synods on the Family, they contain largely accurate […]
Books
Dragon, Empire, Soldier, Lord
Boys, you might be shocked to hear, are different from girls. A few years ago one of our sons had a brand-new young teacher eager to help her nine-and ten-year-old charges discover the wonders of […]
Books
I Went to a Hockey Game. . .and the Faith Broke Out
The Duke of Wellington is reported to have said that the Battle of Waterloo was won long before on the playing fields of Eton. Alyssa Bormes doesn’t quite say that the Battle of Armageddon will […]
Vatican II and the “Bad News” of the Gospel
Ruefully observing statistics showing that only 6 percent of American Catholic parishes considered evangelism a priority, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles once lamented, “The Council has often been interpreted as if it had discouraged evangelization.” […]
Books
From Calvinist Prosecutor to Catholic Apologist
Sunday, June 21, marked the 90th anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial decision. The questions surrounding evolution—meaning, in particular, the origins of humans—still raise large and important questions for how we understand human nature and […]
Essay
Essay
Submerged in the Ocean
“I think more should be written about conversion within the Church. It is a more difficult subject than conversion without.” — Flannery O’Connor By the time I was received into the Catholic Church 15 years […]
Books
Unintended Problems, Unintended Blessings
Brad S. Gregory The Unintended Reformation: How A Religious Revolution Secularized Society Belknap Press, 2012 592 pages, $39.95 Modern academic history, according to historian Daniel Lord Smail, suffers from “the inflationary spiral of research overproduction, […]
Books
Universal Primate and European Patriarch?
One of Blessed John Paul II’s most desired goals was the reunification of the Orthodox Churches of the East with the Catholic Church centered around Peter. Even after one of the longest papacies in history […]