Against Christian Ostrichism this election

Bishop Robert Barron 

I returned just a few days ago from the second session of the Synod on Synodality in Rome, and I will confess to feeling a tad exhausted. The second session returned with greater focus on the topic meant to be under consideration—namely, synodality itself. Here are some general impressions and assessments of the experience and a look at a few particular issues. (Léelo en español aquí.)

Dr. Tod Worner

William F. Buckley, Jr.’s 1988 Firing Line debate between political adversaries and philosophical opposites was a delight both in its sharp wit and delicious wonkery. These individuals were human and emotional and could bring a partisan edge to their debate, but this exchange was something altogether foreign from what I have seen in our society’s modern discourse.

Kody W. Cooper 

Voting is one of the core mechanisms by which a virtuous citizenry maintains a republic. A vote well cast seeks to advance an authentic vision of justice and the common good. This election cycle is not unique in American history in its failure to present us with fairytale candidates. Do the 65 million Christians on the sideline not have a duty to weigh in when grave matters are at stake?

Rachel Lu

Most young women will get their ideas about “traditional women” from the internet. And what they will find there are tradwives. But it is unfortunate in many ways, because it’s quite misleading. The “real” traditional women I see in my parish and broader community are pretty amazing in ways a Hannah Neeleman clip won’t capture, and that commentators like Harrison Butker only obscure.

Thomas Salerno

“The horror I like best has a clear moral structure. We know who the good guys are, we know who the bad guys are—it’s that struggle between light and dark that resonates with me and is such a significant part of our Catholic faith.” Author Gary Jansen shares how classic horror stories have shaped his imagination and explains how the horror genre is an ideal canvas for authentic Catholic storytelling.

Lindsay Schlegel

The comparison between these two novels could read like a bad joke: A band of turn-of-the-century vampire hunters and a post-World War II priest walk into a bar. There might be a language barrier between these characters in Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos, but the hearts of their stories beat together.

Maggie Phillips 

A film that has a character named Christian stand idly by while two people are thrown off of a cliff is definitely saying something. 2019’s Midsommar features dark themes of modern alienation and a nameless search for authenticity that have only taken on more urgent resonance. If Christian’s name is allegorical, the point is really brought home at the end.

Nicolas Cage memorably, disturbingly, plays Longlegs, the film’s eponymous serial killer and agent of the actual devil. The victim families are shown living in isolated farmhouses and neighborhoods where no one goes outside. Longlegs’ murder dolls are identical effigies of the daughters, who are on the brink of growing up. Cut off from community and a true relationship with God, they are susceptible to the devil’s influence and unable to fight back.

Maggie Phillips 

In The VVitch, voluntary separation from the community in pursuit of the father’s own theological vision makes the devout Puritan family at the center of the story vulnerable to the predations of an actual, no-kidding witch and ultimately Satan himself. The concept that unites all three films in this series is an anxiety around the idea of home. Wherever these individuals seek stability—neopaganism, drugs, the four walls of home, the edge of town—evil lurks.

Mark Bradford 

Including persons with disabilities in school classrooms offers all children the opportunity to expand their understanding of what it means to be human, what it means to accept human differences, and to learn to love. Dr. Amy Richards recent book Disability and Classical Education is a short read, but it’s one that demands attention.

R.J. Snell  

We are to turn our concern and attention away from ourselves as individuals, and away from ourselves as the corporate body of the Church, toward the world, and in so doing to act as a field hospital—to offer that vital life of God, a vital life given to us, to all those who wait and watch for us to offer it to them. That is Christian love.

Dr. Holly Ordway

The growth of classical schools in the United States is an encouraging and hopeful trend. Young people can best learn the skills of critical thinking if they have worthwhile things to think about, and they can best learn the kind of intellectual hospitality that is needed for life in a functioning democracy if they have practice in discussing challenging ideas with charity and clarity.

Alex Taylor

Certainly compared to the killing of children and the death of faith, the exposition of lawn skeletons and horrible grim reapers is a paltry matter, but it provides another symptom of the underlying condition of our societies, one more tangible in our daily experience of community. What’s happening in smaller cities and towns today is not your millennial child’s Halloween observance.