by David L. Gregory (Catalyst 12/2005) The Right to be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America is the latest, and perhaps the most engaging and lucid, entry in the burgeoning "culture war" literature. But, unlike all of the others, this book proposes an interesting way to end hostilities. The author of the book, [...]
by Joseph De Feo (Catalyst 12/2002) In defending school choice or God in the Pledge of Allegiance, it is too easy to find oneself on the wrong side of the “wall of separation” between church and state. But as Professor Philip Hamburger reveals in his timely and well-researched tome, Separation of Church and State, few know [...]
by Bronwen McShea (Catalyst 10/2002) Garry Wills is devoted to the so-called “spirit of Vatican II,” which he claims was hijacked by a backward-looking papacy. He wrote Why I Am A Catholic (Houghton Mifflin, 2002) to flesh out his differences with Rome, and to offer hope to “conscientious” Catholics that “reformation” is in the wings, that [...]
by Russell Shaw (book review, Catalyst 4/2002) In the last several years the culture war against the Catholic Church has been extended to a new battleground—the writing of history. It is not the first time this has happened, since it has long been known that he who gets to tell the story of the past his [...]
by Ronald Rychlak (Catalyst 1/2002) Remember John Cornwell? In his last book, Hitler’s Pope, he claimed that he was a loyal, practicing Catholic who had the highest regard for Pope Pius XII and wanted to write a book defending him. He said he received special access to secret archives due to his previous writings defending the Church. [...]
by Sr. Margherita Marchione, M.P.F. (Catalyst 1/2002) An extraordinary new book, a scholarly compedium of vital historical documents, Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican (Paulist Press, 1999) by Father Pierre Blet, S.J., greatly expands our knowledge of what Pope Pius XII did to help victims of Nazi oppression in Europe [...]
by Ronald Rychlak (Catalyst 12/2001) A couple of years ago, when critics charged that Pope Pius XII had shown a callous indifference to the plight of the Jews, the common refrain was that if only he had been more outspoken on behalf of the Jews, like his predecessors, thousands of more lives might have been saved. [...]
by Robert P. Lockwood (1/2001) When John Cornwell’s book Hitler’s Pope[1] was released in the United States in 1999 it generated intense media coverage. Cornwell painted Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) as virtually a silent collaborator in the face of Nazi Germany’s "Final Solution." While the alleged "silence" of Pius XII was central to media coverage, Cornwell’s thesis went [...]
By Michael Phayer Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis (2000) Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), as Secretary of State to Pius XI and as pope, faced Nazi Germany with a remarkable consistency. The Nazis considered him an implacable foe,1 and he was hailed both during and after World War II as the strongest voice – often [...]
by Robert P. Lockwood (7/2000) One of the striking points of anti-Catholicism in American culture – in addition to its persistence – is the sameness of it all. Down through the years, there is a tiresome repetition of old cliches about Catholics and Catholicism inherited from the Reformation in England. The difference in today’s popular anti-Catholicism [...]
