Ross Douthat calls him “the man who saved American Catholicism,” and in this inspiring story, you can see why David R. Spotanski, a middle-aged Catholic father of three from the Midwest, may well have earned that accolade. Spotanski, a layman, was chancellor of the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., whose bishop, Wilton Gregory, was head of…

At the risk of beating a dead horse (but when has that ever stopped me?), I want to bring the epistemic closure discussion to bear on what Cardinal Ratzinger knew, or should have known, about the Maciel scandal, and related scandals. How we know what we know — epistemology — is something that has occupied…

Reader Brett R. improves America by sending in this priceless commercial for an Alabama used mobile home dealer. It’s a real commercial, but apparently it was made by Rhett and Link, two guys who specialize in making funny commercials for small-town businesses. This is safe for work, by the way:Robert Lee is my new hero,…

David Brooks writes about a favorite theme of mine: This is not to say that policy choices are meaningless. But we should be realistic about them. The influence of politics and policy is usually swamped by the influence of culture, ethnicity, psychology and a dozen other factors. More: When you try to account for life…

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