The 1988 film Bull Durham opens with a voiceover by a main character, Annie Savoy, rhapsodizing about the beauty of baseball. “I believe in the church of baseball,” Annie begins, followed by a rather dubious inventory of gurus and other religions she has tried to follow. After a brief soliloquy …

by Kenneth Craycraft Near the end of his novel, Brighton Rock, Graham Greene details a conversation between an old priest and one of the main characters of the novel, a young woman named Rose. The interchange takes place after the sudden, violent death of another character, Pinky, whose life had …

A Closer Look | Kenneth Craycraft Every year, we are reminded that Lent should not merely be about giving up habits or pleasures but also adding some positive spiritual discipline. We might give up caffeine or alcohol, for example. Or we might add a spiritual or corporal work of mercy, …

The Dignity of Dependence By Leah Libresco Sargeant | University of Notre Dame Press, 2025 | 232 pages | $28.00. In his inauguration speech as mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani declared, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” This dichotomy is not …

Lent is a season of moral and spiritual growth. For some, the principal approach is to deprive oneself of non-essential goods; we give up some pleasure or luxury. Others observe Lent by performing spiritual or corporal works of mercy; we add some activity or assume some burden. And, of course, …

A Closer Look | Kenneth Craycraft In the 33rd and final canto of Dante’s epic 14th century poem, Paradiso, St. Bernard guides Dante to the destination of his pilgrimage, where he achieves the Beatific Vision. Dante describes his final ascent to Paradise in terms of the restoration of balance, harmony …

by Kenneth Craycraft In 1979, the rock group Pink Floyd released a concept album called “The Wall.” Written by now disgraced band leader Roger Waters, the record is angry, depressing, and claustrophobic. It is the fictional story of a cynical, despondent rock star who attempts to construct a wall around …

Even before you reach the end of this sentence, you will begin to hum in your head the tune of the silly little song, “High Hopes,” written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn and made famous by Frank Sinatra. “Just what makes that little old ant think he’ll move …

For several years, many of us Catholics in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati have been including in Mass a prayer for vocations, written by Archbishop Emeritus Dennis M. Schnurr shortly after his move to Cincinnati. I must confess that, initially, I mildly resisted the general theme of this prayer. This is …

Two of the most intriguing women characters in all of world literature are the eponymous protagonists of Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina (1878) and Sigrid Undset’s trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter (1920, ’21, and ’22). Both novels deal with similar themes: Christian faith, wealthy families, stormy marriages, and the cultural and social …