What Do We Owe All the Valjeans?
Since Les Mis seems to prompt endless reprises on this blog, you won’t be surprised to find I’m over at First Things today talking about Valjean, Javert, and what we owe to the prisoners in our...
View ArticleWaiting for Enemies to Die
There’s an expression I’ve heard in the gay rights movement as a kind of rallying cry, “Every time you see an ambulance go by, it’s either a supporter of gay rights being born, or an opponent dying.”...
View ArticleForgiving is Not Endorsing
Before he passed away, Pope John Paul II entrusted a number of his personal letters to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, his secretary, and asked him to burn the letters after the pontiff was dead. Not only...
View ArticleA Lens on Killing and Forgiveness
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, and, over at The New York Times Magazine, a photographer has put together a series of portraits of Rwandans who have reconciled with the...
View ArticleOn Palm Sunday, Blood Will Have Blood
On Palm Sunday in Catholic churches, the Passion narrative is read aloud. The whole congregation is on our feet while the priest reads the part of Christ, and two lectors pitch in. One of them...
View ArticlePrisoners are Calling. Who’s Answering?
Today, I’m over at First Things to talk about prisons, communities, and cell phones. Until cellphones made it trivial for a well-connected prisoner to reach the outside world, jailhouse policy has...
View ArticleThe School Where Bullies Ask for Help
The American Prospect has a beautiful feature on a high school that started trying out restorative justice, instead of defaulting to suspensions. Here’s the basic approach: The cornerstone of KCAPA’s...
View ArticleThe Merry Merchant and the Sad Antonio
Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing the closing night performance of The Merchant of Venice, staged by The Shakespeare Forum. It was a delightful production, and the cast did a great job making...
View ArticleWhat’s the Difference between Forgiveness and Self-Deception?
An atheist friend of mine recently posted the following question to Facebook (and gave me permission to reprint it here): I don’t think I grok forgiveness in the absence of Catholicism. I keep trying...
View ArticleThe Tony-Winning Guide To Temptation And Grace
Last Sunday, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton won 11 well-deserved Tony Awards, and, last week, I wrote an appreciation of the show for Aleteia. In keeping with Miranda’s style, it’s a mashup: the...
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