Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.
Three high profile murders have reminded the nation again of just how much things have changed since the 60s. The murder of an abortion doctor, the assassination of an army recruiter, and now the murder of a security guard at the National Holocaust Museum - all within the space of…
Continuing our chronicle of the federal government's extension of power into the private sector, two new developments just yesterday. First, it seems the "pay czar" is soon to be a reality. Perhaps his authority to define the terms of executive remuneration will at first be limited to those companies which…
An old BeeGees song is rattling through my brain tonight as I watch the news about events in North Korea and listen to the President boasting about jobs saved and more to be saved: "It's only words, and words are all I have..." The world is on to America's political…
One of the many things separating human beings from animals is our penchant for living toward the future. Animals live in the past, mostly guided by instinct, learned behaviors, and things that worked before. In many ways people are like that, too. However, we are eternal optimists and perpetual anticipators.…
Some years ago I think it was Neil Postman wrote a book entitled, The Disappearance of Childhood, in which, as I recall, he lamented the fact that childhood - which, he explained, is a modern invention - was in danger of being "disappeared." Children were being made to grow up…
More evidence (as if we needed it) of the secular world's determined effort to be done with a role for religion in human life can be found in a fine symposium on religion in the arts in the May/June 2009 issue of Books & Culture. Four representatives from the Christian…
President Obama yesterday announced with scarcely-veiled delight the impending resignation of Justice David Souter from the Supreme Court of the United States. As if the President doesn't have enough to do, now he has to nominate a replacement for the highest court in the land. I wonder what kind of…
Chrysler is in the tank, all the efforts to forestall the dreaded outcome notwithstanding. Mr. Obama was perturbed yesterday as he made the grim announcement, even though he spoke wistfully of a Phoenix future for the auto company. Well, we hope so. Mr. Obama was angry, but not at the…
During the press conference marking the end of his first 100 days in office, President Obama was confident, glib, relaxed, and hopeful. He answered 13 questions from a wide range of sources calmly and with a minimum of fumbling for words. The President presented the confident demeanor of a man…
Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter has announced his determination to jump to the Democratic party. The reason? He is up for election this year and is quite sure he cannot defeat the Republican primary contender, Pat Toomey. By becoming a Democrat, he doesn't have to worry about that. He has…
We neglect the counsel of our fathers in the faith to our own detriment. Is this word from Basil of Caesarea (4th century) timely and relevant, or what? "So long then as the word of truth is on our side, never be in any wise distressed at the calumny of…
As has been clear from the beginning of our present economic crisis, our distress is about more than money or the lack of it. The problem is moral, even spiritual, and it will not be resolved by financial bailouts, corporate restructurings, salary caps, or caps on emissions. As Paul Tournier…
In a refreshingly frank essay in the Spring, 2009 issue of The Wilson Quarterly, Singaporean Kishore Mahbubani warns Americans against thinking that the United States cannot fail. He exposes and explains a good many reasons why we find ourselves in our current mess, and his analysis pulls no punches. He…
Some Christians are upset because President Obama, speaking in Turkey, declared that, in America, we do not think of ourselves as a Christian nation. I've been thinking about this for days, and, speaking for myself, I have to agree. I would not want to hold up America as she is…
We take it for granted that music is a big part of our everyday lives. Music comes at us from radios, mp3 players, CDs, and in practically every public place. Music awards programs abound; American Idol seeks to raise music to a kind of national hysteria; advertizing rides the currents…