Catholic Exchange

Book Review: Priest: Portraits Of Ten Good Men Serving The Church Today, by Michael Rose

• Archives
• Friday, October 24th, 2003
• James Bemis

If there’s a single cardinal virtue uniting the ten priests profiled in Michael Rose’s excellent new book, Priest: Portraits Of Ten Good Men Serving The Church Today ( Sophia Institute Press , $14.95, 187 pages), it’s “fortitude” (or “guts,” if… Read More

Tom McClintock’s Antidote

• Archives
• Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
• James Bemis

G. K. Chesterton once observed there’s no use talking about reform without reference to form. This wise adage helps put the California recall election in perspective.
The State's enormous budget deficit is driving much of the antipathy toward Gray Davis.… Read More

Book Review: Twelve Types by G. K. Chesterton

• Archives
• Friday, September 26th, 2003
• James Bemis

Why read a book of essays like Twelve Types,” (IHS Press, $8.95, 96 pages) about 12 individuals most people never heard of and all of whom are long since dead? Who cares what anyone wrote about Savonarola, William Morris or… Read More

Missed Opportunity

• Archives
• Monday, February 24th, 2003
• James Bemis

“He who says A must say B,” political philosopher James Burnham once said. Burnham’s dictum suggests certain undeniable conclusions logically flow from one’s principles. While this sounds simple enough, the ramifications are often deep and perplexing.
© Copyright 2003 Catholic… Read More

Book Review: The Dead Sea Conspiracy by James Fitzpatrick

• Archives
• Thursday, December 5th, 2002
• James Bemis

Memorable Characters
Combining a fast-moving but intricately plotted mystery with a wry rendering of modern man’s ethical shortcomings, Fitzpatrick skillfully accomplishes a feat eluding all but the best of today’s fiction writers: treating religion as if it really mattered in… Read More

Labor Day and the Virtue of Work

• Archives
• Monday, September 2nd, 2002
• James Bemis

Labor Day’s Roots
Fittingly, Labor Day has its roots in the union movement. The idea was the brainchild of Peter McGuire, leader of the Knights of Labor. He suggested that while there were holidays commemorating religious, civil and military observances,… Read More

Book Review: Bright Promise, Failed Community: Catholics and the American Public Order

• Art
• Wednesday, July 3rd, 2002
• James Bemis

Anyone searching for a source of the devastating scandals currently plaguing the Catholic Church should look no further than Joseph Varacalli’s brilliant little book, Bright Promise, Failed Community (Lexington Books, 133 pages, $25.00.) The rotten fruit of a half-century’s dissent… Read More

Book Review There is No Cure for this Condition

• Art
• Wednesday, June 19th, 2002
• James Bemis

With school out and lazy, dog days upon us, a young man’s attention now turns to….baseball! As another season for the Grand Old Game under way, it’s time to forget roundball and think hardball. A wonderful new book, “There Is… Read More

Talk about Bias

• Archives
• Thursday, May 23rd, 2002
• James Bemis

James Bemis is a columnist for the California Political Review, and has been published in many other Catholic and secular publications. This article originally appeared in The Wanderer.

What accounts for conservative success? “Progressives” think they know – but as… Read More

Mother’s Day: Time for Thanks

• Archives
• Saturday, May 11th, 2002
• James Bemis

James Bemis is a columnist for the California Political Review, and has been published in many other Catholic and secular publications. This article originally appeared in The Wanderer.

Take, for instance, the expensive, trendy Manhattan private school Rodelp Sholom Day… Read More