I’ve always been amused by the fact that the nineteenth-century art movement Impressionism got its name from a satirical review of Claude Monet’s painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise). Louis Leroy created a fictional dialogue between observers of the painting, having one of them say that “a preliminary drawing for a wallpaper pattern is more…

Peter Berger, one of the premier sociologists and public intellectuals over the past fifty years, passed from this life on June 27th at the age of 88. For years I had hoped for the privilege to meet him, but that opportunity never developed. Thus, I offer this tribute not as a friend or even an acquaintance,…

Since Vatican II most celebrants—Catholic and Protestant — no longer “turn their back” to the congregation (that is, turn to the east) during the words of institution. This act never had to do with the priest turning away from the people; rather, the point of it was to turn toward Christ’s anticipated Parousia (that is,…

In a brightly colored, unfamiliar room, Andy’s toys debate their future. They have just experienced a remarkable reversal. They thought they had been thrown away, but they commandeered their fate and found their way to Sunnyside Daycare, a place where “you’ll never be outgrown or neglected, never abandoned or forgotten.” What good news! But one…