The Smiling Archbishop of New York

Raymond J. De Souza

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan retired last week, ending his sixteen-year leadership of one of the most influential dioceses in the world. Fr. Raymond de Souza reflects on his friendship with the prelate, and how he responded to what First Things founder Fr. Richard John Neuhaus called “the Catholic moment.”

For further reading: Neuhaus believed that the Catholic Church had a unique role to play in the post-modern world. Though chastened by the sex-abuse scandal, he believed the Moment could still be realized if “contemporary Catholicism has the nerve to be fully and distinctively Catholic.

The Fertility Crisis Will Not Be Solved by Economics Alone

John M. Grondelski

The reticence to have children in many developed countries comes from social factors that devalue parenthood, not inadequate economic incentives, writes John Grondelski. All the tax breaks in the world won’t solve the fertility crisis “unless parenthood is once again valued in and of itself.”

For further reading: Darel E. Paul wrote in “Feminism Against Fertility” that “in the twenty-first century, we are experiencing a profoundly consequential retreat from lifelong, socially binding care relationships, including marriage and parenthood.”

Dark Phantoms

Mark Bauerlein

From the January issue: When Mark Bauerlein started suffering flashbacks following a car accident, he began to think about the “dark phantoms” that linger in so many human psyches: “Why is human nature like this, self-tormenting? Freud the scientist replies, ‘It just is.’”

For further reading: Editor R. R. Reno considered how the nation healed after the Civil War in “Memory Redeemed” (2010) when, as Faulkner writes, “a living past can be a curse.”

Secularism, Security, and “Civilizational Erasure”

George Weigel

The Trump administration’s annual National Security Strategy (NSS) questions if Europe is as valuable an ally as traditionally thought. In his column, George Wiegel writes, “Where I find substantive, rather than tonal, fault with the NSS is its failure to dig deeply enough into the roots of Europe’s twenty-first-century malaise, and its seeming insouciance about the brutal neo-imperialism of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”

For further reading: R. R. Reno wrote about the NSS earlier this month in “Trump’s NSS Is a Reality Check.”

Upcoming Events

February 1, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida: “Recovering the University’s Soul” ft. Bishop Robert Barron | Sarasota, FL. Register here.