by Father Robert Lauder IN THE FEB. 4 issue of the Jesuit magazine America, there was a provocative essay titled The Searcher, which was written by Patrick J. McNamara about the great American film director, John Ford. In the essay, McNamara points out a number of themes that appear in John Ford’s films that seem […]
Arts and Culture
Fr. Robert Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University and the author of “Pope Francis’ Spirituality and Our Story” (Resurrection Press).
Death of a Hero: Remembering Father John Kavanaugh, S.J.
by Father Robert Lauder ON NOV. 5 of last year, Father John Kavanaugh, S.J., author of Following Christ in a Consumer Society: The Spirituality of Cultural Resistance (New York: Orbis, Revised edition, 1991, pp. 194,) died. Not only was he one of my heroes, I was blessed to also have him as a friend. Though […]
American Prayer Book Links Faith and National History
by Father Robert Lauder Except for the breviary which contains the divine office, I don’t use a prayer book. Perhaps I should. When I was studying for the priesthood, there was a prayer book that many of the seminarians used. Right now the name of the book escapes me. It might have been The Major […]
Church without Christ Is Poor Substitute for the Real Thing
by Father Robert Lauder I started reading the magazine Commonweal when I was a freshman in college, and I have been reading it ever since. The bimonthly journal, edited by Catholic laymen, rarely disappoints me. It is not an exaggeration to say that it has had a strong influence on my understanding of philosophy, theology, […]
The Top 10 Movies of 2012
With awards season in full swing, it’s time for the Media Review Office of Catholic News Service to select its top 10 movies for 2012. Some of these choices have been or will be saluted by secular critics and prize-givers, principally for their aesthetic qualities. Others are celebrated here primarily for their spiritual and moral […]
Les Mis: One of the Most Catholic Contemporary Films
by Father Robert Lauder RUN, DON’T WALK, to a theatre showing the new film Les Miserables. It is probably one of the most Catholic films ever made. Every so often in the Catholic press, there is an essay about what makes a film “Catholic.” In trying to focus in on just what the necessary ingredients […]
Experiencing God’s Presence in Other People
by Father Robert Lauder BACK IN NOVEMBER I had a very enjoyable Saturday morning at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale, L.I. A former student of mine, Jim Krug, who now teaches religion at Kellenberg, had invited me to give two talks in a Saturday morning program that the high school presents a few times […]
Christ Is Present Everywhere
by Father Robert Lauder 11th in a series In re-reading Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011, pp. 362), I found some of the statements that the Holy Father makes about the Risen Christ especially interesting. Reflecting on my own experience of […]
Ecce Homo – Behold the Man
by Father Robert Lauder Tenth in a series WHEN I LEFT my parish assignment many years ago to do graduate studies in philosophy at the request of my bishop, two parishioners gave me a large print of George Rouault’s painting, Ecce Homo. I immediately bought a large frame, and the print has been on my […]
Every Truth Has a Price Tag
by Father Robert Lauder Ninth in a series In several sections of his book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011, pp. 362), Pope Benedict reveals his expertise as both a scriptural scholar and a dogmatic theologian. There are also sections in which the […]