“It is not easy to be a Catholic, and it is not easy to be a writer. To be a Catholic writer is doubly difficult,” wrote Jacques Maritain, who nevertheless became one of the most influential 20th-century Catholic writers on either side of the Atlantic.

Parody, Ernest Hemingway said, is a step up from writing on the wall above the urinal. He was wrong.

Opening Day is a reminder that there are, to quote Bill Veeck, only two seasons: winter and baseball.

Pedro Arrupe, S.J., is well on the path to sainthood. So who was he? And why do people have such strong opinions about him?

Wilfrid Sheed's books are a delight to read, but his reviews and essays are his true masterpieces.

Robert Giroux edited some of the 20th century's leading writers, including some prominent Catholic voices like Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy and Thomas Merton.