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** Daily Newsletter: DECEMBER 8, 2025
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** In today’s newsletter:
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ALEX PETKAS: The Antidote to Right-Wing Resentment ([link removed])

HANS FEICHTINGER: Navigating the Post-Conciliar Church ([link removed])

MARY KATE ZANDER: Illinois Coroners Push Back on Assisted Suicide Bill ([link removed])

MARK BAUERLEIN: What Does Gen Z Want? ([link removed])

Today we look at ressentiment from a Nietzschean perspective; it is inevitable in a society bereft of heroes. Msgr. Hans Feichtinger has hard truths for a Church treating liturgy as a pastoral (not theological) concern. And Illinois coroners stand up to the assisted suicide lobby.

Finally, tune in as Sohrab Ahmari and Mark Bauerlein discuss Gen Z for
Conversations.
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** The Antidote to Right-Wing Resentment ([link removed])
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** ALEX PETKAS
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On what can Christians, pagan Greeks, and Friedrich Nietzsche all agree? For man to live well, he must reject envy and resentment, working rather to emulate heroes, be they saints or statesmen. Alex Petkas argues that the Groyper Right is the product of a society shorn of heroism, where young men “have been told throughout their education—whether public, private, or often even ‘Classical Christian’—that the very things that make them men render them unfit for promotion: disagreeableness, restless energy, or the uncompromising desire to excel above their peers.”

For further reading: In last month’s issue, R. R. Reno argued that Nietzsche misassessed Christianity—heroism is present. Furthermore, true heroism is ambitious. It looks beyond self interest and courts failure (“Christian Heroism ([link removed]) ”). For a counterpoint, Carl Trueman’s “How Pop Nietzscheanism Masquerades as Christianity ([link removed]) ” was one of the most popular articles of 2024. He concludes by agreeing with Nietzsche: Christianity is a slave morality. “The faithful Christian ministry is not very glamorous. It consists of baptizing, preaching, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper. It is about pointing people to a God on a cross whose strength, like that of his followers, is made perfect in weakness.”
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** Navigating the Post-Conciliar Church ([link removed])
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** HANS FEICHTINGER
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Msgr. Feichtinger writes that the liturgy wars are lamentable and understandable. To move past them requires abandoning a paternalistic “pastoral” approach that treats liturgical traditionalists as errant children. Similarly necessary is a mutual disarmament of liturgical pecaddillos. “Neither those who reject all modifications, nor those who see the post-conciliar reforms as a complete reinvention of the liturgy, can be trusted.”

Liturgical renewal done properly will serve to clarify the role of the Church: “Within the framework of communion ecclesiology, synodality cannot be considered a defining mark of the Church (like apostolicity or catholicity).”

For further reading: Nearly thirty years ago, Avery Cardinal Dulles wrote masterfully on the liturgy and liturgical reform: “The Ways We Worship ([link removed]) ” (March 1998).
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** Illinois Coroners Push Back on Assisted Suicide Bill ([link removed])
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** MARY KATE ZANDER
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As is stands, coroners must investigate suicides and overdoses. Illinois lawmakers want to change that in the case of physician-assisted suicides, shielding the practice from oversight. These are the same tactics used to protect abortion.

For further reading: First Things has published dozens of articles on assisted suicide and abortion in the past year. For a different, less mechanized view of death, read mortician Victor Sweeney’s November reflection, “When Death Calls at Night ([link removed]) .”
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** What Does Gen Z Want? (ft. Sohrab Ahmari) ([link removed])
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** MARK BAUERLEIN
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Listen: The US editor of UnHerd joins Conversations to talk about youth politics. Sohrab recently profiled Nikki Haley’s son and wrote about how right-wing media helped elect Zohran Mamdani.

For further reading: Freya India wrote in May about the rhetorical tools the right will have to adopt to attract young women: “The Right Has Forgotten Feeling ([link removed]) .” She, like Sohrab, points out that the right’s tactics are often misplaced.

Upcoming Events
* February 1, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL. Details coming soon.

Until next time.


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JACOB AKEY
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Associate Editor
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