The Catholic Church in China is in an untenable position. The Vatican has tried appeasing the CCP by allowing the party to appoint bishops and not protesting when it cracks down on underground churches. Fr. Paul Mariani, S.J., who has traveled extensively in China, writes that the “appeasement policy is showing its limits.” Pope Leo needs to find a new way forward.

For further reading: Shortly before Pope Leo’s election, Nina Shea outlined the problems with the current China policy and steps the next pope could take to restore justice and authority.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently announced an overhaul of the military chaplain corps, which he says has become more about therapy and self-help than vigorous spiritual formation. Miles Smith writes that Hegseth, who belongs to a Reformed Protestant denomination that emphasizes the connection between Christianity and warfare, is “tossing nearly a century of fundamentalist evangelical spiritualism and mainline liberalism.” Good riddance. 

For further reading: Smith also writes that Hegseth is not interested in denominational difference but rather a return to the Judeo-Christian mould that formed our nation. James A. Hamel, a Catholic priest and Air Force chaplain wrote about “Ecumenism in the Chaplaincy" (2013): “Religious particularism, and especially Christian denominationalism, is generally not a wedge issue among the American warrior class. But is it a false kind of ecumenism, or worse yet, a form of syncretism proffering a new kind of state religion?”

Paul Kelly’s forthcoming book, Against Post-Liberalism, “cuts through the fog of battle” to accurately describe the “political movement he opposes,” Peter Leithart writes in his review. Kelly’s three faces of postliberalism—national populists, common-good communitarians, and common-good authoritarians—are true, but his analysis is occasionally tedious and contemptuous. 

For further reading: Nathan Pinkoski embarked on a definitive survey of the postliberal trajectory of the west in “Actually Existing Postliberalism” (November 2024).

From the January issue: Should the U.S. government “embark on a campaign to snuff out vice?” Perhaps not the government, but in a culture where vice has run amok, the direct approach might be the best. Leibovitz offers John Hughes, archbishop of New York from 1842 to 1864, as an example. Hughes “re-spiritualized” his flock of raucous Irish immigrants “with clear instruction: Do the right thing and shun the wrong. He instilled in his flock a moral purpose that allowed them to see themselves as something greater than the sum of their indignities.”

For further reading: Leibovitz makes the case that if messages of vice, such as the ones promulgated by provocateur Nick Fuentes, are popular, how much more popular could messages rooted in morality and God be? Kathleen Hull considered this question in light of the 2015 live-action Cinderella movie, where critics noted that despite the sparkling and “vaudevillian antics” of the evil stepmother and her daughters, they “fail to steal the show.” Instead, Ella captures the audience with her “profound inner freedom,” which is rooted in her belief in goodness.

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.

• March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, D.C. Details coming soon.

Until next time,

VIRGINIA AABRAM

Newsletter Editor