Follow this lively brouhaha between four friends—each classic examples of one of John Courtney Murray’s classifications of the American political landscape. A drive through Cambridge, Massachusetts, reveals some surprising shifts in the landscape, as each friend responds to the architecture and design of the various neighborhoods. The author, a Catholic and a Murray traditionalist, is surprised to discover he may have more in common with his radical friend—favoring nature, human values, and beauty—than with his more progress-oriented liberal and conservative friends.

Many supporters of abortion claim that it protects the woman’s right to personal fulfillment. But do we really find personal fulfillment merely in the individual pursuit of happiness? Fr. Frank Pavone explains that mothers, like all human persons, will only find true fulfillment in imitating the self-giving love of their Creator in the Trinity.

The Catholic Faith is meant to infuse every aspect of our lives. American Catholics, growing up in a predominately Protestant culture, cannot take for granted that “the American way” of life is necessarily Catholic—in fact many of our mores, opinions, and ways of viewing the world are inherited, rather unconsciously, from the culture around us. Thomas Storck takes up Francis Cardinal George’s challenge to Americans to truly build a Catholic culture in the midst of those around us—with the communion of the Trinity and the Incarnation or the Son of God as our models.

Michelangelo began work on the Pieta—his sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the dead Christ—when he was 23 years old. The finished work was first displayed in St. Peter’s during the Holy Year of 1500; the many pilgrims to Rome who saw his work assured that the artist’s fame would spread throughout Europe. Follow the interesting details of Michelangelo’s incredible work.