One Ramp Agent, Two Dogs, and American Culture
Like thousands of lower forty-eight Americans, I had long wanted to visit Alaska someday. That time recently arrived for me [...]
Ending the Biden Administration’s Confusion
Biden administration members are confused about a host of issues, and it is incumbent on American citizens to help them [...]
On Trees, Butterflies, and Powerful People
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear, does it make a sound?” This [...]
Catholic Charities’ Role in the Border Crisis
In late July, 2021, the La Joya TX Police Department issued a “Public Health Announcement” to the community that included [...]
The Failure of American Leadership
Given all the difficulties America has experienced during the Covid19 Pandemic, the last thing we needed was a failure of [...]
A Special Way of Praying for America
It is hard to imagine a greater need for prayer in our country than the need that exists today. In [...]
America’s Flawed View of Truth, Part 2
Socrates Part 1 discussed the error of believing that truth is within us so we don’t need to [...]
America’s Flawed View of Truth
A discussion of truth may seem too academic to have any practical value, but it really isn’t. In fact, our [...]
How America Has Changed
We are all immersed in our culture, and that immersion alters our beliefs and values to some extent over time, often [...]
UFOs and Catholic Faith
Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross" We’ve heard about UFOs for more than half a century [...]
Anatomy of a Pastoral Letter
On May 1, 2021 San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a pastoral letter on Catholic teaching concerning abortion. Soon afterward, [...]
A Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma
The title is borrowed from Winston Churchill. Though he coined the phrase in reference to another matter, it describes perfectly [...]
The Catholic Hierarchy’s Role in the Border Crisis
I recently wrote, “The mistakes in immigration policy made in Europe over the past half-century are deeply chiseled in history [...]
The Grave Danger of Good Intentions
You may be wondering, “How can good intentions be dangerous? After all, good is the very opposite of evil, and goodness [...]
President Biden’s Foolish Refusal to Learn
If we learn from our experience, we are considered intelligent. If we learn from our experience and other people’s as well, [...]
Reaffirming the Story of Salvation
The Nicene Creed summarizes Catholic teaching about Jesus in these words: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only [...]
A Valuable Insight on Immigration
Sometimes insights come in unexpected ways and from unlikely sources. One such insight recently came from Nayib Bukele, President of [...]
Goodbye Logic, R.I.P.
Logic may be defined as a system of thinking that produces reasonable decisions and judgments about problems and issues large [...]
A Perfect Theological Storm
A Perfect Storm is defined as “a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of [movements].” A Perfect [...]
The Burden of Ideas
It is fashionable to believe that ideas are quiet, ethereal things that can do no harm. “What others think won’t [...]
A Jesuit Magazine’s Disrespect of the Dead
The death of Rush Limbaugh on February 17, 2021 was reported around the world. The headlines in mainstream publications were [...]
The Historic Problem of Race in America
Frederick Douglass White people’s awareness of the evil of slavery has for decades taken the form of developing [...]
Overanalyzing Kindness
Since the election many of my liberal friends seem to have overcome their compulsion to lecture me on what a horrible [...]
Orwell’s Prophetic Novel, 1984
George Orwell In 1949 George Orwell published a tale of a totalitarian country in which self-appointed elites gained [...]
Understanding the Division Over Trump
Why does one half the country deplore Donald Trump while the other half esteems him? As one who began on [...]
Author Vincent Ryan Ruggiero
Since retiring from teaching, I have continued my work in promoting sound thinking in education and in the general culture. More specifically, I have kept refining my textbooks, four of which have been continuously in print for an average of 33 years. I have also continued to write books for the general public, the latest of which is Corrupted Culture: Rediscovering America’s Enduring Principles, Values, and Common Sense, and I write a weekly column for an online journal.