In one of the two greatest lines of world poetry, Dante bows gently toward "The Love that moves the sun and all the stars."

Every virtue has its bogus pretenders. But there is no counterfeit that is more successful in obscuring the genuine article, especially in the present era, than false compassion.

Benedict XVI associates justice with judgment.

There are three debilitating effects of Original Sin: a darkening of the intellect, a weakening of the will, and a diminished unity of body and soul.

It is greed that impoverishes us, not generosity.

Recently I was asked at a public discussion of crime and punishment at which I was a speaker whether I thought it was right that the government (in Britain) had made it illegal for an employer to ask a prospective employee whether he had a criminal record and, if so, its nature and extent.

In modern discourse tolerance is never just tolerance.

"Solitude," wrote Jacques Maritain, "is the flower of life in community."

The following ten universal principles form the foundation of civility, justice, and objectivity in cultures throughout the world. Their presence assures the possibility of humane civilization and their absence (even their partial absence) opens the path for corruption, deceit, injustice, and cultural decline. Following is the introduction and the first 19 pages from chapter two of Father Spitzer's new book, Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues.

It's all well and good to talk about pursuing "what works" until we come up against inescapable moral limits.