Editorial

T his week could mark the most consequential development on the U.S.-Mexico border since January 2021, when President Joe Biden essentially opened the nation’s doors to millions of illegal border crossers. Depending on how court fights turn out, Title 42, the Trumpera measure that allows the U.S. government to quickly return illegal crossers to Mexico on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID, will likely soon expire. After that, officials expect a flood of illegal crossers, all coming into the United States confident that they, like hundreds of thousands before them just this year, will be allowed to stay.

I t didn’t surprise me when, backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Father Thomas Joseph White began telling me that while he enjoyed touring with his band the Hillbilly Thomists, which consists of musical friars, he enjoys writing more. When not playing banjo in Nashville, White is the rector of the Angelicum in Rome; the school’s most famous alumnus is Pope John Paul II. His latest book is an authoritative study of the Holy Trinity.

A s I write this year-end essay about 2022 trends in food and dining, I must confess that I’m playing catch-up.

F riends turned on friends.

W hen it comes to sappy holiday movies, you either scorn them as you would another pair of reindeer-themed socks, or you eagerly binge on offerings such as “My Southern Family Christmas,” produced by Hallmark and described thusly: “Under the guise of a journalist, Campbell has a chance to get to know her biological father for the first time — without him ever knowing who she really is. … Campbell must decide if she’s going to keep her identity a secret or reveal the truth to her father — a decision that will change their family Christmas forever.”

they were here to harvest the forests, and on Sundays, they worshipped together.

I’ m filled with a renewed sense of hope all of the sudden.