Two other interesting articles in the Ideas section of the Sunday Boston Globe:

This one discusses how Cardinal Egan of New York is beginning canonization proceedings for Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (aka. Mother Alphonsa), the daughter of New England writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne himself was always interested in Catholicism, like many of his antebellum Yankee counterparts unhappy with the hollowness and politicization of Unitarianism, and his time in Rome only strengthened this fascination. He never converted but apparently imparted his interest to his daughter who later became a prominent American nun. Hawthorne's best friend Franklin Pierce had a similar spiritual journey, terribly annoyed by the abolitionist pulpit, but stopped short of Rome and instead (dumping his family's tepid Congregationalism) took up Episcopalianism.

And this article reveals the growing conservative Catholic academic subculture springing up in the United States, paying special attention to small Magdalen College in Warner, New Hampshire. With seminary-like strictness and a traditional curriculum founded in the Magisterium and Western Civilization, Magadalen and others like it are thriving.