As someone who has been known to hurl a few of these in my day—working in a newsroom, it’s as much a part of the vocabulary as “rewrite”—I appreciated this posting from Dr. Thomas J. Neal, via New Advent: I was astounded by the staggering mystery of the origins of human language, and amazed by the thought that this God-breathed universe labored for billions of years to birth human beings that could finally give it a voice to return to... Read more
From JimRomenesko.com. The magazine is called “Where.” But you can be forgiven for thinking it’s actually something else… Read more
Karol Wojtyla, as a young factory worker in Poland. “I come from your midst. I come from the quarries of Zakrzowek, from the Solvay furnaces in Borek Falecki, and then from Nowa Huta. Through all these surroundings, through my own experience of work, I boldly say that I learned the gospel anew.” — Pope John Paul II, homily in Nowa Huta, Poland, July 1979. “The truth that by means of work man participates in the activity of God himself, his... Read more
Details, from the New York Times: Arriving from Kuwait to attend college here, Mai Alhamad wondered how Americans would receive a Muslim, especially one whose head scarf broadcasts her religious identity. At any of the countless secular universities she might have chosen, religion — at least in theory — would be beside the point. But she picked one that would seem to underline her status as a member of a religious minority. She enrolled at the University of Dayton, a... Read more
“I do not preach as I should nor does my life follow the principles I preach so inadequately. I do not deny that I am guilty, for I see my torpor and my negligence. Perhaps my very recognition of failure will win me pardon from a sympathetic judge. When I lived in a monastic community I was able to keep my tongue from idle topics and to devote my mind almost continually to the discipline of prayer. Since taking on... Read more
I was surprised this weekend to hear of the death of lyricist Hal David, who penned some of the most enduring pop tunes of the ’60s. I didn’t realize just how prolific he had been until I read his obit in the Times and saw his output: “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” “Alfie,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “What’s New, Pussycat?,” “Walk On By,” “Close to You” and on and on... Read more
I received the following e-mail this morning: Dear Deacon Greg: Today during Mass our pastor read your homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, with hardly a word changed and without acknowledging that someone else had written it. This is at least the third time this has happened, and it appears to me that the pastor almost never writes his own homilies. I do not want to be uncharitable, but this does not seem right to me. What I... Read more
Details, from the Associated Press: A female Egyptian news presenter appeared on state television wearing a veil for the first time on Sunday after the Islamist-dominated government lifted an effective ban that had been in place for decades under secular-leaning regimes of the past. The ban on female news readers wearing the Islamic veil had long been criticized even by liberals and human rights activists as an infringement on personal freedoms — particularly in a country where more than half... Read more
I received the following e-mail this morning: Dear Deacon Greg: Today during Mass our pastor read your homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, with hardly a word changed and without acknowledging that someone else had written it. This is at least the third time this has happened, and it appears to me that the pastor almost never writes his own homilies. I do not want to be uncharitable, but this does not seem right to me. What I... Read more
It’s the charter school system, according to this analysis from Education Week: The nation’s Roman Catholic schools have labored for decades under increasingly adverse economic and demographic conditions, which have undermined their finances and sapped their enrollment. Today, researchers and supporters say those schools face one of their most complex challenges yet: the continued growth of charter schools. Since they first opened two decades ago, charter schools have emerged as competitors to Catholic schools for reasons connected to school systems’... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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