{"id":103,"date":"2012-01-24T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T22:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/01\/egregious-twaddle-eloquent-silence\/"},"modified":"2016-05-02T11:15:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T17:15:10","slug":"egregious-twaddle-eloquent-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/01\/egregious-twaddle-eloquent-silence.html","title":{"rendered":"Egregious Twaddle, Eloquent Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\"twaddle\"<\/a><\/div>\n
In case anyone wonders why I\u2019m not taking up Max Lindenman\u2019s suggestion to rename this blog The Trough, here\u2019s the genesis of Egregious Twaddle:<\/div>\n

When I worked in catechetical publishing a million years ago, our general editor and house curmudgeon-slash-spiritual-director at Benziger was the redoubtable Fr Gerard Weber. Jerry had a mind like a steel trap, a deep devotion to the Church of his Chicago roots, and zero tolerance for the kind of flowery, \u201cfeminine\u201d language that so often characterized children\u2019s catechetical texts in the days he was trying to get us all to leave behind. Whenever I strayed into that kind of tweeness, Jerry was sure to scrawl PIOUS TWADDLE!<\/i> across the manuscript in what looked like a preview of the blood I was going to shed when he caught up with me.<\/p>\n

The inoculation took. A year or so ago, when I was asked (wearing my stewardship writing hat) to help The Cunneen Company tailor some of their offertory enhancement materials for use in our diocese, I made the mistake of being a little too frank\u2013or too Jerry\u2013in my critique of what looked to me to be an excess of pious posturing. \u201cI\u2019ve removed most of the egregious twaddle,\u201d I emailed John Cunneen, my client. Through God\u2019s great grace, John has a sense of humor, and he not only forgave the brashness but was so delighted by the phrasing that he had AlphaGraphics New Haven, his related business, whip up egregious twaddle<\/b> T-shirts for me and a bunch of mutual friends. (You can see them, front and back, in the photo that accompanies this post.)<\/p>\n

It was only natural, John having provided the marketing hook, for me to name the blog for the shirts. And it will stay that way, because I can\u2019t promise that I\u2019ll avoid being either egregious or twaddly or both in what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

What I will promise to try to be, for John\u2019s and everybody\u2019s sake, is less dense and tangly. When a friend asked him today if he had seen the blog, John responded that he was following it happily (and appreciating the product placement), but wished I would be clearer. \u201cIt\u2019s like sitting next to a\u00a0scientist on an airplane,\u201d John admitted. \u201cYou just nod and act like you get it!\u201d Or as my designer friend Perry is always telling me, \u201cSay more, but with fewer words. A lot<\/i> fewer words.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To that end, I direct you to Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s wonderful message on the eloquence of silence, written for World Communications Day this coming May, but released today in honor of St Frances de Sales\u2019 feast day<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence \u2013 indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.<\/span><\/a><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\nWhen it comes down to the true and real and entirely un-twaddly Word, in other words, the best any of us can do is sit close, shut up, and nod.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image is the author\u2019s own.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In case anyone wonders why I\u2019m not taking up Max Lindenman\u2019s suggestion to rename this blog The Trough, here\u2019s the genesis of Egregious Twaddle: When I worked in catechetical publishing a million years ago, our general editor and house curmudgeon-slash-spiritual-director at Benziger was the redoubtable Fr Gerard Weber. Jerry had a mind like a steel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1086,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEgregious Twaddle, Eloquent Silence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In case anyone wonders why I'm not taking up Max Lindenman's suggestion to rename this blog The Trough, here's the genesis of Egregious Twaddle: When I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/01\/egregious-twaddle-eloquent-silence.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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