Don’t watch a blog for me now

Save it ’til the morning after…

Agenda Bender: Lots of fun stuff, including some catcalls for the Taj Mahony, and something important enough that it’ll get its own post.

The Old Oligarch: Interesting stuff about the Oath Against Modernism (which you can find here), plus a truly awful tale of an Engaged Encounter. O.O.’s wife: “If we had gone through this marriage prep seminar when I was still unsure, I probably wouldn’t have converted for several more years — if at all.” The priest sounds like he was palpably embarrassed by the Catholic faith–not an especially attractive disposition! Some of the worst stuff (but not all of it) concerns the way the priest handled the question of contraception. This was one of the Catholic teachings I had the most trouble with when I converted. I converted, in fact, basically unconvinced on this point, but willing to submit because I was sure of the Church’s authority. Once I learned more about it, though, I found that the Church’s prohibition on contraception (and promotion of Natural Family Planning) is the logical, loving, and beautiful result of its teaching on marriage, love, and personal identity. I’m now deeply grateful for the teaching I once scorned. (If you want a lot of intriguing, meaty essays on the subject, click here; for even more, click here.) To see a priest not even try to show searching couples this treasure of the faith must have been terrible.

Unqualified Offerings: Good poem.

And this report from Johannesburg is very interesting, potentially heartening; and it may be relevant to the Bjorn Lomborg controversy currently taking place at Ted Barlow’s site.