While on sabbatical five years ago, a fellow Institute scholar and friend died unexpectedly. Conrad was a lovely, gentle man whom I had only known for a couple of months. He was a retired priest in his seventies and had come to Collegeville because he really had no place else to go. Upon discovering that my father was born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, where Conrad had spent his ministry, he acted as if he had a special connection with... Read more
In one of the host of recent academic books written by an atheist about religion (I forget which one), the author suggested that one should look with suspicion on any religion whose dominant and most recognizable symbol signifies violence, torture, and oppression. The importance of the cross to all Christians, regardless of their many important differences, is indeed worthy of attention. One of my early childhood memories involves waiting for a cross to arrive in the mail, selected from a... Read more
Three days after the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, an influential Christian leader–the founder of a large conservative, faith-based conglomerate focused on the preservation of family values, a group which serves as the moral guide and voice for thousands, perhaps millions of people—made the following comments: Millions of people have decided that God doesn’t exist, or he’s irrelevant to me and we have killed 54 million babies and the institution of marriage is right on... Read more
Several years ago during my four-year stint as chair of the Providence College philosophy department, I found myself sitting at a table with several very concerned parents. It was during one of the summer orientation sessions for incoming freshmen, and these were the parents of students who had indicated interest in majoring in philosophy once their college career began in the fall. The question, expressed in various ways, that all of these parents wanted an answer to was “What on earth... Read more
Christmas movies are a big deal at my house. Jeanne goes for the classics, such as “Miracle on 34th Street,” “The Bishop’s Wife,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and (her favorite) “White Christmas.” Those are all fine (except “White Christmas,” which I can take or leave), but I tend to favor more recent ones, like “The Holiday” and (my favorite) “The Nativity Story.” Movies with Biblical themes were both attractive and problematic in my early years. We did not go to movies,... Read more
My childhood was filled with unusual characters, all products of my father’s fertile imagination. A Freudian would probably say that each was a projection of a different aspect of my father’s personality—all I know is that their appearances were both unpredictable and entertaining. The “Flying Gynzbyrd,” for instance, was a heavy bird who liked to land with a thud on the breakfast table and stomp through either my brother’s or my toast, leaving imprints the size of the tips of... Read more
Every year, between Pentecost and the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the lectionary takes us through week after week of “Ordinary Time,” a seemingly endless stretch of Sundays in green during which there are few special celebrations, no Advent or Lenten introspection and expectation, no thrilling Christmas, Easter or Pentecost celebratory remembrances, just a bunch of green week after week after week. A friend of mine once claimed that Ordinary Time is her favorite part of the liturgical year. I told her... Read more
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