It would seem that I have not, despite multiple years of blogging, blogged about her, the first American citizen to have been canonized, a wife, mother, widow, and religious foundress, whose feast day is today, the anniversary of her death on January 4, 1821. She was raised as an Episcopalian, devout but also happy to enjoy life as part of the social elite of New York in the early years of independence. After marrying William Seton, of a well-to-do business... Read more
I should clarify that I probably would not, but that’s largely because (a) I’m an extreme introvert and (b) most of my neighbors are already members of my church, which is a mere block away. In fact, kitty-corner from us is a retired teacher, and three doors over the other direction is a current preschool teacher. But the image is a photo of a mailer that came today, from a church which has sent multiple such mailers. And as much... Read more
Here’s something from twitter: In first General Audience of the year Pope Francis said "People who go to church every day and then live hating others and talking badly about people are a scandal: better not to go to Church, living as they do as atheists, … rather than giving a counter-witness" pic.twitter.com/aXakM9Yp7V — Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) January 2, 2019 and https://twitter.com/TommasoNin/status/1080484588584083459 And I don’t want to get into a dispute about the Pope. Running the full link through Google... Read more
I admit to having disengaged somewhat from the reports on the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, which at this point appears to be a crisis in leadership, as leaders are unable or unwilling to resolve these issues. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced back in mid-December that accusations have been leveled against 690 priests, while Catholic officials have publicly identified only 185 clergy with credible allegations against them. and the Archdiocese of Chicago responded with a statement indistinguishable from... Read more
Let’s start with the fact that I am not a fan of the near-constant drumbeat that the Holy Family was, in travelling to Bethlehem, a refugee family. They were travelling within their own homeland for purposes of being formally registered in Joseph’s hometown. And however much the Mexicans might enjoy their posedas tradition in which Mary and Joseph seek shelter and are repeatedly turned away, every Christmas authors remind us that that scripture text would be more accurately, though clumsily,... Read more
What’s the True Meaning of Christmas? Seems like, lately, it’s about bickering about said True Meaning. “Christmas is about Peace on Earth.” “No, Jesus was poor, so it’s about caring for the poor.” “No, it takes place at the winter solstice, so it’s about finding hope in the midst of darkness.” “No, there was no room for Jesus in the inn, so we should see the innkeeper as a bad example and focus on welcoming strangers and seeking justice for... Read more
The “right” lesson is, of course, that in order to ensure one’s signature reform is successful you need to work with the other party — not just a few members of that party whose beliefs are so centrist as to approach your own, but comprehensively, so that it becomes a part of the fabric of the country rather than setting the stage for a pitched battle in which the other party, when regaining power, does everything possible to demolish the... Read more
You know, if I looked around in my blog archives, I’d probably find a post in which I offered similar reflections, but, eh, so be it. Here are a few thoughts after having watched the movie Flight 93 (originally a TV movie, now checked out from the library), because, much as it’s already late and I need to be up early in the morning, I was surprised at how much I was affected by it. You know how there are... Read more
That’s what I’ve been writing about at Forbes. I had planned to do a couple articles on the topic, but had delayed because the topic is so complex that I just had a really messy draft, but was finally pushed to start writing by a news item about the Dutch equivalent, and because the Congressional Joint Committee that was supposed to figure out a way to save them, was supposed to report on their recommendations by November 30th. They didn’t,... Read more
OK, now I’ve seen it all from twitter. As Campus Reform (and other sources) reported, an atheist professor from Minnesota State University, Mankato, Eric Sprankle, thought he was going to own the Christians with respect to the Incarnation, when he tweeted the following: The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays. — Eric Sprankle, PsyD (@DrSprankle) December 3, 2018 In response to... Read more
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