I am a convert (or a revert, depending on how you ask). Unlike some Cradle Catholics, I have a past—and not just forgetting to say grace before dinner or having a lustful thought in 2006. For good and for ill, I have born many a mistake, an error—really a sin. What’s oddest though is how thankful I’ve always felt for those experiences. Some make for good stories—even opportunities to spread the faith—some I recall with a wince, and others are… Read more
July 8, 2016
Liberalism is Conservatism is Not Catholicism
July 8, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
The topic of this post is the word “liberal”: its meanings, its misuses, and what it ought to mean to Catholics. For some, this post might seem redundant. Among certain groups, the word’s origins and contemporary obfuscation are a well-known fact. Forgive my boorishness. But too often I encounter people, usually well-meaning, who want to, or do, debate whether Catholics ought to be “liberal” or “conservative.” This is the wrong question, but even so, the only valid answer is “neither.”… Read more
July 6, 2016
Judge Not: An Obscure Monk Sheds Light on Pope Francis
July 6, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
Pope Francis mystifies—and aggravates—many Catholics; his talk of mercy, of suspending judgment has a tendency to attract charges of ambiguity, to draw ire from those who prefer the steady hand of a John Paul or the theological acumen of a Benedict. In short, Francis is a true servus servorum Dei—clearly more comfortable advising than, well, pontificating. This has its obvious drawbacks—drawbacks which have been both rightly clarified and examined and which have also elicited scrutiny so intense that one is… Read more
July 5, 2016
Christian Patriotism: An Oxymoron?
July 5, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
It [patriotism] is a pagan virtue, if these two words are compatible. The word pagan, when applied to Rome […] possesses the significance charged with horror which the early Christian controversialists gave it. The Romans really were an atheistic and idolatrous people; not idolatrous with regard to images made of stone or bronze, but idolatrous with regard to themselves. It is this idolatry of self which they have bequeathed to us in the form of patriotism. (Simone Weil) Brexit, Fourth… Read more
July 4, 2016
(More) On Prayer: Thoughts from Meister Eckhart
July 4, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
No, be sure of this. Absolute stillness for as long as possible is best of all for you. You cannot exchange this state for any other without harm. That is certain. You would like to partly prepare yourself and partly let God prepare you, but this cannot be. You cannot think or desire to prepare yourself more quickly than God can move in to prepare you. (Meister Eckhart) (This is a continuation of my last post, available here). We left… Read more
July 3, 2016
On Prayer: Thoughts from Simone Weil
July 3, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
I recited the Our Father in Greek every day before work, and I repeated it very often in the vineyard. Since that time I have made a practice of saying it through once each morning with absolute attention. If during my recitation my attention wanders or goes to sleep, in the minutest degree, I begin again until I have succeeded in going through it with absolute pure attention. (Simone Weil) Prayer—verbal, non-verbal, formulaic, or spontaneous—is one of the hardest parts… Read more
June 25, 2016
Confused Catholic Ramblings on Brexit
June 25, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
The dust is beginning to clear (before the next great explosions of cultural and political competition take place). For a time, I have felt the need to keep silent on the question of Brexit. Forces on the Left and Right left me in a state of paralysis—xenophobia, neoliberalism, secularism, migrant and refugee status, and every other foible of contemporary European politics. What to think? In what follows, I don’t pretend to offer an answer; the reader ought to know that… Read more
June 18, 2016
Knowing v. Living the Faith: More Thoughts from Thomas Merton
June 18, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
Many of us know the Catechism, but to live the faith, that is different, that is a holy sacrifice—an exercise in Christian foolishness. My ability to know the truth without living it—to radiate the joy proper to the fulfilled Christian—troubles me. I have little difficulty in writing, reading, and offering advice to others when it comes to the Faith, and yet that is not Christianity. What is a faith dead in practice, lived in staleness? What is a rebuke without… Read more
June 13, 2016
After a Tragedy: Get Off Social Media
June 13, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
About a week ago I chose to take a temporary break from social media, mostly because my life has become too busy to deal with it all—discussions, arguments, opinions, you name it. Emotionally and temporally, there’s simply too much to do and feel (feel even to the point of numbness) in the digital world. We are human; we too often let our emotions drive us, and more often than not, that makes for a tumultuous online experience, especially when one… Read more
June 12, 2016
Another Shooting: Brief Thoughts on Evil from Thomas Merton
June 12, 2016 By Chase Padusniak
0 Comments
Like most people I woke up today to horrific news: the murder of more than 50 people at a queer nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Perhaps unlike most people, I was not particularly interested in the biography of the perpetrator, his story, his motivations. Evil had become an anonymous force, a faceless god of chaos, not one man, a shooter driven to hellish deeds. Instead, I felt desolate—a sense of total misery, an acute awareness of my own sins, and… Read more
get the latest from
Jappers and Janglers
Sign up for our newsletter
Browse Our Archives
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic
