Amy Welborn has a good series of reflections on the proposed renovations to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. If I were to summarize my understanding of her thesis: The updates aren’t as egregious as people claim, but they’re a little too neat, and Catholicism just isn’t. I’d like to offer a couple thoughts, and I think that random Catholic spectators weighing in on this type of thing is valuable, not because we have any... Read more
Twitter tells me it’s International Disability Day, so here’s my happy-mad story from yesterday. You’ll recall that Tuesday before Thanksgiving (11/24) I sent an email, after the close of the business day, letting the facility manager for a local greenspace know about several concerns that had arisen. By the following morning he’d replied to my e-mail and by midday had resolved the most pressing issue. But, for today’s topic, the comparatively less-pressing (since it didn’t involve multiple users in danger... Read more
From my reading this morning: 10 Do not glorify yourself by dishonoring your father, for your father’s dishonor is no glory to you. 11 For a man’s glory comes from honoring his father, and it is a disgrace for children not to respect their mother. 12 O son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; 13 even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your strength do not despise him. 14 For... Read more
This morning I gave up on insomnia and watched Eric Zemmour’s 10-minute long YouTube announcement of his candidacy for the upcoming French presidential election. I’ll be honest, the content surprised me a little. I’m going to talk below about why, and how it relates to right-wing populist movements in the US as well. The text of Zemmour’s speech is here on his website. Chrome’s translation function does an okayish job of producing an English rendering — don’t rely on it... Read more
Melanie Jean Juneau has a provocative story over at Catholic Stand about her own children’s experiences of remembering life in the womb. I’m skeptical, but think it would be a fun and fruitful avenue of research if anyone can come up with reliable ways to study the question. Regardless of what infants and toddlers do and don’t remember, however, the fact that unborn children are conscious and learning is obvious. Newborns are aware and able to learn, and that’s not... Read more
H/T to Salon Beige on a European freedom of speech ruling that’s being used by Algeria to justify to the UN the imprisonment of religious dissenters. English language summary of the case is here. Very short version: Said Djabelkhir was sentenced last spring to three years in prison for Facebook posts questioning Muslim orthodoxy (as defined by Algeria). The UN freedom of religion and freedom of expression investigators sent a letter to Algeria saying: What the heck? Apparently Algeria wrote... Read more
Excellent follow-up to the dog problem I mentioned in passing the other day, and an inter-related disability access issue that had also come to my attention: I put together a letter yesterday evening detailing the problems I’d personally seen at the local greenspace, with a suggestion for an interim solution. Sent the letter directly to the department head who would be carrying out the solution (and only to him), knowing he might have to send the request up the chain... Read more
Hard-hitting post by Amy Welborn: “I no longer live, but…” on the failure of come-back-to-Mass efforts that hinge on the we miss you so much theme. She writes: To hear avuncular clerics plead for folks to come back to Mass because “we miss you!” is…amusing. It will fail. It always does. It might, depending on the person listening, fail immediately because, first, the target audience hearing this pitch will remember past personal experiences, snort derisively, and move on. Secondly, the target... Read more
This morning Rod Dreher delivered on his daily promise to keep me entertained by shedding light on the world of Catholic Integralists. I’m going to dispense with nice and go straight to answering a couple questions posed by his essay: Is Integralism a good idea? Answer (agreeing with Dreher): No. It is a terrible idea. Didn’t work before, will never work, concupiscence is real and we have all of human history to prove it. Since classical liberalism doesn’t work, what... Read more
My high school senior just wrapped up her volleyball career on a disappointing note, and of course there were tears among the teammates about their almost-but-not-quite undefeated season. And though I *understand* why the girls wanted so badly to win? And I understand even more that it’s normal and healthy for a teenage girl to grieve that loss? Also, here’s the thing: This is my kid who started her high school volleyball career with surprise open-heart surgery. Sure, a championship... Read more
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