You’ve no doubt seen Saturday Night Live’s chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be thinking, Hmmn. Is it really a good idea for someone like me to go to place like that? With Jesus in it and stuff? The answer is yes. Here are my top ten reasons why: 10. It really is the Church for anybody at all. There might be other religions where you’re expected to have your act... Read more
Tonight, you could go Christmas caroling. You don’t need an official group. You don’t need an appointment. You don’t need props. You don’t even need flashlights and song books, if you’re willing to be humble and just sing first verses, which is about all that people standing in the door want to hear, anyway. Gather together some friends, go ring on likely doorbells, and break into song. A verse or two of whichever carols you happen know, then, “We Wish... Read more
The Washington Times reports that American Atheists have figured out what Catholics have long proclaimed: American Atheists unveiled Wednesday the “War on Christmas” line-up on its television channel, AtheistTV, featuring “original programs proclaiming the truth about Christmas on December 24 and December 25, featuring scholars and celebrities from the atheist community.” “Christmas is hard for many atheists, so we will provide programming free from superstition and fairy tales that allows families to watch together and not worry about being preached at,” American... Read more
What I’m thinking about today is . . . cursive. This site rescued a child of mine this morning: Cursive Handwriting Practice Worksheet Generator. You can make your own custom sheets with whatever letters, words, or sentences you like. It’s free to use for your private, educational use. Bronzino [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Read more
In a mortifying follow-on to our discussion of why we mustn’t do evil in an attempt at good, here’s a case out of Australia that demonstrates the deadliness of bad ethical systems. Mother and father are expecting a baby. It’s a desired pregnancy, and mother is doing just fine. Then, in a routine ultrasound, an abnormality in the baby’s hand is discovered. The mother, having been reared in a culture where any physical deformity is a source of both lifelong discrimination... Read more
Don’t let the headlines fool you, the freshly-released Final Report on the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the United States of America, 16.12.2014 is anything but glowing praise. It’s charitable and mannerly, but if you read closely and put on your thinking cap, the findings are harrowing. All the more so because our religious orders don’t exist in some bubble; every sister comes from a Catholic parish, and every sister in turn bestows her vocation on the Church.... Read more
Erin Arlinghaus challenged me (update below) to explain why it so important for any ethical system, religious or otherwise, to be built on the principles I explain here. I’ll recap them quickly, but check the tutorial for more examples and explanations. Principle #1 is “Double Effect” or “Parallel Effect.” What it means is this: It’s okay to do something good, even if there’s a chance that something bad might happen. Without this principle, you literally cannot act. Everything you do bears some risk... Read more
At my house tonight . . . Middle Schooler: What Mass are we going to tomorrow? Spouse: 9AM. Me: Are you singing both Masses then? Spouse: I dunno. Middle Schooler: Are we singing the Whitbourn? Spouse: Yes. Middle Schooler: Then I want to sing both Masses. And people say kids don’t dig contemporary church music like the adults do. Image by Andrés de Concha (Painter, Details of artist on Google Art Project) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Read more
Moving beyond any particular example of terrible writing, I want to address a non-argument I’ve seen circulating among Catholics of good will lately. If you’re going to be Catholic, set yourself firmly in favor of the truth. If you’re going to set yourself in favor of the truth, you need to know a non-argument when you see it. Again, I’m writing here not to philosophers, but to ordinary internet people like myself. Good Guys Do Bad Things Here’s an example... Read more
In discussing the recent scandal out of Notre Dame’s theology department, a question arose: Would it be possible for Joel Baden and Candida Moss to have argued well against the Catholic position on IVF? That is, is there another way they could have challenged the Catholic position that would have shown them worthy opponents? I think there is, and I’m going to walk you through my thoughts on that. Before we begin, let’s go over some preliminaries: 1. I don’t for a... Read more
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