I have a question pertaining to baptism, and the only way I can think of how to pose it is in the form of one of those word problems you find in text books. Alright so a person comes from a house with two different faiths. On parent, who is catholic, has them baptized as an infant. However said person is then taken and raised by their grandparent who is rather Baptist. They are then brought up exclusively in the... Read more

always has these great photo illustrations for his posts. I’m jealous. I think I’ll label him a “photo-Catholic” to relieve my feelings of envy and hostility. Here he is talking with the invaluable Willetses about, well, you know. Read more

You’ve talked about how reason alone can’t prove the equality of man, and this intuitively makes sense to me. But how do you understand this part from paragraph 19 of Caritas in Veritate: As society becomes ever more globalized, it makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers. Reason, by itself, is capable of grasping the equality between men and of giving stability to their civic coexistence, but it cannot establish fraternity. At first brush, this seems to contradict... Read more

on the cutting edge of Bronze Age Thought. In other Nothing to See Here News, Pentagon issues Fort Hood report entitled, “Muslim Terrorist? What Muslim Terrorist?” Read more

A friend writes: This, I think, sheds a lot of light on what Communists are like in India (especially Kerala, where I am from). Most party members in Kerala attend Church/Temple and are active in their faith (and its genuine) and are active in the Communist Party. For us in the US, it might be unfathomable! Boy! They don’t make atheist dialectical materialists like they used to. Time was when Commies infiltrated the Church to subvert and destroy it. Now... Read more

Your post on Mike Flynn today reminded me to tell you this: based on your posts on him I ordered both Eifelheim and In the Country of the Blind (perversely, neither was available at my local Barnes & Noble). I’m about halfway through Eifelheim and ITCOTB arrived today. I love love love Eifelheim and am looking forward to reading the latter. ITCOTB is going into the stack of books I’m saving for my wife’s upcoming surgery, which brings me to... Read more

A reader writes: I wrote you awhile back to lay on some flattery regarding By What Authority? (which was all very sincere, so perhaps not so much flattery) and a brief historical question about terminology. (You did get to my query on your blog, in case the phrasing makes you wonder.) Anyway I wanted to lay some further semi-flattery on you. Last year as a result of some situations I was in I found myself really exploring Catholic ethics a... Read more

…(who are multiplying like rabbits) take a look at the New Atheism out there in NYC. Read more

A reader writes: I’d like to ask for prayers for a four year-old child from my daughter’s school, Sarah, who passed away yesterday. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor just a few weeks ago, so this happened quite suddenly. I believe she is her parents’ only child. I’m sure they are heartbroken. I have no idea if they are believers, but please pray that they can feel God’s comfort somehow. And of course prayers for the repose of Sarah’s... Read more

Follower 333, you represent a curious number that may well mean something in the inscrutable and winding paths of mystery. And Dark Lords, borne hither and thither by odd superstitions and capricious whims accountable to no mere mortal, like that. In your honor, I give you… Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street: That is all. Read more