I’m sorry, I’m not looking to cause any trouble here — you know I’m a peaceful girl at heart — but am I missing something in the class-war-income-inequality narratives? I mean Obama and the Democrats keep making noises that approximate a tune that goes like this: “millionaires and billionaires are bad.” Which, as Glenn Reynolds points out, was not the case when John Kerry and John Edwards (not to mention Al Gore) were Democrat candidates. The refrain to that song,... Read more
A new year is a good time to forge a new partnership and I am (as Hubert H. Humphrey used to say) “as pleased as Punch” to announce the arrival of a new blog, Christopher Closeup, here on the portal! Anchored by the tireless Tony Rossi (who has contributed many excellent pieces to Patheos in the past year), Christopher Closeup will feature the exclusive online debut of new and upcoming podcasts, hosted by Tony, wherein he chats with entertainers, writers,... Read more
In one of those happy synchronicities, my column at First Things this week appears to play right into the hands of the Patheos Book Club. Allow me to explain. Over at First Things, I chronicle the existential agida I am experiencing over how my husband’s pack-rat instincts overwhelm my need to throw things away, and the influence of Western prosperity on our sense of material balance and well-being: Our Christmas was a modest one, by choice, and no one in... Read more
It’s really too bad that you love your three-year old daughter who needs a kidney transplant, because you know what? We’re not giving her one because she’s retarded!: I begin to shake. My whole body trembles and he begins to tell me how she will never be able to get on the waiting list because she is mentally retarded. A bit of hope. I sit up and get excited. “Oh, that’s ok! We plan on donating. If we aren’t a... Read more
Currents, the daily Catholic news program produced by the Diocese of Brooklyn, observes the second anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake by interviewing Father Jean Moise Delva who, sadly, reports that not much has changed. “It was very sad to see the atmosphere, and the way people are living,” Father Delva says. Noting that 2.38 billion dollars have been spent he notes the difficulty in distributing aid. Haitians have seen almost no building connected to that expenditure. More than half a... Read more
Nor do I seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand. For this too I believe, that unless I first believe, I shall not understand. —Saint Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 1109) Saint Anselm is my Patron Saint for 2012, along with Saint Dominic. Anselm came from someone kind enough to “pull” a patron for me, and Dominic came from Jen Fulwiler’s Saints Name Generator. He is my second Dominican patron in as... Read more
I’ve tried to illustrate the point, before, and had a sense that it makes people uncomfortable: God takes pity on human limitations and tries another way of teaching and reaching, a better way to know the transcendence. He says, in essence: For your sake, I will become broken, too, but in a way meant to render you more Whole, and Holy, so that our love may be mutual, complete, constantly renewed, and alive. I love you so much that I... Read more
After watching George Stephanopoulos do a less-than-stellar job of reining in his disdain during the recent ABC GOP debate (although at this point, I’m not exactly offended by hearing the contenders referred to as “characters”) it doesn’t surprise me at all to read that his Sunday morning show, This Morning, couldn’t resist taking some “good-natured” potshots at their Evangelical viewers by digging on the Bronco’s loss on Saturday. Writes Josh Feldman at Mediaite: Have we not reached a place free... Read more
God has all the essential characteristics of what we mean by a “person,” in particular conscious awareness, the ability to recognize and the ability to love. In that sense he is someone who can speak and who can listen. That, I think, is what is essential about God. Nature can be marvelous. The starry heaven is stupendous. But my reaction to that remains no more than an impersonal wonder, because that, in the end, means that I am myself no... Read more
Deacon Greg’s homily for this weekend is especially good, and powerfully useful, I think: In the gospel, when the men who want to follow Jesus ask him where he is staying, he doesn’t give them a direct answer. “Come,” he says, “and you will see.” On one level, he’s inviting them to follow him. But more importantly: he is also inviting them to see. To have their eyes opened. The Lamb of God who will take away the sins of... Read more
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