The Anchoress
It’s a discussion I think is really valuable, for all Christians. If we forget that we actually are living in exile, and where our true home is, we really will be lost! I link to a whole bunch of discussion on the issue, here Read more
It’s a discussion I think is really valuable, for all Christians. If we forget that we actually are living in exile, and where our true home is, we really will be lost! I link to a whole bunch of discussion on the issue, here Read more
Settling in for Evening Prayer at Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome Visiting Rome’s splendid, often ancient, churches, my husband and, who attend newish, barely-decorated, kind-of-ugly churches that are heavy on the felt banners, had not realized how much we’d been missing beauty in our worship: decorative touches with meaning, a designer’s thought for the physical surroundings of our mystical worship. “They don’t make ’em like that anymore,” was an undercurrent of our appreciation. No, they don’t. Costs are prohibitive, tastes... Read more
My plan to work, work, work, today is being interrupted by a family situation that needs attending-to (nothing awful, but important, nonetheless) so here’s some interesting stuff I meant to respond to or comment on. Now, you’ll have to do it! :-) I’ve wondered several times over the past five years whether some Americans are allowing their ideologies to become their idols. I’ve never quite had the answer, but thought it was an important question, nonetheless. Today Mr. Dalrymple asks... Read more
In a roundaboutacious way – a rerun of my Good Friday piece at NPR Read more
Shamelessly cribbed from Lucianne.com Deacon Greg, who rarely has time to really sit down and write like this, hits one out of the ballpark, today, as he takes a look at the complete non-coverage of Pope Benedict’s triumphant visit to the United Kingdom. Really, it’s so good that it’s difficult to excerpt, but here is a little: One of the biggest surprises of Pope Benedict’s historic trip to the United Kingdom may be how few people realize that it was,... Read more
In my Tuesday column, I take a surprising turn (I am full of surprising twists and turns) in order to defend Christine O’ Donnell on two fronts, although neither of them is witchcraft, since I wrote it before that bit of silliness raised its pointed hat: O’Donnell is like Palin-Lite; half the experience, less bitter. In her favor, though, is that she appears to be utterly without guile. She projects the sort of wide-eyed-innocent openness that personifies American naiveté to... Read more
Productive citizenry, diligently earning its allowances The Ultimate in Nanny-Stating: UK wants to take paychecks and give citizens an allowance! That’s basically what it comes down to. “While we’re ‘modernizing’ our systems, why don’t we just take all that messy tax-calculation off everyone’s hands?” The UK’s tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees... Read more
While in Rome I made the delightful acquaintance of the BBC Online’s Paul Burnell, who is as jolly a chap as you may find in the pleasant pastures, and a smartie to boot. During a break, Paul and I conversed a bit about Newman, and he betrayed how passionately inspired he was by the dramatic story of Newman’s reception into the church, “here is Dominic; he is only just arrived, weary from traveling, soaking wet to the bone, shivering at... Read more
The Pope’s excellent address on Newman, in the vigil before the beatification. And a round up of excellent reads on both the pope’s triumphant visit to the UK, and Newman’s beatification: America Magazine’s Austen Ivereigh on one of the finest paragraphs of Benedict’s many addresses: He then quoted Newman’s mediation that “God has called me to some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another”. Only Jesus knows what that “definite service”... Read more
A week after her stunning upset in the Delaware primaries, I find myself in the odd position of defending Tea-Party-endorsed Christine O’ Donnell, about whom I am mostly agnostic. O’ Donnell is like Palin-Lite; half the experience, less bitter. In her favor, though is that she appears to be utterly without guile. She projects the sort of wide-eyed-innocent openness that personifies American naivete to our cousins in Europe and often embarrasses (and trips up) the dismissive post-American sophisticates on the... Read more
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