Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son... Read more
History is a difficult science. To determine what happened in the past and why it happened is an important prerequisite for understanding the present and is useful if one wants to explore the possible future for humanity. Christians are free to take all the data available to them and explore such events in many different ways. They can take all the stories they find about an event and try to create a synthetic presentation of what happened. They can take... Read more
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I ate dinner at an overpriced steakhouse today. I tried to redeem the expensive mediocrity by sitting on the patio to enjoy a vocal jazz combo, over an overpriced cup of coffee. I’m no jazz policeman, but the quartet was depressingly awful and the whole scene made me feel even worse. I took it all out in this rant of a poem entitled, “Bad Jazz.” (more…) Read more
Catholic colleges and universities have dropped the ball when it comes to educating young Catholics in the faith. Here in Madrid, among hundreds of thousands of Catholic young people, a common story I hear is that they learned things on their own. They’ve had to exert great effort to dig deep into the theological and spiritual traditions of the Church, even as their colleges mandate the one or two courses in theology that drive many young Catholics into broad survey... Read more
I’ve often pointed out that current incarnation of the Republican party is incredibly – and most imprudently – cavalier with the rhetoric of violence. A standard response is to dig up some left-wing violent rhetoric. But this really misses the point, which that violent rhetoric on the right is now mainstream – so mainstream that it barely warrants any comment. It is now the case that a good number of leading Republicans, including president candidates, have used violent imagery or... Read more
One of the worst things on the blogosphere is the self-congratulatory tone many bloggers have for themselves and for each other. They start creating awards to hand out to each other. They act like they have done something great if a friend creates an award and gives it to them. They act like they are the height of good judgment when they make an award and then give it out to a friend. There seems to be more and more... Read more
As you can surely see, The Distributist Review is quickly becoming my favorite site for substantive Catholic social resources and commentary. I’m not a distributist myself, but I respect that position as one that is seriously committed to a holistic Catholicism. To be sure, I think that, if this strand of Catholicism were the leading the US Catholic voice, we would be in a much better state all things considered. Here are two more gems by Thomas Storck: Is the... Read more
Peter Maurin was a French peasant and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. His ‘Easy Essays’ were short, sometimes humorous observations meant to encapsulate in accessible form much deeper truths drawn from the Gospels and Maurin’s own personalist philosophy. Here’s one, titled “Politics is Politics,” that is as pertinent today as it was when Maurin wrote it, some seventy years ago: A politician is an artist in the art of following the wind of public opinion. He who follows the... Read more
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty... Read more
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