This recent piece by John Allen caught my attention for a few reasons. First of all, the polarization of Catholicism is of grave concern to me. Secondly I have first hand experience of Salt & Light TV; it is one of the great signs of hope for Catholicism in North America. My wife used to answer the phones there and I can assure you that there are people who make Father Rosica’s job of running a station for all Catholics... Read more
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow human beings throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy. ~Mother Theresa Read more
I have been a university student for over a decade and have, for that whole time, lived at a subsistence level. In undergrad I survived on summer jobs and student loans. As a grad student I have been able to avoid piling up more debt by a combination of part-time work, scholarships, and my spouse’s income. (No, book sales don’t help. At all.) Before I went to university, I lived in a family that was always in danger of losing... Read more
Clear: ““The moral measure of this budget debate is not which party wins or which powerful interests prevail, but rather how those who are jobless, hungry, homeless or poor are treated. Their voices are too often missing in these debates, but they have the most compelling moral claim on our consciences and our common resources”. “1. Every budget decision should be assessed by whether it protects or threatens human life and dignity. 2. A central moral measure of any budget... Read more
Many Christians have been led to believe that wealth redistribution is necessarily an evil thing, something which comes out of socialism, and so must be confronted and denied whenever we see it suggested. Obviously, they have ignored the Bible they claim to follow. One of the most famous stories in it involves such redistribution of wealth: The LORD said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence;... Read more
The Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, has released a new report on religion and contraceptive use. (Hat tip to CathNewsUSA.) The report finds that only 2% of Catholic women use natural family planning, and that this number does not vary significantly when frequency of mass attendance is taken into account. The figure rises to 3% among married Catholic women. There may be discrepancy caused by the way in which the data was gathered: this data is for... Read more
Introduction and Part II The next several paragraphs remind us of our relationship with God. First, we are told that we are never apart from the presence of God. All that we do is seen by God, who is omniscient; when we, made out of “dust” look out into the world, we can see many things at once, so we should not doubt that God can and does see everything at once.[1] It is not just God who is watching... Read more
“You have to pick yourself up by your bootstraps somewhere. It’s better than pulling yourself down by them. You have to . . . every objective paradigm has to make a first move; it has to step into the light based on some axiomatic judgment that is not self-justified. Gödel proved this in logic, and this is true for arithmetic; it’s true for things far more complicated than arithmetic.” Sam Harris, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQTZBBkkcxU&feature=related (see 10:00 – 11:20) “No one can lay... Read more
The Chronicle of Higher Education is not where I usually go to feed my mind. I do go there quite a lot, but for other purposes: to look for work. Imagine my surprise—and delight!—to find this article by Terry Eagleton there: In Praise of Marx I may want to quibble here and there with Eagleton (and certainly with Marx), but his general point rings true and prescient: we ignore and demonize Marx at our own risk. (I would also add... Read more
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