I was talking to a friend the other day about her course on the gospel of John. She noted that her very conservative professor holds the minority view about the authorship of the fourth gospel, namely, that it was penned by the apostle John himself. Now, I have nothing invested here. It doesn’t matter a whit to me whether John himself was the main author or one of his followers. I am not remotely conversant in the debate. But what... Read more
In a review of Weigel’s new book on John Paul II, Bernard Prusak notes the following: ” There is an extended analysis of differences between the curia’s opposition to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and JPII’s supposedly more sympathetic views toward President George W. Bush and his decision to go to war. “John Paul would certainly have welcomed regime change in Baghdad as a way to relieve the suffering of the people of Iraq,” his biographer writes. “He was... Read more
Saint Anthony of Padua tells us that Jesus, in the temptation of the desert, fought against and beat the temptations which first wrecked humanity, trapping it in sin. “The Sin of Adam was the destruction and the weakening of the human race. It consists in three things: greed, vainglory and avarice.”[1] Jesus accomplished in the desert what Adam had failed to do in the garden, reversing the damage done by Adam. “The Son of God came at the acceptable time,... Read more
Introduction and Part II Celestial beings are immortal because they have divine goodness within them; whereas earthly beings have become mortal because of the self-incurred evil within them. This evil comes to the mindless through their laziness and ignorance of God. Death, when understood by men, is deathlessness; but, when not understood by the foolish, it is death. It is not this death that must be feared, but the loss of the soul, which is ignorance of God. This is... Read more
I’ve been saying this litany to the Japanese martyrs, and wanted to invite readers here to join me. Our Lady of Akita, pray for us. St. Peter Baptist, martyr and patron of Japan, pray for us. St. Francis Xavier, patron of Japan, pray for us. St. Paul Miki, martyr, pray for us. St. Anthony Dainan, martyr, pray for us. St. Anthony Ishida, martyr, pray for us. St. Francis Nagasaki, martyr, pray for us. St. Francis of St. Bonaventure, martyr, pray... Read more
See Part I here. In Part I, I asked Dr. Levering some fairly personal questions about life as a theologian. Here, in Part II, we pursue some thornier questions concerning the vocation of the theologian in the life of the Church. Two of those questions resulted in follow-up questions. As this was an e-interview, I had originally sent 10 questions at once, so none of my subsequent questions were determined by Dr. Levering’s responses. The two follow-up questions are indicated... Read more
Being the father of two little boys, I am a frequent guest at children’s birthday parties. One of the more popular themes for little girl parties these days is the Disney Princesses. When I first saw the Princess ensemble picture on a helium balloon I couldn’t even identify all the characters. Cinderella was only recognizable by her ball gown and (suddenly blonde!) up-do, her ditzy expression a far cry from the intelligent and sensitive girl of the original movie, but... Read more
Mother Teresa used to say that the greatest pain for the poor she fed and comforted was not the physical facts of their poverty, not the chronic hunger, the infections untreated, the million little inconveniences that complicated their lives and burdened them. No; it was that they believed themselves to be Invisible; People Who Don’t Matter; The Forgotten. This was the most poignant pain they experienced. The Forgotten. (more…) Read more
Have a look at this chart, courtesy of Ezra Klein, based on research by Lawrence Mishel and Hiedi Shierholz. It basically shows that both public and private sector workers saw stagnating real wage growth over the past few decades, at a time when productivity grew substantially. (more…) Read more
As one of the largest industrial catastrophes and the second largest unintended nuclear catastrophe in history continues to develop, questions are beginning to be asked. Some of these questions are better than others. A number of these questions reflect a naivete of how choices are made in the real world. One of those questions is if we cannot ensure that nuclear power can be produced with absolute security then why are we using nuclear power? (more…) Read more
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