Despite some of the negative criticism I saw of Tron: Legacy, I decided to see it. I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to like it. The previews for it did not get me excited, but I thought there was the possibility that the film could pull through and do what the original Tron could not do. And I was right. Going into the film, one should not expect it to be all action all the time. There... Read more
Continuing my Christmas theme this year, I’ll address the issue of pampering one’s spouse. I could limit this post to just spouses giving each other Christmas gifts, but there is more to it than that. There are date nights. There are times we are supposed to do special things for our spouse, sometimes done with a coupon theme. There are the “marriage encounters” to be attended. For the more eccentric, there are the joys of charting fertility together. If any... Read more
I am grateful to the other contributors to Vox Nova for this invitation to join their ranks. You have already gotten a glimpse into my thinking with my two guest posts, so I will limit myself here to a few random biographical details to round out the picture. I am a middle-aged college professor of mathematics with wide (shall we say “catholic”?) intellectual interests. With very little effort you can find photos of me that suggest I am an... Read more
This is how Stephen Colbert describes Bill O’Reilly in an incredibly good skewering of the pop-Calvinist and smug materialist version of Christianity that dominates the American right. Remember, we have had these sanctimonious would-be Christians like Jim Demint and John Kyle complain about having to work over Christmas as “sacrilegious” and “disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians”. I’ll tell you what’s sacrilegious and disrespectful- putting the economic interests of the rich over the poor. Refusing to extend unemployment benefits during... Read more
Part I From Peter Lombard, The Sentences. Book IV. Distinction IV. Chapter 4.6-8.[1] We often find contention against the position which has been presented. Some extremists claim that Scripture only promises salvation to those who are baptized and that there is no indication that one can receive what baptism offers outside of the sacrament of baptism.[2] They are, to be sure, looking at the letter of the law, forgetting that “the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2Corinthians... Read more
Part I From Peter Lombard, The Sentences. Book IV. Distinction IV. Chapter 4.6-8.[1] We often find contention against the position which has been presented. Some extremists claim that Scripture only promises salvation to those who are baptized and that there is no indication that one can receive what baptism offers outside of the sacrament of baptism.[2] They are, to be sure, looking at the letter of the law, forgetting that “the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2Corinthians... Read more
The Divine Infancy in us is the logical answer to the peculiar sufferings of our age and the only solution to its problems. If the Infant Christ is fostered in us, no life is trivial. No life is impotent before suffering, no suffering is too trifling to heal the world, too little to redeem, to be the point at which the world’s healing begins. The way to begin healing the wounds of the world is to treasure the Infant Christ... Read more
If there is something that you want, put aside money and buy it. Adults don’t make wish lists, or at least they shouldn’t. I came upon a top 10 manly Christmas gift list and wanted to faint except for the fact that such a reaction would have been unmanly. While I confess to not having studied Brokeback Mountain, I’m pretty sure those cowboys didn’t take a moment on the pasture to come up with a wish list. In fact the... Read more
“. . . nor does it serve the greater good of children and families around the world.” Catholic theologian and adoptive father Tim Muldoon explains why the Nobel Prize awarded to the developer of IVF technology represents a turning away from the plight of the world’s abandoned children. Read more
And the fame of Antony came even unto kings. For Constantine Augustus, and his sons Constantius and Constans the Augusti wrote letters to him, as to a father, and begged an answer from him. But he made nothing very much of the letters, nor did he rejoice at the messages, but was the same as he had been before the Emperors wrote to him. But when they brought him the letters he called the monks and said, ‘Do not be... Read more
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