Abba Anthony said, ‘I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, “What can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Humility.”‘ –The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, trans. Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publishers, 1984), 2. One of the virtues which is needed by all of us is humility. As saint after saint after saint has demonstrated, as long as we are upset when we are... Read more
I could write a long list, but I feel like a short post. For a start, there would have been no stimulus bill, which in all likelihood would mean higher unemployment and a more sluggish recovery today (and that would mean higher fiscal deficits, by the way). We certainly would not have healthcare reform – there would have been no chance of covering an extra 30 million people, banning denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions, bending the curve with delivery... Read more
The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church is a significant problem. We need to understand its root causes to properly deal with it. Partial solutions might help in the short term, and for a small group of people, but such partial solutions are only band-aids. Putting them in place, though helpful, must not be seen as doing what needs to be done. Much of what has been done by Church officials feels as if this is all they have... Read more
Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you? Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too. We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trav’lers on the road. We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. The Servant Song If you are like me, one of the hardest things to do in this life to ask for help. To ask for help... Read more
Singing the prokeimenon on Thomas Sunday was a meditative and contemplative moment for me. Although I have sung these words many times, and will sing them many more before I die, at that moment they set my mind in motion, and I saw a diversity of thought being portrayed in one small set of words: Great is our Lord and great is his power. His understanding is without measure (Ps 146:5 LXX). God’s understanding is without measure. The Greek here... Read more
Ok, I know that this is not a supremely important question, but they make for fun arguments with Jesuits, and lately I’ve had some fun back and forths about the topic. I was going to frame this post as a Summa style question, but then I realized that I don’t quite know what I think. So that should leave things open for discussion. I’ll try to keep my arguments short and concise. I. The incarnation and death of Jesus saved... Read more
I have not blogged for a while. My heart is not really in it. My mother’s death two weeks ago has something to do with it. But this is only part of the reason. As I watch the revelations that seem to come out each day about the Church with a mixture of horror and fascination, I find my pen runs dry. Frankly, I do not know what to write because I do not know what to think. I have... Read more
This past Holy Week and subsequent celebration of Easter was a rough one for me this year. Too many realities converged which made it impossible to let the Triduum go by as usual. First, there is my continuing dissatisfaction with my usual parish community and my family’s inability to feel very comfortable at any of our local parishes, for various reasons. Second was the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s martyrdom, the recollection of which should truly... Read more
I have lately tried (unsuccessfully) to write a little something about abortion to my Member of Parliament. As some may know, there has been some to-do in Canada recently about whether or not to include abortion in our commitment to maternal health in the developing world. The Conservative government did not initially include abortion or contraception in its plan. It seems contraception is now in, but a motion to include abortion, brought forward by my MP, was defeated in the... Read more
I don’t know how I got the celebrity beat at Vox Nova, but for whatever reason I always find what seems to me to be an interesting wrinkle in parts of our pop culture. Over the past few months or so, the world has been buzzing about golfer Tiger Woods. Words like redemption and greatness are thrown around. I was at a small social gathering several weeks ago, and the topic of Tiger Woods came up. The host pondered whether... Read more
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