In its Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the USCCB lists racism as intrinsically evil, something that can never be supported. We don’t talk about this enough in Catholic circles. For sure, some would argue that it is not on the table precisely because it is not a pertinent issue in American politics. No serious political candidate supports racism or overtly racist policies. But I think we need to dig a little beneath the surface, especially give the appalling history of... Read more
One rather famous, but possibly understudied, work of English literature is the 14th century text, Piers the Ploughman, written by William Langland. It’s a rather satirical poem, written primarily as a moral allegory, to help teach its reader the way to lead a godly life. Because of its allegorical nature, the kind which would find its way into Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and much later, into Lewis’ Pilgrim’s Regress, the text can be difficult to read through by those used to... Read more
Asked whether he would be willing to appoint Muslims to his cabinet, Mitt Romney responded as follows: “Based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration…” What a peculiar answer. If you replace “Muslims” with “Jews” above, how would that sound? For indeed, Jews and Muslims both account for about... Read more
Wow. When was the last time young nuns (here, the Nashville Dominicans, who are starting a new school in Arlington) were “buzzworthy” in the Washington Post? Read more
Joel Kotkin, author of “The City” (a great read) has an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal called “The Rise of Family Friendly Cities.” To set the stage, here’s a bit from that book: “Cities are humanity’s greatest creation,” Kotkin writes. And, “[t]o be successful today, urban areas must resonate with the ancient fundamentals — they must be sacred, safe, and busy.” Kotkin suggests that one of the new “urban renewal” strategies — i.e., fading cities re-inventing themselves as hip,... Read more
Courtesy of CNN: As mayor, Giuliani personally signed a proclamation designating “Roe v. Wade Anniversary Day” on the 25th anniversary of the landmark abortion rights ruling. Now, as a presidential candidate, Giuliani has said, “I’m against abortion — I hate it.” Conlin said she never heard anything like that when Giuliani was in office. “He never seemed to have a struggle with the issue as mayor,” she said. “He was very proudly pro-choice.” . . . . As mayor, he... Read more
After spending quite a bit of my time (wasting?) reading many many Catholic blogs, I realize so much of it is about who knows more than so and so. I thought I would do a crash course reminder of our Catholic mission. #1) Our job is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. What is the Good News of Jesus? Well, God became man to take our place as the Ultimate Sacrifice before God the Father and therefore Redeemed... Read more
From Reuters (h/t The Bride and the Dragon): Pope Benedict’s second encyclical will be released next week, the Vatican said on Friday. The encyclical, called “Spe Salvi” (Latin for “Saved by Hope”), is expected to be a largely philosophical and theological work but also touch on themes such as the role of political systems in building a better world. It will be released on Nov. 30. […] The Pope, who was elected in 2005, is believed to be working on... Read more
Here’s an interesting article from CNN on Giuliani’s rhetorical flux. Read more
So who are “subprime” borrowers? Right now, they are simply those borrowers whose bridges all burnt: can’t refinance, can’t sell, can’t cut the budget any further to stay in place. A large chunk of them are currently in loan programs that were designated “subprime.” Bunches more are in “Alt-A” and “prime.” … My new motto—“we are all subprime now”—is an attempt to keep reminding the attention-impaired (that would include but isn’t limited to reporters and politicians) that demonizing “subprime people”... Read more
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