You Know the Heart of an Alien

Last updated on: June 24, 2013 at 1:11 pm By Julia Smucker

For 40 days between Pentecost and their forthcoming convention, Mennonite Church USA is putting forth daily verses or passages of scripture “to seek God’s heart for immigrants”, which I have been receiving via email from the congregation in which I was baptized. While I appreciate this biblical theme in itself, one verse in particular reminded me why. That verse was Exodus 23:9. You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of... Read more

A Thousand Words

Last updated on: June 20, 2013 at 4:11 am By Matt Talbot

The above photo is from the men’s fashion area of the New York Times online edition Why is it that New York Times fashion photography typically features people posed to look like they’re just back from a heroin bender plus possibly an orgy? I mean, what is being communicated here? “Buy these clothes so you too can look like someone made miserable by a life of dissipation and wanton self-indulgence?” or maybe, “Narcissism – it’s the new black?” Though I... Read more

The Power of Standing Still

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:37 am By Julia Smucker

Turkish protester Erdem Gunduz has gained sudden fame for an act that is brilliant in its simplicity: he walked into Taksim Square and stood there. Over the past day, the man who has become known as “duran adam,” Turkish for “standing man,” has inspired other still, silent protests across Turkey. The Associated Press calls it “passive defiance.” I call it active nonviolence. However one prefers to name it, it is a perfect illustration of the power of nonviolent resistance. As... Read more

America the Beautiful

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:38 am By Matt Talbot

GIVEN THE EVENTS OF THE PAST FEW WEEKS in Boston, Oklahoma City and elsewhere in America, I thought I’d take a break from my critiques of our country to say a few words of unabashed praise. About two and a half years ago, I was working at a job that I didn’t enjoy and was rather bad at. I did my best, but I learned that if you need someone to stay on top of the material needs of a... Read more

Punishing the Victim of Abuse

Last updated on: April 25, 2017 at 1:49 pm By David Cruz-Uribe

By now I am sure that most readers of this blog have heard the story: a Catholic school teacher in San Diego was fired from her position because she was the victim of domestic violence: despite a restraining order, her husband showed up at the school, and the school is concerned about the safety of the other students. (Her four children are also students at the school.) A detailed news report about the story is here. Two very thoughtful posts... Read more

Bishops Divorced from their Sees

Last updated on: April 25, 2017 at 1:50 pm By David Cruz-Uribe

Resolved: except in unusual circumstances, a bishop should remain wedded to his See and not be promoted from diocese to (more important) diocese. One exception would be to allow a bishop to be appointed archbishop and metropolitan of the archdiocese his diocese is associated with. Sandro Magister in his blog wrote that Pope Francis has been preaching against ecclesiastical careerism, which is most notably manifested in bishops being transferred between dioceses. He notes that this practice was banned in the... Read more

Creeping Abstraction, Part II

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:15 am By Matt Talbot

IN PART ONE, I TALKED ABOUT what I called the Creeping Abstraction of Accountability — the tendency since the Industrial Revolution for accountability in our economic relations to become ever more abstracted from anything resembling personal responsibility. I used as my examples an imaginary (but also reasonably typical) village named “Sylvan” in the year 1800, versus a typical American community in the present day. In Sylvan, it would be an absurdity to write to a company 2,000 miles away if... Read more

Soteriology Sensationalized

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:38 am By Julia Smucker

The pope has spoken – and people act like it’s never been said before. Pope Francis’ May 22 homily, in which he touched on the redemption of atheists, is still generating buzz. This is due at least as much to a number of virally spreading misquotations as it is to what the Holy Father actually said. Now, lest I suffer the fate of other well-meaning explicators (explained below), let me make one thing clear from the outset: nothing I say here is... Read more

A Catechetical Thought for the Feast of Corpus Christi

Last updated on: April 25, 2017 at 1:50 pm By David Cruz-Uribe

It has been widely reported in recent years that there is a divergence between what the Catholic Church believes about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and what many people in the pews believe. As reported in US Catholic, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate has some new survey data on this problem: (more…) Read more