Some things never change. As the Republican presidential campaign goes south (geographically!), the racial dog whistles grow louder. Consider this simple fact: the white population of South Carolina is 66 percent. But the GOP primary is 99 percent white. Isn’t that a problem of vast dimensions? And here’s the sad thing – our fellow Catholics New Gingrich and Rick Santorum seem to be in on the game, despite the clear Church teaching on the innate dignity of every human person... Read more
Poet, songwriter, Jewish prophet, Buddhist monk, and master of Christian literary imagery Leonard Cohen, 77, is about to release a new album on January 31. I just gave the album, titled Old Ideas, a “first listen” at National Public Radio. It strikes me as another masterpiece, on par with Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), Various Positions (1984), I’m Your Man (1988), and The Future (1992). If you’re not familiar with Cohen, there is no better introduction than “Live in London,” a two-disk set... Read more
A friend I made through my personal blog sent me a link a while ago to an op-ed piece in the New York Times by Emily Rapp, a memorist-mother whose toddler son, Ronan, is dying of Tay-Sachs disease. If you click over to the link, you will see what an almost-celestially beautiful child he is; nevertheless, the progression of his disease means that he is losing all of his senses and his abilities — by this time, he has become... Read more
The “he” in this case is Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, the French Jesuit, anthropologist and theologian. In a conversation this past week I heard his theological writings referred to as “dangerous, particularly for young minds.” It turns out that this was a paraphrase of a 1962 condemnation of de Chardin’s writing by the Holy Office (now Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith): “Several works of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, some of which were posthumously published, are... Read more
If any Catholic media outlet were to nominate Father Robert Barron as their Catholic Person of the Year for 2011, they’d have my support. His Catholicism Series is probably the single most exciting media initiative in what John Paul II called the New Evangelization. I pre-ordered it and am currently part of a team running it at the Newman Centre here in Toronto. Readers here will know that I am a long-time Barron fan. He is clear, balanced, and Catholic. ... Read more
If there is one thing we can all agree on in the American political sphere, it’s that we are a divided nation. Sure, our divisions grow more conspicuous going into an election year, but we all know they’ve been there well before the pre-election hype began to take over our national consciousness. As soon as we begin to ask what is at the root of these divisions, however, the question unfolds into a daunting tangle of related questions. When and how did we... Read more
Warning: What follows will contain major Spoilers for those who have not seen the new series of Sherlock. In the original Sherlock Holmes stories, Professor Moriarty represented the mirror image of Sherlock, the criminal mastermind who rivaled Holmes in ability. There is much to this in the new series version of Moriarty. He was not sure, but in the end, both of them realized this is so. This version of Moriarty has developed into a rather interesting mixture of evils,... Read more
“Every economic decision has a moral consequence”. This is one of the core themes of Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict’s great social encyclical. Do we really believe this? On the right, you will see an excessive deference to markets, an attitude seems to hark back to an old theological fallacy on the separation between grace and nature. And on the left, you will hear calls for markets to be regulated and the wealth they generate to be distributed fairly by the state. But... Read more
“The Truth of the Father is the Son, and his shield is the Cross, whereby he surrounds you to protect you against the devil, the world and the flesh. In the Cross is humility against the devil’s pride; there is found Christ’s poverty, against the avarice of the world; there is crucifixion with nails against the lust of the flesh. “[1] Christ the poor, weak man fights the good fight against the fallen powers of the world. Appearing defeated, he... Read more
It is said that St. Anthony founded Christian monasticism. It is clear that he was not the first Christian ascetic. While St Paul the Hermit might have been the first to become a hermit in the desert, this does not mean he was the first Christian ascetic. In the cities, non-Christian ascetics from different philosophical and religious backgrounds existed, and it is probable that their lifestyle, though pagan, inspired many of the early Christian ascetics and that there is a... Read more
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