This short essay of mine is included in the most recent issue of the X-Position, the publication of The Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies at Wabash College. You can read the entire issue here. While not stated explicitly, I find the sentiment of the essay to be deeply Catholic—in my own, strange way of thinking about Catholicism—in its reach and scope. Solidarity in Vulgarity: the Funk in Racist Jokes “I don’t want your stupid ethnic dances, I want dirty jokes!”... Read more
Hey, here’s an idea: in this fallen, debased, forgetful state we misperceive God – the sole God – this way; there is only one God, but at this level our view of him is distorted into the illusory figure of Yaldabaoth, so that even if and when we become aware of God we are alienated from him. He assumes (to us; the fault lies with us) a horrific, punishing, cruel, deranged aspect – but this just shows the debased, occluded... Read more
Benedict XVI continues his catechesis on economics and social responsibility, this time in an address yesterday to the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives. Cooperatives, a form of business organization marked by member-ownership, take the form of credit unions, guilds, worker and farming co-ops, ESOP’s, etc. As the name implies, cooperatives are social enterprises based on multi-stakeholder cooperation rather than the kind of zer0-sum competition that characterizes Darwinian capitalism. Cooperatives are at the heart of distributism, the alternative economic system described in... Read more
A most blessed and happy feast day to you all: Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! From the Office of Readings, a report by Don Antonio Valeriano: (more…) Read more
One of the great revelations about God which we find in Scripture is that God is love. The way to God is the way of love, and it is through our love or its lack which we shall be judged. God loves us, and we learn of that love, the depth of that love, on the cross. We, who come to God in faith, return that love. Perhaps, initially, we only give a little back. But that little is like... Read more
I cannot influence the fate of the globe. Do I start wars? How can I know whether I’m for or against? No, I don’t sin. I only turn screws, weld together parts of destruction, never grasping the whole, or the human lot. I could do otherwise (would parts be left out?) contributing then to sancitifed toil which no one would blot out in action or belie in speech. Though what I create is not good, the world’s evil is... Read more
On December 6, Archbishop Dolan gave the inaugural lecture at Notre Dame for the Project on Human Dignity. This new project is described this way: The Notre Dame Project on Human Dignity wishes to take up the challenge of persuasively defining and defending human dignity through an ongoing series of speakers, symposia, classes, retreats, and special learning events for students. (more…) Read more
Many people note religious experiences when communing with nature. They feel a great sense of wonder which touches them in their innermost being. They get a sense of their place in the world. The world around them is vast – this vastness hints at, and draws in, the infinite. Looking up to a great, open sky, such as in Montana, especially at night when the light of space invades the darkness on earth, one is engulfed with a sense of... Read more
St. Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catechetical Lectures explains how the Christian experience is one of being incorporated into Christ. We take on the name of Christ as our own, for we have put on Christ in baptism and we are anointed with the Holy Spirit in confirmation: Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ, you have been made conformable to the Son of God; for God having foreordained us unto adoption as sons, made us to be... Read more
At the center of salvation history stands a simple Jewish peasant girl. As the Old Testament began with the story of Eve, the New Testament begins with the story of Mary, the New Eve, mother of the New Adam. She is the Theotokos, the God-Bearer, Ark of the New Covenant. She is the first Christian, and the mother of the Church, which is the Body of her son, Jesus Christ. It is therefore entirely appropriate that on the Feast of her Immaculate... Read more
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