This is the last time I’ll be posting about this subject. Yesterday I shared a few thoughts about the torture report released recently, and today I’ll simply point to a few resources that bolster the argument that resorting to torture is a complete waste of time. That it is morally wrong for Catholics to even consider torture as an option is important as well, though seemingly neglected in some corners. (more…) Read more
My wife and I have arrived home safe and sound from our pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land. While we were away these past two weeks, I haven’t read a newspaper or watched a television. Internet access was spotty, and even when it wasn’t the spirit to blog was willing, but the body was too weak to allow writing when sleep beckoned. (more…) Read more
I’ll be honest with you and tell you that yesterday was a very emotional day. And when I say that, I mean emotional in a good way. There were tears, surely. But they were tears of awe, wonder, and joy. Our pilgrimage wound it’s way through security points and ventured into the City of David. What follows is a little photo essay of what we saw there. (more…) Read more
Before getting into the meat of this short dispatch that I am typing from Jerusalem, I ask you to say a short prayer to God for the souls of all those who have died for their faith, or due to acts of terrorism, or because of sectarian violence here in the Middle East, and everywhere around the world. (more…) Read more
You know what is the matter with me when the weather is beautiful and it feels like sunny, Southern California? I want to wear shorts and sandals, and enjoy the warmth, that’s what. But can you do that while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land? (more…) Read more
Let us go to the place where His feet have stood (Psalm 132:7). That short verse (from Eusebius’s Greek translation of the psalm) sums up the entire reason for coming to the Holy Land. (more…) Read more
Before I became a Catholic, I had no idea what Advent meant. It was just another one of those weird, mysterious, Catholic words for a time in the year before Christmas. Nowadays, I appreciate it more because I understand that it commemorates the time when the people of Israel yearned for the Messiah. (more…) Read more
Whoa, Frank. Are you putting words in Pope Francis’s mouth? No, dear reader. I’m just telling it like it is. You know how some folks can wax eloquent about truth, goodness, and beauty, and how the Church should make better art, etc? I have no skills in the fine arts, so I generally don’t write about such things. (more…) Read more
So be thankful for that! Guess what else? There is a Jesuit angle that may unlock the mystery of genius’s religious background. Writing for the Washington Post, Terence McCoy shares what was found when a First Folio of the Bard’s work was discovered in a French library. Long ago, the metadata it had been catalogued under was in error as to its age, see? (more…) Read more
Grasshopper recommends Counsels of Light and Love of St. John of the Cross for more thoughts like the one above. Read more
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