Here is a meditation written by Pope Benedict when he was only a priest, in 1971. It was offered as a comment to my post about the Tiber by a fellow blogger. For those of us reflecting on the Catholic Church, as we come or go or just stand gazing by the river, it’s worth thinking about:   We can think of the Catholic Church by comparing it to the moon, not only for the relationship between moon and woman (as... Read more

Yesterday’s post—a question really about why you have converted, fallen away from the Church, reverted, or are considering any of the above—drew detailed responses. I offered the hypothesis that many YIMC readers find themselves near the banks of the Tiber, and throughout the day yesterday, people were shouting back and forth across the river! This leads me to imagine a new function for this blog, as a forum for those moving in and out of Catholic Land, a sort of... Read more

I have a hypothesis about this blog, and frankly I’m not sure whether Frank agrees. My hypothesis is, this blog is most compelling for people near the banks of the Tiber, meaning (a) recent converts, (b) those considering converting, or (c) cradle Catholics who have left the Church and wonder, maybe secretly, about returning.There’s a simple reason for my hypothesis. Frank and I are both recent converts. We were on the other side of the river not so very long... Read more

In Orthodoxy, GK Chesterton uses a striking strategy to back the Christian claim. He defines, piece by piece, the components of a sound philosophy, then demonstrates that Christianity is built of exactly these components. I would argue that, using the same method, you could build Pope Benedict from scratch. If you set out to build an ideal leader for the Universal Catholic Church at the beginning of the 21st century, what characteristics would you look for? You would look for... Read more

Posted by Frank Errata alert and mea culpa! One of our readers alerted me to the fact that a chapter was omitted from the syllabus of our YIMC Book Club selection, Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. I have adjusted the syllabus accordingly, and happily it involves only a few extra pages. I will be posting on the first week’s readings later on today. Read more

After the votes were counted last night and after I was asleep, my iPhone received two text messages from my friend Lorenzo, who never sleeps. The first was “Brown WINS Massachusetts!!!!! Yeah!!!!” The second was: “Americans with this understood that Obama is not the answer to the hope, it is the end of the idea of Obama holding the hope.”We do not “do” politics at YIM Catholic. Neither Frank nor I endorsed a candidate. (Like, who would care?) But the... Read more

Posted by Webster I got quite a surprise tonight—and a renewed sense of responsibility—when Ferde, James, and I drove through ice and snow to a men’s night at the nearby Carmelite Chapel, in the basement of the North Shore Mall, only to find that the first speaker, the genial Father Mario, had something to say about . . . YIM Catholic! As in, this blog. In particular, the California-born Carmelite said he had run across this site “providentially” in the past... Read more

Posted by Webster My most recent post about the liturgy came back to mind this morning when I saw some British coverage about an American priest’s “plot to sabotage the new missal.” Old news? Yes. Tempest in a teapot? Judge for yourself. I, for one, got more out of the comments on my post. I’ll begin with a few excerpts then throw out a new question about the liturgy. Amy wrote: “I think a crucial moment of understanding for me... Read more

Posted by Webster I’m not sure why I have hesitated to write about Communion and Liberation (CL) in the 200-some posts I’ve contributed to this blog since mid-August. I have mentioned CL’s founder, Fr. Luigi Giussani (left) a couple of times, and I have tipped my hat to the CL magazine, Traces, on one occasion. But I haven’t mounted my soapbox and talked up the total CL experience.Which is strange. Because Communion and Liberation is a big part of my total... Read more