Posted by Webster With this post and the comments that follow, we say good-bye to our first YIMCBC book, Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton. Next week we turn to Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Frank will lead that discussion. Chapter 9, “Authority and the Adventurer”The entire book is, in Chesterton’s own words, “an account of my own growth in spiritual certainty.” The first eight chapters set aside major modern objections to Christianity (from materialism, Marxism, and other schools of thought), then show... Read more

Posted by Webster I learned from my Popeye post that taking the fight to Protestants, even with tongue squarely in cheek, is a questionable undertaking. Of the 50 or so comments beneath that post, most are positive, but a few are righteously indignant, maybe rightfully too. I might have thought twice about some statements. But when attacks are made on my faith, and especially on my fellow Catholics, I will not hold back. Frank and I began a prayer intentions... Read more

Posted by Webster My religious ed class was more unruly than ever yesterday afternoon; every minute I had to shush and beg thirteen 9-10-year-olds to listen to one another. But there was one moment of silence near the end of the class that I will not forget soon. It had to do with the Fourth Commandment. The topic was the Ten. Having introduced them last week, I thought I would throw down the gauntlet to the class: How many of the... Read more

Posted by Webster Before Christmas 2008, my friend and RCIA sponsor Joan of Beverly was diagnosed with lung cancer. In her 70s and slight of build to begin with, Joan underwent surgery, then began a grueling course of chemo and radiation, which dropped her weight to somewhere just north of 100. (No, that’s not Joan of Beverly in the picture, it’s Joan of Arc. But the resemblance is there!) Along the way, not early enough, I admit, I began visiting her... Read more

Posted by Webster The polls closed at 3 a.m.! How did that happen, you may ask, given that Webster and Frank are in the Eastern time zone and set the time limit for midnight? Must have been some chicanery in Chicago! But however it happened C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity is the next YIM Catholic Book Club selection by a final margin of 39–37 over the runner-up. You can all begin reading. My final post on Chesterton’s Orthodoxy will be published... Read more

Posted by Webster If you’ve ever lost a parent, as I have, you have to read Pope Benedict’s account of the death of his parents in his memoir, Milestones: 1927–1977. For all the theological observations (many of them over my head), for all the professional history, these personal passages are the ones that convince me. (Our Pope is the younger brother at left in this family photograph.) First, the death of his father, just four months after Joseph Ratzinger assumed his... Read more

Posted by Webster There are less than twelve hours left in our vote for the next YIM Catholic Book Club book, and it’s a two-horse race, and it’s nose to nose in the stretch. Make your vote count, citizens of YIMC World! Will it be Hillaire Belloc’s The Great Heresies or C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity? It may help to know who the jockeys are: our own Frank Weathers nominated The Great Heresies and our favorite Chicagoan, Warren Jewell, put... Read more