The Greatest Philosopher of the 20th Century

The greatest philosopher of the 20th Century, Mickey Mouse, with some Swiss guy by the name of Hans Urs von Balthasar. I am going to Italy, specifically La Thuile, for the week (through Labor Day Weekend) to attend the Assembly of International Responsibles for Communion and Liberation. 800+ Responsibles from over 70 countries world-wide will be there. Christ will be truly in our midst! I wanted to leave you with this picture given to me from a dear friend who in turn received it from a professor at the University of Dallas. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." See you after Labor Day!

Sandro Magister's newest article

After Cologne: The Remarkable Lesson of Professor Ratzinger

My spies tell me...

The newest issue of tNP will be out very, very soon. The new completely redesigned GodSpy website will go public very soon as well. Check the websites regularly. I actually have the dates, but that's TOP-SECRET. We must keep the suspense and mystery alive...

Your Catholic Voice Foundation

The below organizations appear to have an outstanding understanding of Catholic Social Ethics, especially in the context of contemporary affairs in America. One will have to wait and see how they apply it. Let us pray for them.

Your Catholic Voice Foundation

Your Catholic Voice

Oremus Prayer Network

Deacon Keith A. Fournier

I highly, highly recommend anything Deacon Fournier writes. Below is a sampling of some great articles of his.

Catholic is a Noun

Citizens of Two Kingdoms

Can We Really "Shop" for a Church?

Deacon Fournier is a deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. He is a graduate of Franciscan University, the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is currently a Doctoral student in Historical Theology at Catholic University of America, focusing on early Christian writings. His eighth book, "The Prayer of Mary: Living the Surrendered Life” is available in bookstores.

A Europe Neither Liberal Nor Christian?

Kishore Jayabalan, director of Acton’s Rome office, wrote an essay for the July issue of Inside the Vatican magazine, “A Europe Neither Liberal Nor Christian?” .

Religion & Liberty

New issue on-line or PDF

Lord Acton

Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being...

Opus Dei by John L. Jr Allen

Book Review

Robert Kraynak’s Christian Faith and Modern Democracy

Symposia of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists

Bush vs. Benedict

Catholic neoconservatives grapple with their church’s Just War tradition.

Freemasonry and America, Part II

My comments in response to Christopher's new post - Re: "Freemasonry and America"

Christopher - you state the following:

What's beyond dispute is the fact that the Catholic faith and Freemasonry are irrevocably opposed -- the various encyclicals of the Popes not to mention the reaffirmation by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith prohibiting membership in the Masonic order is testament to that.

The questions that you must ask yourself are as follows - 1. What exactly does the Church teach about Freemasonry?, 2. Why does the Church teach what it teaches about Freemasonry?

At a minimum if you're a faithful Catholic, a red flag should go up when you hear about Freemasonry or Masons. It should concern you that Ben Franklin, Samuel Adams, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and countless others of our Founding Fathers were active & practicing Masons. These were the very architects of our government!

Read the below article. It comes off the same site that you referenced. Pay attention to the names it mentions as Masons plus the meaning of many of our most important national symbols. Sandra Meisel is sorely mistaken or misinformed in her review. I have many, many problems with her review, but let's just say for now that these symbols have a deep Occult significance and they were not done by accident. Read the below article. This is only the beginning.

Masonry in US History -- through 1846

By every account, our Founding Fathers (the above men) were giants among men. They were brilliant, many of them geniuses in every regard, especially men like Franklin & Jefferson. I don't buy the argument that they were just Masons for social reasons... They didn't really believe the ideology of Masonry. Knowing these mens intelligence, it much more reasonable to believe that they knew exactly what they were doing and why. They subscribed to the ideology of Masonry and lived their lives accordingly.

Christopher - you go on to state:

However, David contends that 'the logic of the Founding Fathers is a mixed-bag of Masonic, Enlightenment, and classical principles' -- and that is precisely the question that I'd like to look into during the course of my reading: to what degree the philosophical foundations of the American experiment was tainted by Enlightenment [and/or Masonic] presuppositions?

Exactly! You are very familiar with the thought of the Whig Thomists, but are sorely lacking in your understanding of the thought of the Augustinian Thomists. Take to heart what Schindler, Rowland, Craycraft, Kraynak, and others are saying, but first you must read them. Stop giving lip service and move out. Get to work my friend!

Catholic Carnival XLIV

In Their Own Words

Comedy from Texas

Real news in Texas (ensure to check out the current bid price on the E-bay) - Face Of Jesus Appears On Polish Dumpling

Fr. Carron's Talk at the Meeting in Rimini

FREEDOM IS THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFT THAT THE HEAVENS HAVE BESTOWED UPON MAN - Video Recording of the meeting with Julián Carrón - 22 August, 2005

imago Dei

Acton Notes - Special Symposium Issue

Looking back over the years since Kris Mauren and I considered the ideas that became the Acton Institute, I realize what a miracle took place. What began as an unformed thought about the underpinnings of the good society took form as a seed. That seed germinated, took root, and sprung up - it has borne fruit. I can safely say from experience that this idea has had consequeces and now we can see the horizon of our fifteenth anniversary.

...I have heard the comment from some that Acton's work is very complex, and from others that it is rather simple. That starting point is simple. We believe that the human person was fashioned as imago Dei, after the very likeness of the Creator, and we believe in the human institutions that exits to protect the right to life, liberty, and property. Still, our work becomes complex as we apply these
foundational ideas to real situations. - Rev. Robert A. Sirco, President of the Acton Institute

Freemasonry and America

Here are my comments in regards to the post and comments of Christopher over at The Church and The Liberal Tradition.

You state "I'm resistant to what I think is a reckless characterization of America as some kind of 'Masonic experiment.'" Well, regardless if you admit it or not, it's still a "fact," which you must sooner or latter admit to. Do some reading of both Catholic and non-Catholic sources my friend, which were provided to you in the comments on one of your earlier posts.

Brother, I beg you, the next time you visit D.C, open your eyes, OPEN your eyes. The entire city was designed by Masons (layout of the streets, all the significant buildings, memorials, White House, Capital Bldg, etc.). If the founders were so intent in making the physical structure of our nation's capital Masonic, is it not reasonable to assume that Freemasonry also influenced their beliefs & therefore their writings? Read any number of a dozen plus books I referenced to you and then let's chat.

To compare Muslims to Freemasons is not proper. In short, study what the Church teaches about Freemasonry. For example (one of hundreds), Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical letter Humanum Genus (1884) equated Freemasonry with the Kingdom of Satan. Study what any number of saints had to say about Freemasonry, i.e. St. Maximilian Kolbe, etc. Refer to what the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (B16 himself) had to say about Freemasonry in 1983. The list goes on and on...

In regards to prayer, I recommend the following books.

Prayer: The Mission of the Church by Jean Danielou

Prayer by Hans Urs von Balthasar

World of Prayer by Adrienne Von Speyr

With God and With Men: Prayers by Adrienne Von Speyr

In regards to religious freedom, John Courtney Murray, and the Second Vatican Council, I recommend anything by Dr. David L. Schindler on this topic. The ROP articles (not on-line, but being snail-mailed to you) written by Baxter, Novak & Schindler are excellent, in addition to one of Schindler's Communio articles, which is on-line.

---

A few additional points...

Whalen's book is a good start, but it should not be the end. Another book that you might consider reading is directly below.

Behind the Lodge Door

My recommendation would be to study both Catholic and non-Catholic (even Masonic) books. There is no one perfect book on this topic. Study everything you can get your hands on, either at the library or buying used books, etc.

To my knowledge (and I could be wrong here b/c I'm not a historical theologian) the Church has never condemned the deity of Muslims. Muslims worship God the Father (excluding the Son and Holy Spirit). The Church has taught very clearly about the deity of Masonry and it's none of the above.... It's the devil.

Which leads to the following point and I'm not the first to make it. It is this - Errors in the understanding of who and what God (or more appropriately god) is for our Masonic Founding Fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, etc.) led to errors in many other areas of their thought, including their understanding of religious freedom, which are spelled out in our governing documents. The logic of the Founding Fathers is a mixed-bag of Masonic, Enlightenment, and classical principles. I refer you to Kraynak's and Craycraft's books on this topic.

Schindler in his various pieces (as mentioned above - the Fall 1998 issue of The Review of Politics & the on-line article from the EWTN library plus Chapter One of his book.) gives a strong critique (very nuanced) of Murray's thought on religious freedom and that of our Founding Fathers.

In regards to your last paragraph... What exactly do you mean by the "God of America"? There is only One God for all of mankind regardless of what individuals may choose to believe... Some have a more fuller understanding than others, i.e. Catholics. The "God of America" is the Lord Jesus Christ, but that doesn't mean the founding documents of our country are not full of erroneous principles derived from Masonic and Enlightenment thought.

Jesus is the way to freedom, Pope tells Communion & Liberation

B16's message to The Meeting in Rimini

The official website of The Meeting

A Catholic renaissance?

One million faithful came to the papal mass marking the end of World Youth Day in Cologne - the largest religious service in German history. We ask if Catholicism in Germany is on the brink of a renaissance...

The Church & The Liberal Tradition

Christopher has recently posted two substantial posts, which are worth reading in their entirety (with comments).

Memo to TCRNews: Context Matters

Against "Straw Man" Tactics -- A Response to Thomas Storck and Stephen Hand

The conversation carried over to Caelum et Terra.

Religious Leaders Threaten Benefactors

Speaking of the Pope: Soloviev on the Papacy

From TCRnews Musings

The solemn recognition of the Pope's supreme authority at the council of Chalcedon was sealed by the letter of the Eastern bishops to Leo, in which they impute to him the merit of all that had been done at the council. 'It is you,' they wrote, 'who through your legates have guided and ruled (hgemoneueV) The whole gathering of the Fathers, as the head rules the members (wV kefalh welwn), by showing them the true meaning of the dogma.' (ibid., 148)

WYD

Benedict XVI's Farewell Address at Airport

Benedict XVI's Address to German Bishops

Papal Homily at Closing Mass of World Youth Day

Allen @ WYD

Report #4: Do-it-yourself religion 'cannot ultimately help us,' pope tells youth. Posted Aug. 21, 12:23 p.m.

Correspondent's Notebook #4: WYD 'rehabilitates' Joseph Ratzinger; Pope and teacher; Meeting with seminarians; Diversity among youth; WYD liturgical styles; Some ripples of dissent. Posted Aug. 21, 12:23 p.m.

The Illegitimacy of the American Legal System for Christians

The FTs debate revisited...

End of Democracy?: The Judicial Usurpation of Politics

The End of Democracy ?II: A Crisis of Legitimacy

VATICAN II: PROMISE & REALITY

The Catholic Church in the United States Twenty-five Years After Vatican II (A statement issued on September 20, 1990)

The 28th Annual Convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars - "Vatican Council II after Forty Years”

a Catholic novelist

...Catholic means universal, and a Catholic novelist is one whose mise-en-scene is the universe--not that bit of it which lies immediately under his nose, which he sees in the daylight and trips over in the dark--but the whole of it with all its parts and all its inhabitants. The secular novelist sees what's visible. The Catholic novelist sees what's there. He may or may not bring God and the angels as characters into his story, but they are always *factors* in his story (just as a painter cannot paint the wind and cannot paint the air but would produce a poor landscape without them). This is not to say that the Catholic is the better novelist. He may lack genius or art or even ordinary talent, so that he merely potters about on his universal stage while the secular novelist works magic with the little bit of universe which is all he has. But if by chance the Catholic has genius, then his novel cannot but be revelation. - F.J. Sheed in "Gertrud von le Fort", published in Sidelights on the Catholic Revival (Sheed & Ward, New York: 1940) & brought to my attention by Debra Murphy

Francois Mauriac

Mere Comments - Except Ye Become

Beijing and the Vatican edge closer

The Vatican makes news with statements on doctrine, or events like Benedict XVI's appearance Thursday at World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne, his first trip abroad since becoming pope. But sometimes what goes on behind the scenes is just as important, if not more so. In recent months, the Vatican has been engaged in negotiations with Beijing that, if successful, could substantially improve religious freedom in China...

Charles de Foucauld

TCRnews Musings

His biographers say that while in the desert Charles de Foucauld was so impressed by the love of God shown by Muslims that he was for a time tempted to convert. But ultimately he chose not to. I suspect the reason he did not was one thing only: the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. In all the major monotheistic religions, other than in Christianity, God remains in His High Heaven, is "totally other" even as human beings suffer in time and space. Only in Christianity does God come to man in the most intimate way, "pitching his tent" (jn 1:14) among us, assuming the responsibility for His creation, even after Adam's fall, though not its guilt. He came ----to save. He took our guilt and the punishment of The Law upon Himself vicariously so that we might become "free" (Jn 8:32) and taught us how to live, to love and to heal. The Incarnation, re-presented at every liturgy of the Eucharist through time,
bridged the abyss which would seem to separate God and man---most intimately of all in the Passion wherein God suffered "with us" for our redemption. This is doubtless why Charles de Foucauld, and we, with him, remain Catholic despite all of the follies and sins of the Church's children through time. The Church is His Body. This is the Good News which changes everything. And now all things have become New and the ultimate victory over evil and the Nihil. (Phillipians 2:5-10).

Allen @ WYD

Report #2: Benedict acknowledges progress, challenges in Catholic-Jewish relations; Also meets with Catholic seminarians, German Protestants. Posted Aug. 19, 12:19 p.m.
Correspondent's Notebook #2: The pope at the synagogue; Assessing Benedict so far; The Magi pilgrims; On the papal plane; Some snags in logistics. Posted Aug. 19, 12:19 p.m.

Report #3: Benedict uses meeting with Muslims to condemn terrorism. Posted Aug. 20, 12:54 p.m. Updated at 4:56 p.m.
Correspondent's Notebook #3: Cardinal Pell sums up youth day message; Aussies prepare for 2008; Sant'Egidio community in Cologne; Contemplating WYD without a pope; Synagogue visit reaction. Posted Aug. 20, 12:54 p.m.

WYD

Benedict XVI's Homily to Seminarians in Cologne

Pope's Address in Synagogue of Cologne

Benedict XVI's Address to Christians Meeting in Cologne

Benedict XVI's Address at World Youth Day Vigil

Pope's Address to Muslim Representatives

2 Tell of Their Lunch With the Pope

Interviews With Youth Representatives - Powerful testimonies!

Reclaiming Deification in the Latin West

Here's a nice article by Matthew Tsakanikas.

B16's Address Given on the Rhine

The encounter with Jesus Christ will allow you to experience in your hearts the joy of his living and life-giving presence, and enable you to bear witness to it before others...

Why nations die

Here's a new article by Spengler.

Do Roberts' wife's views on abortion reflect his?

From Godspy

…this 33-year-old organization [Feminists for Life] is as committed to the welfare of women as it is to defending the unborn. This is a hard sell in America's balkanized public square, where everything is starkly divided into blue vs. red, ‘pro-choice’ vs. pro-life,’ Democrats vs. Republicans, Anthony Kennedy Catholics vs. Antonin Scalia Catholics… [According to] theologian Ronald J. Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action: ‘What this all illustrates is the fact there are many Christians—evangelicals and Catholics alike—who are strong defenders of human life, yet are in no way right-wingers on many other issues…’[Scripps Howards News Service]

Coverage of World Youth Day exclusively by NCR

Daily coverage by JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Picking up where John Paul II left off

Climbing Parnassus

A New Apologia for Greek and Latin
(on-line video or audio) or (book)

A Philosophy of Learning—The Right Attitude

How to Become a SuperStar Student.

Teilhard & Blondel

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Maurice Blondel
Correspondence
Edited by Henri de Lubac, S.J.

Among the forefathers of Vatican II everyone is familiar with the name of Teilhard de Chardin. His work has been celebrated by Christian and non-Christian alike and has achieved worldwide renown. Relatively few are those who know of one of Teilhard's older contemporaries, Maurice Blondel, whose influence on the current renewal of the Church may prove in the long run to be greater and more lasting, and whose encounter with the Teilhardian vision is presented in this book.

These letters - with detailed commentary by Father de Lubac - constitute a precious legacy for Christian thought in an age which has inherited many of their insights. It was Teilhard who first approached Blondel through their mutual friend, Auguste Valensin, and sought a critical evaluation of a speculative effort only just beginning. Blondel was impressed and sympathetic for he found in the young scientist an echo of his own spirit. But of greater value than the expressions of agreement is the careful criticism with Blondel made of Teilhard's work and which anticipated later more common objections to it.

Of this meeting between two of the seminal minds of the twentieth century, the distinguished Blondel scholar, J.M. Somerville, has said: 'Together Blondel and Teilhard created the atmosphere that made Vatican II possible, and they seem destined to carry on and justify its best achievements for many decades to come.'
And the equally eminent Teilhardian, Christopher Moodey adds:

'This is a remarkable exchange of letters between two men, one a scientist, the other a philosopher; both intensely concerned about the relationship of Christ to human achievement. Blondel had a very significant influence upon the development of Teilhard's theological thought and this correspondence constitutes a permanent testimony to that influence. It must be read by anyone interested in the thought of either man.'

Older posts related to this topic are below.

Maurice Blondel

de Lubac's defense of Teilhard

The Religion of Teilhard de Chardin

more on Teilhard

The Heart of Teilhard de Chardin's Spirituality

The Heart of Matter

Grace and the Form of Nature and Culture

Emmanuel Mounier and Personalism (refer to the comments)

Pope's Address to Diocesan Clergy of Aosta

On Critical Issues in the Life of the Church

Cardinal Meisner's Catechesis to Young People

"Our Hearts Are Troubled Until They Rest in Thee"

Cardinal Meisner's Homily at Opening Mass ~ "Your Presence Is the Result of an Act of Mercy by God"

Benedict XVI on Youth, the Faith, and More

B16's Interview With Vatican Radio

Christianity Isn't Just "Dos and Don'ts," Says Pope - In Interview Looking Ahead to Youth Day

The Role of Faith in Culture

A book review from the archives of HPR: Tragedy Under Grace: Reinhold Schneider on the Experience of the West, by Hans Urs von Balthasar. The review is by Fr. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., who teaches at Fordham. Ignatius Insight Scoop provides a nice excerpt on their post.

From Cologne to the Conquest of Europe

How the Muslim Brotherhood is Challenging the Pope

At World Youth Day in Cologne, Benedict XVI is also meeting with Muslims. Here are the leaders and organizations of radical Islam in Germany, with their plans for expansion

THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES

Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. They are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church.

The Mystery of Mary

In Her End, the Promise of Our Beginning

We may never know exactly what happened at the end of Mary’s life. But in the divine truth of the Assumption, her glorious example reveals ‘to what lofty goal our bodies and souls are destined.’

St. Benedicts Parish

Hope for the Church and the World by Deacon Keith Fournier

Karol Wojtyla

...As he had written to Henri de Lubac in 1968, Wojtyla believed that the crisis of modernity involved a 'degradation, indeed … a pulverization, of the fundamental uniqueness of each human person.'

LEARNING AS RECOLLECTION

A Thomistic Approach to Recovering Higher Education

Continental Christophobia Cubed

Books and Culture review of Weigel's newest book - Europe's rejection of its Christian heritage.

Maurice Blondel

Maurice Blondel was de Lubac's philosophical prophet; he has at least as much right as anyone else to be called the philosopher of the Second Vatican Council, which did so much to bring back a spiritual empiricism into Catholic thinking. - Illtyd Trethowan

Maurice Blondel was a French Catholic philosopher. He was a professor at the universities of Montauban, Lille, and Aix-Marseille during his influential career. Like his contemporary Henri Bergson he was anti-rationalist and scorned science. In his first work, L'Action (1893, rev. ed. 1950), he laid the groundwork for his later thought. Blondel held that action alone could never satisfy the human yearning for the transfinite, which could only be fulfilled by God, whom he described as the “first principle and last term.” In his positive affirmation of God he was close to St. Augustine, Plato, and Leibniz; he later also accorded legitimacy to the rational proofs of God's existence. His other chief works were La Pensée (2 vol., 1934–35) and Le Problème de la philosophie catholique (1932). - Source: The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia

Maurice Blondel effected a new beginning in Catholic thought. In a highly original manner he took up modern philosophy – Descartes, Leibniz, Malebranche, Kant, Hegel, positivism – and developed a philosophy, which appropriated the ‘principle of immanence’ of these thinkers and opened it to a consideration of Transcendence and historical Revelation in Christianity. The reception of his work was hampered by immanent difficulties, personal problems (his blindness would hinder the writing of the later works) and the unfortunate situation of the Church at the time of its wrangling with modernism. - Albert Raffelt, Freiburg im Breisgau

Letter on Apologetics and History and Dogma

It's begun!

Hillary 2008
(Well actually it probably began with Hillary's speech at the dedication of Bubba's Library, which Divine Providence ensured it rained on. Everybody got soaked. God really does have a great sense of humor!)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

1918 edition of Hopkins' poetry This electronic edition of Hopkins' poetry is provided courtesy of the Bartleby Library of Columbia University.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Page of Creighton University A very useful page with many links.

The Hopkins Quarterly An academic journal dedicated to Hopkins and his literary circle.

The Gerard Manley Hopkins Society Hompage This homepage is operated out of Monasterevin, Ireland.

The electronic concordance of the 1918 edition of Hopkins' poetry This site is maintained by the Department of English of the University of Dundee.

The Gerard Manley Hopkins page of the University of Dundee Largely mirrors the Creighton University site, but is different in design and the content varies.

The Gerard Manley Hopkins Overview This sight is maintained at Brown University by Prof. George P. Landow and details Hopkins' relations with other Victorian writers.

The Gerard Manley Hopkins Page of the University of Minnesota This sight has short reviews of other sights, and links to some poems and to a biography.

The Foley Library Collection of Gonzaga University This is the home page of a very extensive collection of Hopkins related literature.

Distributivism and Catholic Social Teaching

This article, which appeared in the January, 2000 issue of The New Oxford Review, outlines the main thrust of Catholic Social Teaching as it is presented in Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno, Centesimus Annus, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, and Laborem Exercens, and discusses the Distributivist response to the Teaching.

Instruments of Grace

For novelist Graham Greene and his characters, corruption could be a path to salvation.

Back from the Land

How Young Americans Went to Nature in the 1970s and Why They Came Back

A must-read review of the above book in Crisis - Roughing It

Victor Davis Hanson

The Land Was Everything: Letters from an American Farmer

Fields Without Dreams : Defending the Agrarian Ideal

The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization

Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece

WHO KILLED HOMER : THE DEMISE OF CLASSICAL EDUCATION AND THE RECOVERY OF GREEK WISDOM

Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age

Let No Man Put Assunder: Honouring the Marriage of Aggiornamento and Ressourcement

Here's a brilliant short post by Rick over at Being in the Form of a Quest: What Is Life?

Karl Rahner on the Assumption of Our Lady

TCRnews Musings

'...Mary is the perfect achievement and work of redemption. [With the Assumption] the perfection of grace has entered its final stage because she has left this earthly life of space and time, and the entered the [eternal life]. [There] the harvest sown within the confines of time is gathered into God’s eternity. . . She has attained her perfect beatitude - no one can doubt this who believes that she, sinless and full of grace, has accomplished her earthly course.' (Karl Rahner, St. Andrew Bible Missal, p. 948)

TCR: The Assumption of Our Lady is often dismissed as a sweet myth by neo-modernists. If some (not all) are willing to grapple with the Resurrection of Jesus, the Assumption is just too much. And yet they never found Our Lady's body, friend. And a Church which treasures the sanctity of relics would hardly have let 1st class relics of Our Lady elude it.

A little theologcal thinking will take a person into neo-modernist doubt, but a great deal of it will return one to belief in the Assumption. Our Lord shared the human nature of His Mother, Mary. Her heart pumped His most sacred blood---the Blood shed for the sins of all humankind, into His sacred veins. Such a sharing is the astonishing reality of the Incarnation which sets Mary utterly apart (even as she remains utterly with) the rest of humanity.

After the creation of the universe, every other miracle is a mere footnote. Especially this one, so intimately bound with the Incarnation for the sake of world. This miracle, above all, makes perfect sense once one begins to contemplate what one thinks. Our Lord said the Holy Spirit would guide the Church into all truth (Jn 16:13). And He did. You can take that to the grave.

Memo to the Acton Institute From JPII

TCRnew Musings

It is unacceptable to say that the defeat of ‘Real Socialism’ leaves capitalism as the only mode of economic organization. ----Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus

Enlightenment: Zen, Christian, and Modern

De Lubac, Balthasar, Merton, & others are quoted extensively in this article from a Univ. of Dallas (UD) grad. For those that do not know, this topic was extensively explored by many of the Ressourcement authors, especially de Lubac.

good work over at Contemplata aliis Tradere

Here are some great posts by Paul over at Contemplata aliis Tradere.

Centenary of Von Balthasar's Birth

A Mature Faith

Christmas in August

Yesterday I arrived home from work to find the Spring 2005 issue of Communio in my mail-box. Yeah!

The Theological Dimensions of Human Liberation

Here is a great article by Stratford Caldecott.

It was Henri de Lubac's earlier conception of the nature-grace relation that could be said to have necessitated the detailed working-out of the relationship between divine and human freedom we find in the Theo-Drama. The implications of this change extend also to social theology, for it was precisely the separation of nature from grace that deprived the Christian faith of its worldly cutting edge. If grace is not merely "grafted on" to nature but is permitted to shape it from within, the creativity of God's people is unchained, and theology can again help to inspire cultural innovation, whether it be in painting or in economics...

Regaining our worldly cutting edge

"'A History of Apologetics' is a classic work for both Catholics and Protestants"

Here's a nice post on Ignatius Insight Scoop.

A Great Love

'The idea that is most widespread is that Christians must observe an immensity of commandments and prohibitions, and that we are more free without such burdens,' Benedict said. 'Instead, I want to be clear about the fact that being supported by a great Love is not a burden, and that it is beautiful to be a Christian.'

NFL and monks

Well it is Sunday! Check out this article.

What Is Justice?

Neither liberals nor conservatives have it quite right.

Secularists, both liberal and conservative, fail because they see people as objects—either to be punished or to be serviced—whereas biblical justice is much grander, viewing people as humans made in God's image… Christians today line up on both sides of the ideological divide, but if we really understood the biblical model of justice, I doubt we would… [Christianity Today]

Loyola Classics

Loyola Press introduces Loyola Classics, a series of reprint editions of literary and popular Catholic fiction. Combining a high degree of literary merit with enduring popular appeal, Loyola Classics will attract modern readers interested in the timeless themes of religious fiction...

The Busy Christian's Guide to Catholic Social Teaching

This site is actually an on-line version of a Claretian Publications wall chart. The hart includes a timeline of 18th, 19th, and 20th century events and summaries of Catholic social teaching documents.

Lay movements have an old friend

Lay movements that enjoyed the strong support of Pope John Paul II believe they have an even stronger ally in Pope Benedict XVI...

an interesting new blog

Thwackum & Square - a journal on politics, philosophy, popular culture, and more

Cheap Hope

William J. Stuntz is a professor at Harvard Law School. In this essay, he shares with us the lessons that his personal experiences with pain have taught him about hope, powerfully capturing the tension (and pain) Christians face as we look forward to Christ's second advent...

It's All About Jesus

A convert to Orthodoxy reconsiders evangelicalism.

Beautiful!

Christopher Blosser has redesigned his website, The Church and The Liberal Tradition. In my opinion, it's much better now and less confusing. It's the best on the web on this topic.

A Great Website On Balthasar

No website is ever perfect (there's always room for improvement), but this is probably the best Balthasar website in English. Once a person begins reading de Lubac, Balthasar, Speyr, and other Ressourcement authors, there is no turning back!

Articles About the History and Mission of Communio

Over the years, and particularly at its inception, Communio editors and contributors have written to articulate their vision for the journal and its readership. This is a short bibliography of such articles (all published in Communio unless otherwise noted).

Christ Came to Perfect the Law

Beyond the letter of the law by Stephen Hand

God hates war and encourages us to greater and greater enlightenment. If war is to be fought and a reliance on minimal justice is opted for, it is ever a collapse, an undoing, an implosion of God's intention, the most minimal standard of conflict resolution. But the nation or person who refuses war---not out of cowardice, but out of brave conscience and love for all humanity---has shown greater enlightenment, greater spirituality, and is closer to God's intention of perfection...

Two Great Modern Dutch Calvinists

Herman Dooyeweerd, a great neo-Calvinist philosopher, was a colleague of Geritt Berkouwer who is the Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian who wrote two books on the Catholic Church: first, The Conflict with Rome (a pre-Vatican study), second, The Second Vatican Council and the New Catholicism (the English translators didn't have a word for la nouvelle theologie, which was in the original title of Berkouwer's book in Dutch as "nieuwe theologie). Berkouwer's book is one of the finest ecumenical studies ever done on Catholicism and neo-Calvinism.

Dr. Eduardo J. Echeverria
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI

The First Encyclical (or XXV)?

In an earlier post, I speculated on what the topic B16's first encyclical would be on. We now have first-hand information from "a" (not the) Holy Roman Pontiff himself. It's nice to know he is a fellow blogger.

Allen's newest column

August 12, 2005

As a German theologian, and a convinced Augustinian, Joseph Ratzinger has long admired the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther. In 1965, commenting on the document Gaudium et Spes from the final session of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Ratzinger criticized the text for relying too much on the optimism of French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin, and not enough on Luther’s consciousness of the Cross and of sin...

Books & Culture, July/August 2005
Is the Reformation Over?
Well, if you have to ask… by Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom

Af-flu-en-za

Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. (Not this Jones... I am hillbilly at heart) 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A television program that could change your life.

Affluenza is a one-hour television special that explores the high social and environmental costs of materialism and overconsumption. Here you can learn more about the show, get an Affluenza diagnosis and check out resources for treatment. Don't miss our Teacher's Guide, available only on this Web site. (Thanks to TCRnew Musings for this).

The Brothers Judd

The Adventure of Great Literature

My Brother's Keeper

A Memoir and a Message

De Lubac's writings in English translations

An overview of some of the currently available writings of Cardinal Henri de Lubac (1896-1991) - translated into English - is provided by Dr Tracey Rowland, Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne.

AUGUSTINIAN THOMISM

CACW - Commissioner, VIC

INTERVIEW WITH PROF. TRACEY ROWLAND

John Paul II and Human Dignity - A Public Lecture

Dr. Pravin Thevathasan's review of Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II

Tracy Rowland's answer to the challenge of modernity

BrothersJudd.com - POSTMODERN AUGUSTINIAN THOMISM via Brian Hoffman (some great links on Rowland and others!)

BrothersJudd.com - Review of Robert Kraynak's Christian Faith and Modern Democracy: God and Politics in the Fallen World (some great links as well!)

Pure Comedy (This has nothing to do with the topic of this post except for the fact I found it on the above website! It was too good to ignore.)

An Introduction to Catholic Social Teaching

Compendium Of The Social Doctrine Of The Church

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Second Spring Course

An Introduction to Catholic Social Teaching

Bibliography

One Hundred Years of Catholic Social Teaching

Timechart

Outlines of Encyclicals

The Common Good

The Family and Contemporary Culture

Introduction

Understanding Modernity: Development of Individualism

The Sincere Gift of Self

Note 1: The Family and Human Rights

Note 2: The Family and Culture in the Catechism

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Houston Catholic Worker

Free Copy: Msgr. Michel Schooyans, "Introduction to the Social Teaching of the Church

Second Spring articles

Lady Poverty by Jacques Maritain & Leon Bloy

The Way of Beauty by Davis Clayton & an interview with David Clayton by Peter Stanford

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams on Grace, Necessity and Imagination: Catholic Philosophy and the Twentieth Century Artist
Lecture One: Modernism and the Scholastic Revival
Lecture Two: "David Jones: Material Words"
Lecture Three: "Flannery O'Connor: Proper Names"
Lecture Four: "God and the Artist"

Principles of a Personalist Civilisation by Emmanuel Mounier

Christopher Dawson on Technology and the Demise of Liberalism by Russell Hittinger

What's Wrong with America by Robert Asch

Bourgeois Spirit Undermines Christian Renewal by Virgil Michel, OSB

Contemporary Globalization: An Ethical & Anthropological Evaluation by Thomas R. Rourke
Thomas Rourke: A Conscience as Large as the World reviewed by Russell Sparkes

A Man Who Become Pope

The Heroic True Story of Pope John Paul II

Monday, August 15 8/7c On Hallmark Channel

See the trailer - Real Player or Windows Media Player

Notre Dame Center for Culture and Ethics

Many outstanding papers and videos are available on their Archives webpage.

Indian Violins

In India's remote Himalayan foothills, schools founded by Christian missionaries have traditionally served the middle and upper classes. But at the newest missionary school in Kalimpong -- Gandhi Ashram -- Jesuit priest Father Thomas McGuire is trying to change that by seeking out students from the lowest rungs of India's rigid caste system -- and transforming their lives through music. Fred de Sam Lazaro looks at Father McGuire's efforts to help these students fight poverty and illiteracy, and, more importantly, gain self esteem by learning to play an instrument most of them had never heard of: the violin. His mission, as Father McGuire explains, is to help students find a purpose in their lives: 'Go out and develop your talent,' he advises. 'God created you for a purpose... I have great hopes for some of our good performers that they are going to go out and spread the message to others that very poor children don't have to sit back and be just, well, zombies. They have ability.'

Thank You

Christopher Blosser of the Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club has publicly complemented my work on this blog. I refer to you this post on both of his blogs. Wow, I am not worthy. Any good that I have done, give all thanks to Our Lady! Stephen Hand of TCRnews has also made several positive remarks about my work as well. I refer to TCRnews daily as anybody can tell who reads my posts on a regular basis. I remain indebted to all the hard work that Christopher and Stephen have done on their websites over the years. Thank you, my friends. I truly appreciate our friendship. Someday I hope to meet you both in the flesh and see your human faces!

TCRnews Editorial: Almost 6 Years Ago TCR Began

Almost 6 Years Ago TCR Began Redressing Imbalances in the Catholic world, and in ourselves. As we approach our 6th year online, we rededicate ourselves to that same objective with vigor and great enthusiasm. Not because it's easy, but because it is necessary. Gone are the days when the social implications of the Gospel are seen as the field of doctrinal 'progressives,' or when Catholic doctrinal integrity appeared the field of reactionary conservatives or traditionalists; gone also are the days when traditional Catholic spirituality and liturgy were pitted against each other and their essential harmony questioned by certain factions, or when collegiality was pitted against the Primacy of Peter or vice versa. Wise persons are simply persons who have learned from their stupidities. We call all Catholics, under this new pontificate, to join us in plucking the fruits of our mistakes (it is called learning) and, with---and never against---the living magisterium, to rededicate ourselves to Catholic wholeness with spiritual and intellectual alertness directed to the times, grounded in the Faith once delivered to the saints. The Church both conserves and progresses through the challenges of our times. It has not been easy. There have been clashes between the factions. But the road ahead is clear if we are to confess the faith to a new generation. And we are determined to do just that. More than ever. We invite all to join us in this era of new beginnings. Don't be afraid to break out---and think outside of--- the proverbial box. As Thomas a' Kempis said long ago, 'He to whom the Eternal Word has spoken is free from a multitude of opinions'----Stephen Hand, editor

It Is Good For Us to Be Here.

Reflections on Living in Transfiguration by Deacon Keith Fournier

"Psycho Christians!"

Here is a beautiful new post from Pastor (Dr.) John Wright. It's very relevant to the on-going discussion that I have been having on Cahiers Peguy and The Church and the Liberal Tradition blogs in regards to religious freedom and liberalism.

Do You Know How to Relax?

The answer to the question is "yes" thanks be to the charism of don Giussani (Communion and Liberation).

Christians, Culture and Recreation

A New Friendship

Yesterday I had a long conversation with Dr. John Wright. He's holds PhD in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquities from the University of Notre Dame. He is editor of Conflicting Allegiances: The Church-based University In A Liberal Democratic Society. Dr. Wright studied under the guidance of Robert Wilken & Stanley Hauerwas, which are two of my heroes. He is also very familiar with the thought of David Burrell, George Lindbeck, and John Howard Yoder. At somepoint in the future he will be making posts (and possibly writing a book) on the profound connection between the "Yale School" within Protestantism, the Second Vatican Council and the Ressourcement movement. Here are some older posts from his blog, which you will find of great interest. Ensure to read the comments as well.

General Assembly and General Superintendents -- After the Trip

Church of the Nazarene General Assembly, Internationalization, and Catholicity

Ressourcement: More than Thinking Old Theology Anew

The Thought of Benedict XVI

More on Benedict from Radical Orthodoxy series author

Rowland Interview: Part II Excerpt

More Aidan Nichol's on Benedict

Resident Aliens: The Apostolic Fathers and Congregations in Liberal Cultures

Faith Makes a Difference

A Study of the Influence of Faith in Human Service Programs

A Symphony of Love

Here's a nice post from the Living the Mystery Blog, which quotes from the America's article on Balthasar.

de Lubac Wisdom

Here's a nice post on Henri de Lubac over at Random Thoughts.

NCR articles

New pope, new books

Monday in Chicago with [Cardinal] George

Detente with the Masons?

Here is an interesting post from the Vatican Watcher Blog.

Rallying the Really Human Things

The Moral Imagination in Politics, Literature, and Everyday Life

Dr. David L. Schindler: Biotechnology and the Givenness of the Good

These links were provided through TCRnews Musings

Posing Properly the Moral Question Regarding Human Dignity (.pdf)

Also, Veritatis Splendor and the Foundations of Bioethics: Notes Toward an Assessment of Altered Nuclear Transfer (ANT) and Embryonic (Pluripotent) Stem Cell Research (.pdf)

A real gem

My friend Chris over at Veritas has a nice post worth checking out on The Thought of Benedict XVI: An Introduction to the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

The Introduction to The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs von Balthasar

The Ignatian Exercises in the Work of Hans Urs von Balthasar - A Lecture at Boston College, January 28, 1999 by Werner Löser SJ

Casa Balthasar

The American Dream

I asked a dear, dear friend of mine (who is much smarter than I will ever claim to be) to give me his judgment and thoughts on the conversation that I was having with others regarding the following posts:

Good Work Over at Cahiers Peguy

Ceasefire? -- Hardly, but it's a start.

His remarks are as follows:

The American Dream is a competitor to Catholicism in that like the Church it offers a universal vision for peaceably securing the unity of mankind, at least within the horizon of history. Its vision of freedom is also explicitly incompatible with the now defunct monarchical, aristocratic, and clerical order of medieval Christendom. The Church has had difficulty distinguishing itself from that order, but Vatican II (especially in Gaudium et spes and Dignitatis humanae) has finally given us a solid base from which to make the attempt.

Despite the 20th-century rapprochement on the question of religious liberty, Catholicism and Americanism remain in tension because they operate within different horizons of the true and the good. For the Catholic the last, best hope of mankind is Jesus Christ; his life, death and resurrection establish an historical and trans-historical horizon accessible only to a faith freely exercised. For the Americanist the horizon is set by those truths and goods that can be defined and secured by his system of abstract rights, powers and limits.

The crucial thing for an American Catholic to recognize is that neither the horizons nor their centers coincide. While there is a great deal of overlap--more than between Marxist Communism and Christianity, for example--the circles are not concentric. He must learn to live creatively the drama generated by the divergence and resist the temptation to reduce one horizon to the other.

I do not believe the Gospel can ever be comfortably integrated with any social/political order that depends on coercive force. If it could, Jesus' dialogue with Pilate would have been quite different and he would have founded an empire instead of the Church.

That said, I am happy to embrace the American version of the discomfort precisely for the scope given to freedom, a freedom within which I have lived and moved and made a life. Will this freedom be abused? Of course. We must condemn the abuse but defend the principle: abusus non tollit usum (abuse does not take away the use). But then, I would urge the same attitude toward ecclesiastical authority and freedoms.

I think the Church's policy in political and social matters and advice to non-believers must be, "Test everything; hold fast to what is good." What criterion do we use in the test? The greatest good we have so far met or imagined.

We moderns and post-moderns cannot return to medieval Christendom. With Dostoyevsky we are children of our age, subject to contradiction and uncertainty. "And yet," writes Dostoyevsky, "God gives me moments of perfect peace; in such moments I love and believe that I am loved; in such moments I have formulated my creed, wherein all is clear and holy to me. This creed is extremely simple: here it is. I believe that there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, more rational, more manly and more perfect than the Saviour: I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one."

American Catholics have, above all, the duty to hold fast the right to publicly bear this witness in word and deed, that we cannot imagine a greater good than the One we have met through and in His Church.

Joel I. Barstad, Ph.D.
St. John Vianney Seminary, Denver, CO

Friendship through Bridgefolk

Eye on the Valley

Andrea Bartoli, U.S. leader of the Catholic Sant'Egidio lay fellowship, shared the story of Dirk Willems, the Dutch Mennonite known for saving a drowning pursuer who then killed him. Through his compassionate act, Bartoli said, that martyr gave "a gift of the spirit that I can experience 500 years later."

Glen Miller, in turn, shared warm memories of a friend from his years directing the Mennonite Central Committee in India: Mother Teresa. In lovingly serving people of all world faiths, Miller said, "She was a holy person."

These testimonials were part of the 2005 Bridgefolk Conference, an annual dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics held this year for the first time at Eastern Mennonite University. Bridgefolk began in 1999 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mount Pleasant, Pa., and continued at Saint John's Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., in 2002-2004.

About 65 people from both traditions, the majority lay members, attended this year's events on the Harrisonburg campus. With their children, they worshiped at local Catholic and Mennonite churches together...

John L. Allen's newest column

Catching up on articles released during vacation... Here is his August 5th column.

Bono: Grace over Karma

There have been a number of books written about U2 and their iconic frontman, Bono, arguably the world's most famous rock star. But not till now has Bono himself come out to tell his own story. In the new book, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books), the rocker shares his thoughts on numerous topics with a French music journalist and friend who has been with the band virtually since the beginning. In a series of honest conversations presented in Q&A format, Bono discusses, among other things, his upbringing (including the death of his mother when he was a teen and the ensuing rocky relationship with his father, who died just a few years ago), U2's beginnings, his bandmates, his marriage, fatherhood, his passion for social action, the effects of celebrity, and, fittingly, his faith and how it
intersects all of the above.

The following exchange between Bono and Assayas took place just days after the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, an act of terrorism that left 191 dead and more than 1,800 wounded. The two men were discussing how terrorism is often carried out in the name of religion when Bono turned the conversation to Christianity, expressing his preference for God's grace over "karma," offering an articulate apologetic for the deity of Christ, and giving a clear presentation of the gospel message.

Lizzie's War

Only Connect

Two novels about finding—or failing to find—a structure of meaning in the mess and confusion of our lives.

Poems by Paul Mariani

Everyday Transfiguration

A new book of poems by Paul Mariani, illustrated by Barry Moser.Reviewed by D.S. MartinPaul Mariani's latest book, Deaths & Transfigurations, is his first poetry collection since his excellent book The Great Wheel (Norton), which came out in 1996. It is rich with references to literature—particularly to Dante and Gerard Manley Hopkins—and to Scripture. It seems as Mariani ages, his obsession with his past continues to grow.The first two sections of the book take on the overlapping subjects of loss and death. The very first poem begins with a quote from St. Augustine about how our memories cry out for attention, distracting us from our deeper search. In this collection, Mariani meaningfully deals with his memories, and uses them to bridge effectively back to the search. To the extent we are able to see truth in the poet's experiences, we are able to find truth for our own...

a new Commonweal article

How Conservative?

Should Judge John G. Roberts be confirmed by the Senate, he will become the fourth Roman Catholic sitting on this Supreme Court, joining Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas. That the Court, long a bastion of the nation’s Protestant establishment, may soon have a preponderance of Catholics is a remarkable historical development...

A Vacation Full Of Grace

We just returned off the Midwest CL Vacation. It was a great event! It included such things as daily Mass, morning/evening prayer, hiking, swimming, canoeing, cave exploring, softball, tennis, volley-ball, horse-shoes & badminton tournaments, horse-back riding, a hay-ride for the kids, eating, drinking of a variety of refreshments, singing, testimonies, a presentation on Charles Peguy, and moments of beauty with musical pieces from the great composers.

On the final day, Mike Eppler and I lead the Questions and Answers Session and the Final Synthesis. Topics of discussion included the meaning of Desire/desires, preference, friendship, unity, mercy, the differences between School of Community & Fraternity, and where do we go from here. I thank Our Lady for the many moments of grace during this vacation!

Please say a prayer for Fr. Meinrad's father who passed away in the midst of this vacation. Our vacation next year will be from the 13-16th of July. Mark your calendars to be there!

VACATION 2005

Christ is in our midst!

The CL Communities of the Midwest will be on vacation this week from Thursday - Sunday. This is an important gesture of the Movement, i.e. hiking, swimming, singing, eating & drinking of a variety of refreshments, prayer, mass, communio... real leisure.

There is no cell reception nor computer connectivity... It's back to the simple life even if just for a few days. Please pray to Our Lady for a vacation with many moments of grace! I leave you with a few pieces to meditate on during my absence.

Fr Giussani - The Time of Freedom

Rimini, 1962 (Traces, June, 2005) - A Splendid Summer and the Encounter of a Life

TO HELL WITH EMPIRE

If we continue on this course of reflexive interventions, enemies will one day answer our power with the last weapon of the weak -- terror, and eventually cataclysmic terrorism on US soil.

Ben Franklin and Holy Scripture

Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that 'God helps those who help themselves.' That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor.

- Author Bill McKibben, in his Harper's magazine essay, "The Christian Paradox"

Sitting at the Feet of Mary: What She Teaches Us

Lay Witness Magazine
What She Teaches Us About Her Divine Son

The Madonna not only received Holy Communion when she attended the Masses of the early Christian community of the first century, but she also was profoundly “Eucharistic” in the recesses of her soul. In other words, thanks to the Holy Spirit, she always maintained a close relationship with the Almighty. Her oneness with God was analogous—although inferior—to the indescribable unity Jesus the Son of God has with His Beloved Father.

Musings on Christian Tolerance

The ambiguity in religious liberty

Cardinal Ratzinger / Pope Benedict presented the dilemma facing those of us who advocate that Western civilization not abandon its Christian morality. On the one hand, we believe in the freedom of the individual to determine his or her own destiny and believe in any religion or form of metaphysics without coercion from the state. On the other hand, we also believe that there are moral absolutes as handed down from the Church through the centuries that must be adhered to for society to attain the highest good...

Catholic Carnival XLI

Here is the most recent (well done by the way) carnival for this week!

Apologista Extraordinario

Here is a great book review of Msngr. Albacete's book in America.

Godspy and The Ninth Day

The following excerpt is from the Image Update.

As we do our own share of daily web surfing at work, we’re always on the lookout for other sites on faith and culture to add to the Image favorites. At the top of our list right now is Godspy, a Catholic-based online magazine that, like Image, is all about God-with-us minus the religious gloss. (The editors often lovingly summon up the words of Flannery O’Connor: “there is no reason why fixed dogma should fix anything that the writer sees in the world.”) Best if navigated by topic, Godspy is an all-you-can-read buffet of articles covering a range of contemporary issues, including a respectable sampling on art, literature, and film for all us Image-types. Headlining the “Culture” section right now is an article on a new film by Volker Schloendorff (A Handmaid’s Tale, The Tin Drum) called The Ninth Day, which turns on the moral crisis of Abbé Kremer, a priest on temporary leave from the Dachau concentration camp who is faced with the choice to cleave to his confession or preserve his life. A resourceful melding of historical events and people, The Ninth Day enfolds a collision of politics and the church—much like Roland Joffé’s The Mission—without losing sight of the deeper foundation of story, relationships, and theme. Paired with an interview with the director, the review makes a tasty sneak peek of a master filmmaker’s work and his encounter with the gravity of conviction. Judging by the way Godspy keeps its commentary free of the Christianese that’s often an unfortunate byproduct of processing contemporary culture through the gears of faith—there’s more where that came from.

B16's First Encyclical

I have been discussing with many friends what I think the topic of the Pope's first encyclical will be. (The first papal encyclical lays out the vision and direction of a specific Holy Father for his pontificate.) Many potential topics come up in our discussion... Relativism, freedom, truth and tolerance, religious pluralism, ecumenism, inter-faith dialog, the universal call to holiness, an authentic Catholic culture, etc.

I personally believe his first encyclical will be one on the liturgy. The Eucharist will find its way into this encyclical even though JPII last's encyclical was on this topic. I have no insider's knowledge that this will be the topic. The reason why I believe the liturgy will be the major topic of this Pope can be seen in the following pieces by Dr. Tracey Rowland.

The Pastoral Relevance of Beauty

Benedict XVI, Thomism, and Liberal Culture (Part 2)

Function Follows Form

Here is a new article by Deacon Keith Fournier.

We live in a “functional” age. One of its bad fruits has been the tendency to reduce human beings to human doings. It is an empty age, an age of Nihilism, where the perceived “value” of a person is often gaged by what they “do”, rendering them producers rather than persons. Sadly, these errors have permeated every level of our existence together...

Required Reading: A Brief Catechism on the Clash of Civilizations

Here is Sandro Magister's newest article.