An Unlicensed Humanist

Leon Kass: "Looking for an Honest Man"

"Grappling with real-life concerns — from cloning to courtship, from living authentically to dying with dignity — has made me a better reader. Reciprocally, reading in a wisdom-seeking spirit has helped me greatly in my worldly grapplings. Not being held to the usual dues expected of a licensed humanist — professing specialized knowledge or publishing learned papers — I have been able to wander freely and most profitably in all the humanistic fields. I have come to believe that looking honestly for the human being, following the path wherever it leads, may itself be an integral part of finding it. A real question, graced by a long life to pursue it among the great books, has been an unadulterated blessing."

Germain Grizez: The Way of the Lord Jesus

The Lord Jesus is the way, and he blazes the way. His way is not easy, but the view at the top will be stupendous! He told his apostles to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them “to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28.20). As hikers are guided by the steel cables, Jesus’ disciples are guided by his commandments, which are taught best by the Catholic Church. The first volume of The Way of the Lord Jesus explores the foundations of the Church’s moral teaching; volume two explains it, and volume three shows how to apply it in daily life.

The Way of the Lord Jesus by Germain Grizez. The full text of these volumes is now available online.

The three volumes of The Way of the Lord Jesus were written primarily for use as textbooks in Catholic seminaries and as handbooks for Catholic priests. Many others, nevertheless, have taken advantage of the books’ well-organized and clearly written treatment of topics and the many study helps—highlighting essentials, putting secondary points in appendices and notes, and providing plentiful references to sources along with crisp summaries.

Divine Comedy Audio Book Free Download

Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise-the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.

Hermitess professes vows, dedicates life to the praise of God

Manhattan, Kans., Jul 11, 2009 / 01:50 pm (CNA).- For more than four years, Kathryn Bloomquist has prepared to formalize a life of solitude and prayer. Late last month, she made the final step and was consecrated as a hermitess before Bishop Paul Coakley and a few witnesses.

Amy Welborn: Spirit of Catholicism by Karl Adam

Amy Welborn is beginning a discussion on a classic pre-conciliar book ~ Karl Adam's Spirit of Catholicism.

 

the on-line version of the book

Articles from the Remnant

Neo-Catholic Sour Grapes

Neo-Catholic Blues

George Weigel’s “Hermeneutic of Discontinuity”

Luigi Giussani, a Spiritual Biography

The Mystery of Fr. Giussani Revealed by His Writings

Sandro Magister

For the first time, a book presents the spiritual biography of the founder of Communion and Liberation. At the center of everything are a "coming" and an "encounter." An extract from the volume's culminating chapter

The Ambassador
by Zeyno Baran & Onur Sazak
The Weekly Standard
02/16/2009, Volume 014, Issue 21

How a Turkish diplomat saved 20,000 Jews during the Holocaust.

Turkey's reaction to the recent Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has scared many of us who believed that anti-Semitism could never take root in our country. The mass protests outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, the defacing of a synagogue in Izmir, the anti-Semitic graffiti and newspaper articles have raised a frightening prospect. It is tragic that a country that had been the savior of so many Jews--first during the Spanish Inquisition and later during World War II--has been transformed into one whose Jewish minority lives in fear. This eruption has been building. For several years this decade, for instance, Hitler's Mein Kampf was a bestseller in Turkey. Such facts make all the more important the appearance in 2007 of The Ambassador, Emir Kivircik's biography of his grandfather, Behic Erkin, the courageous Turkish diplomat who saved 20,000 Jews in France from the Holocaust. Too few have heard of his gallantry or his righteous actions during one of humanity's darkest times.

Avery Dulles: Witness and Teacher

Article linked in title, so if the post body is blank, then click on the title.

An unpublished interview with Avery Dulles

You probably already read this and posted about it but if not check it out. Classic John Allen interview... Good stuff.

http://ncrcafe.org/node/2340

J.F. Powers: The Voice of 20th Century Catholicism
by Christopher J. Scalia

Since the death of J. F. Powers in 1999, admiring reviewers (all of his reviewers have been admiring) have mourned not only his death, but the general obscurity of his novels and stories. Although his first novel, Morte D'Urban, won the 1963 National Book Award -- over the more familiar names of John Updike, Katherine Anne Porter, and Vladimir Nabokov -- and his work was praised by such major figures as Evelyn Waugh and Flannery O'Connor (more on her later), he is not very well known, even among Catholics whose Church and priests he wrote about with such skill, insight, heart, and humor.

Addicted to Tech

http://tech.msn.com/products/article.aspx?cp-documentid=11256762&gt1=40000

Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, has studied technology addiction for 14 years. Her early studies focused on Internet gambling, chat rooms and pornography. These days, she has plenty of clients obsessed with Facebook and immersive, multiuser Web games like "World of Warcraft."