Posts
From Under the Rubble…The Prophet, the President, and the Pope
A critique of the president by a well-known jurist appeared recently in the American Spectator: A man whose self-absorption is legendary, if not pathological… If the head of the most corrupt and malign administration in our history is suffered to remain in office, however crippled, it will be a clear sign that we have turned…
Pope Francis to Bishops: “we do not need a manager, a CEO of a company”
Just today, Pope Francis spoke to the Congregation of Bishops (reported in Italian here). Yesterday, I asked “if the pope will take care of the Vatican, and I will take care of cleaning myself up, who takes care of the middle?” It appears Pope Francis answered that question today! Speaking to the Bishops, he declared:…
PBS Frontline: Secrets of the Vatican – a secular review of the symptoms of error
Yesterday, PBS Frontline ran a show titled, “Secrets of the Vatican” – an hour and a half show. PBS’s own description of the show is as follows: In Secrets of the Vatican, FRONTLINE tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries…
Lent Preparation: Earn an eternal merit badge this year
I’ve written before on the notion of lent being a time to fast and on the power of fasting to cast demons away. Today, people have totally shifted their concept and consider a fast “too much.” Those who say that have that luxury only today because the Church has mitigated the impact of the second law. Consider…
Footnote 63: Easy Liberalism
https://media.blubrry.com/bellarmineforumfootnote/bellarmineforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BF-Footnote-Podcast-Easy-liberalism-010514-df.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWhy is the media so predictably liberal and anti-Catholic? And why do media “conservatives” and media “Catholics” sound so dumb?
Do the American Bishops hate fasting?
I was shell shocked today by an omission I can hardly believe. At Mass, I heard the Gospel about the possessed boy out of whom the Apostles could not drive the demon. We all know the tale: Our Lord drives the demon out, and the Apostles ask, “Why could we not drive out the demon?” And Our…
From Under the Rubble…Whistling Past the Graveyard of Empires
“1, 2, 3, 4, what’re we fightin’ for?” Old antiwar song. Afghanistan is an old war. Does anyone remember why we’re there? Hamid Karzai knows: we’re there to make him rich, powerful, and – oh yes, we forgot: the leader of a robust, American-imposed Afghan democracy. Are we there yet? Well, it’s a long, hard…
“The Interests of a Few”
The theories of the social contract…were elaborated at the end of the 17th century (cf. Hobbes): that which would bring harmony among men was a law recognized by reason and commanding respect by an enlightened prince who incarnates the general will. Here, too, when the common…
Controlled Burn, Alinskyian organizing, and Common Core (Book Review)
Controlled Burn Alinskyian organizing and Common Core: A Book Review of A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform By Mark R. Warren, Karen L. Mapp, and the Community Organizing and School Reform Project, Oxford University Press (2011) The title of this book, A Match on Dry Grass, is a…
“A Steady and Invigorating Catholic Light”
by Guest Author, Daniel J. Kelly The Catholic Thing: Five Years of a Singular Website Robert Royal, Editor St. Augustine’s Press Paperback, $20 The blogging age has unwittingly renewed an old thing: book writing by serial installments. The website known as The Catholic Thing has raised the bar in both blogging and books by publishing…