If Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity, the Spirit is the medium in which God's transforming action takes place.
The Love in which the Father and the Son are united is the divine We. Yet it reaches beyond itself to include the we of all believers in its embrace. As the last breath of
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Like most Italian words they roll off the tongue and sound great; but they disguise destructive fruit. Or so says Pope Francis in this morning's homily, the latest example of his "sermo humilis" style.
Idle and aimless chatter (chiacchiere) and gossip (pettegolezzo) poison the
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Margaret Sullivan, the Public Editor of the New York Times, has a blog post in which she addresses readers' complaints about the Times' coverage of the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS. She writes:
In essence, these readers believed The Times gave too little prominence to the story
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Some years back I gave my Sophomores the possibility of gaining extra credit if they made the trek from Chestnut Hill to Cambridge to see the movie: "Into Great Silence."
They arrived, bought the requisite popcorn and drinks, and settled in. The film began. Ten minutes later they
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In today's audience in Saint Peter's Square, Pope Francis spoke of the Holy Spirit. Vatican Radio has the full text. Here is an excerpt [translation modified for the sake of clarity]:
This is the precious gift that the Holy Spirit brings into our hearts: the very life of God, the life of true
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The second segment of the "Creed in the Mosaics of Monreale" is now posted. It can be viewed here.
Good viewing on the feast of Catherine of Siena
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Sandro Magister has an interesting post that comments on the homilies of Pope Francis. He quotes the Italian journalist, Stefania Falasca, who had interviewed the then Cardinal Bergoglio. Magister writes:
In an April 23 editorial in the newspaper of the Italian episcopal conference, "Avvenire
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At Mass this morning Pope Francis confirmed forty-four people from around the world. They ranged in age from eleven to fifty-five. Francis based his brief, but rich, reflections on the readings of the Fifth Sunday of Easter. He told the confirmandi:
the new things of God are not like the novelties
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The Boston Globe published today an exclusive interview with the victim of the carjacking by the Marathon Bombing suspects. Not only does "Danny" give a more accurate account of the time-line before the perpetrators were engaged by police, he shows himself to be an amazingly resourceful
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Definition: a project considered a useless waste of time and money, yet continued due to extraneous policy motivations.
You decide
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Just a month ago, I entered a post on whether the new Pope should retain "S.J." after his name. It gave rise to a spirited exchange. While arguing that I did not think the Pope (or any bishop) should retain the identifying designation of his religious community, I certainly did not call
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The first segment of the "Credo" series, using the Monreale mosaics, is now available on You Tube. It shows the 7 Days of Creation. I think it extraordinary. The theological and artistic commentaries are in Italian. But, if your Italian is rudimentary, you can still enjoy the mosaics, the
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On May 10, 2006 I posted on dotCommonweal the following:
On the fourth ballot this morning (requiring only a simple majority, in contrast to the two-thirds needed on the first three ballots), the eighty year old former Communist, Giorgio Napolitano, was chosen as Italy’s eleventh president.
It
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At Thursday's Interfaith Prayer Service held in Boston's Holy Cross Cathedral, I thought the clergy participants fair, but rather bland. By contrast, the three public officials who spoke, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, and President Obama, were superb, each in his own way.
Patrick and Obama had
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Pope Francis sent his regrets to the plenary meeting of the Argentinian episcopate. He can't be present due to unforeseen events. But he shared some thoughts with them:
In a letter sent to the group, which will remain in closed session until April 20, the Pope begins by ‘apologizing’ for his
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I have only seen the Cathedral of Monreale in Sicily once, many years ago. But it remains one of the most striking memories I have. Those who have seen it know that the resplendent twelfth century mosaics have brought the Bible to life for generations of Christians.
Sandro Magister reports on a
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from tomorrow's L'Osservatore Romano:
Following a suggestion made during the General Congregations that preceded the Conclave, Pope Francis has established a group of cardinals to advise him in the governance of the universal Church and to study a project for the revision of the Apostolic
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No Italian can hear the words, "la vita nuova," without thinking of Dante's early work. Indeed, the whole of the Divine Comedy is the mapping of the journey wherein Dante progressively appropriates (perhaps better: is appropriated by) the new life in Christ.
Pope Francis did not quote
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Michael Peppard, who teaches theology at Fordham and is a regular contributor to "dotCommonweal," has a quite thoughtful article in the current issue of the magazine. In it he enters into respectful and spirited dialogue with Cardinal Donald Wuerl on the nature of theology and the
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Pope Francis, as we know, has been living at the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican. He takes some of his meals with residents, and celebrates Mass daily with small groups of invited guests. According to reports, he preaches on the readings of the day "a braccio:" extemporaneously. Vatican
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It is always deeply moving to witness adults being baptized at the Easter Vigil. A significant moment of the rite is the clothing of the newly baptized with the white garment, symbolic of their having put on Christ. In union with them and inspired by them, one renews one's own ongoing commitment to
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In all the discussion regarding Charles Taylor's monumental book, A Secular Age, I find relatively little attention paid to his use of the notion of "excarnation." It's as though commentators are eager to embrace his account of the positive aspects of secularization and fearful lest his
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There has been wide-spread enthusiasm for the new Pope, beginning with his surprising and possibly revolutionary choice of name. The simplicity of his style and the pastoral sensitivity of his homilies and actions have received much favorable comment.
I have already posted, on this blog,
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From Pope Francis' Homily at the Easter Vigil:
Jesus no longer belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the future; Jesus is the everlasting “today” of God. This is how the newness of God appears to the women, the disciples and all of us: as victory over sin, evil
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This is Holy Saturday, day of the hiddenness of God. It is the day of that frightful paradox that we recite in the Creed with the words “descended into hell,” descended into the mystery of death.
On Good Friday we could at least look at the pierced one. But Holy Saturday is empty, the heavy
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In his homily at this morning's Chrism Mass, Pope Francis developed the image of anointing with oil and applied it to priestly ministry. He said:
A good priest can be recognized by the way his people are anointed. This is a clear test. When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is
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The current issue of The New York Review of Books contains a generous excerpt from a new book by the late Ronald Dworkin: Religion Without God. In it he presents a careful statement of an approach to religion which he distinguishes both from scientific naturalism and from orthodox theism. It
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The Archbishop of Havana, cum permissu superiorum, has published notes of the talk given by then Cardinal Bergoglio during the pre-Conclave meetings of the Cardinals. Here are two of ths points he made:
When the Church is self-referent without realizing it, she believes she has her own light. She
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Lucubrations here from the same luminaries who didn't even have Bergoglio on their lists of papabili!
The video is here
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On the America blog, James Martin, S.J., raises the issue whether Pope Francis remains a Jesuit. His conclusion is:
So yes, traditionally, the Pope is still considered a Jesuit.
Perhaps "traditionally" could be parsed: "in his heart of hearts."
However, there is an
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The Italian newspaper La Repubblica is featuring a daily dispatch in English on matters conclavial. Here is the latest:
We were also told that over 6000 journalists from 1004 media outlets in 65 countries and 24 languages have now been accredited.
The Sistine Chapel is now closed to tourists,
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Well, E.J. Dionne doesn't actually come right out and say it; but he seems to be leaning in that direction:
I am inclined, with Radcliffe, to believe we should celebrate rather than mourn our intellectual tensions — between Communion and Kingdom, between liberty on the one side and community and
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For those interested in matters related to the Conclave, John Allen's reporting is indispensable -- from his profiles of the papabili, to his interviews with Cardinals (I found his interview with Cardinal O'Malley refreshingly direct), to his reflections on the legacy of Benedict XVI.
But to his
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On the Third Sunday of Lent, March 7, 2010, Benedict XVI visited the new parish church of Saint John of the Cross in Rome. He concluded his homily with these words:
By revealing his Name, God establishes a relationship between himself and us. He enables us to invoke him, he enters into relations
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John Allen has a piece at NCR on the beginning discussion of the complex legacy of Pope Benedict that gives in broad strokes the divergent readings. An interesting new blog spot at America gives a sampling of recent reactions in the press to the pontificate.
I thought to offer one snap shot that
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Tom Baker, Commonweal's publisher (though I'm not quite sure what a publisher actually does) has a review of a book of sermons by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Baker gives one quote that particularly struck me in this season of endless pontifications about Pope Benedict's resignation, the coming Conclave,
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The current Commonweal editorial makes reference to the annual Lenten meeting of the Pope with the clergy of Rome. Speaking only from notes, Benedict reminisced on his experience as a young theologian at the Second Vatican Council. As one of the last surviving participants in the Council, his words
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An outpouring of more than one hundred thousand filled Saint Peter's Square for the penultimate public "Angelus" of Benedict XVI's pontificate. According to reports the great majority were Romans bidding "addio" to their bishop.
The Pope commented on today's gospel:
non
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Benedict XVI's audience today reiterated a familiar, yet always timely, theme:
"Conversion", an invitation that we will hear many times in Lent, means following Jesus so that his Gospel is a real life guide, it means allowing God to transform us, no longer thinking that we are the only
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Last November Pope Benedict visited a home for the elderly that the Community of Sant'Egidio sponsors. His words to the residents were full of affection and shared experience:
Dear friends, at our age we often experience the need of the help of others; and this also happens to the Pope. In the
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Like everyone else I was "stunned" by this morning's news about the resignation of Pope Benedict. As others have said, what surprised was not THAT he resigned (there were clear indications he was considering this), but the timing of the resignation. I had been expecting that he would
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John D'Arcy, Bishop emeritus of Fort Wayne–South Bend, died on February 3rd. Monsignor Michael Heintz, the Rector of the Cathedral there, preached the homily at the Mass of Christian Burial. Here are three excerpts from the homily:
Bishop D’Arcy’s last days became a Mass, his final Mass.
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Those not planing to watch THE event today, may be interested in "thumbing" through the latest issue of "C-21 Resources" from Boston College's Church in the 21st Century Initiative. The theme is "Exploring the Catholic Intellectual Tradition" and contains articles
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Of the late Mayor Ed Koch of New York:
I loved Cardinal O’Connor as a brother. Since his death, I have kept his funeral memorial card on my desk. When I’m depressed, which occasionally I am, I hold the card and become reinvigorated. Indeed, I believe holding his photo when I was in the
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It is a source of wonder that the first few pages of the Gospel according to Saint Luke present three prayer/canticles that have framed and oriented the Church's day for almost two thousand years:
"Benedictus:" "The dawn from on high shall break upon us."
"Magnificat:&
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Some years ago, I attended a lecture by Fordham's noted patristics scholar, Joseph Lienhard, S.J. He spoke on the early Church father, Origen. As I recall, the leitmotif of the presentation was that Origen, in his homilies, stressed to the congregation: "etiam nunc," today also! The
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I recently met a young man from an Evangelical Christian background who is in an RCIA program, preparing to be received into the Catholic Church. I asked him what attracted him to Catholicism and his response was twofold. First, he found that Catholicism set his relationship to Jesus in the deeper
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James Wood, the eminent book reviewer of The New Yorker, has in the current issue (subscribers only) a memoir about how we grow to resemble our parents: "Becoming Them." The reflections are elegant, bemused, poignant, and by the end, grieving.
He muses:
Sometimes I catch myself and
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from Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth, volume one: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration:
Luke tells us that Jesus was praying while he received baptism (cf. Lk 3:21). Looking at the events in light of the Cross and Resurrection, the Christian people realized what happened: Jesus
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The "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World" is universally known by its first words in Latin: "Gaudium et Spes." But the Constitution immediately goes on to add two other nouns: "luctus et angor" -- "grief and anxiety."
Michael Gerson, in
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From Pope Benedict's Homily in Saint Peter's Basilica last night:
So Christ is our peace, and he proclaimed peace to those far away and to those near at hand (cf. Eph 2:14, 17). How could we now do other than pray to him: Yes, Lord, proclaim peace today to us too, whether we are far away or near
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Early this morning, while perusing Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible (hey, what else does one do while waiting for the Times to arrive?), I came upon the entry for "Jebus." Jebus was the town David captured from the Jebusites and then built Jerusalem on the site. The article claims that
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I thought President Obama gave a most moving and appropriate, if terribly sad, address last evening at the Prayer Service in Newtown. Here is a part of his remarks:
But we, as a nation, we are left with some hard questions. Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent
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Recently a nephew sent to the immediate family suggestions for Christmas gifts -- for himself. Actually I found the list helpful: no BMWs or neckties made it, thus ruling out one option I had been seriously considering.
If anyone is making a similar list to email to loved ones, I happily
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One of the finest (and historic) fruits of the decades-old deliberations of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is their Seattle Statement issued in 2005: "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ." Here is one part of their reflection:
The word of God delivered by Gabriel
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From The Washington Post:
Each morning between now and Dec. 10, watch Saturn and Venus rapidly appear to grow apart. Before dawn Dec. 10, the waning crescent moon picks Saturn as a dance partner. And before dawn Dec. 11, the vivacious Venus slow dances with the old, skinny moon.
Meteors
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I found Michael Gerson's column in today's Washington Post about the movie "Lincoln" well-written and thoughtful. I haven't seen the movie, but his reflection makes me want to go. He ends:
The union would be well served today by herding all 535 of its legislators into a darkened
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Appropriately, the "lectio continua" for the weekdays of the close of the liturgical year is from the Book of Revelation. The second reading for this Sunday's Eucharist will also come from Revelation.
If the reading from Revelation was proclaimed this morning, we heard part of chapter
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Fifty years ago today, Yves Congar wrote these words in the journal that he was keeping during the newly-opened Second Vatican Council. (Congar's "My Journal of the Council" has recently been published in English translation by Liturgical Press).
His astonished exclamation concerned
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The great Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, is reported to have once addressed a gathering of Catholic priests. He acknowledged that the great difference between believing Christians and believing Jews was that Jews were still waiting for the Messiah, while Christians were waiting for him to come
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This morning Pope Benedict visited a home for the elderly sponsored by the Sant'Egidio Community. In addressing the residents, he spoke of the old age they share in common:
"At our age we often experience the need for the assistance of others, and this also happens to the Pope. ... I would
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One of my earliest memories of the Bronx Italian-American parish in which I grew up was of a letter being read at Sunday Mass. It was from Cardinal Spellman asking parishioners to write relatives in Italy pleading with them to vote for the Christian Democrats in the crucial election of 1948. If
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In an earlier post, I heartily recommended Paul Griffiths' new translation and commentary of The Song of Songs. Griffiths rejuvenates the venerable tradition, begun with Origen among Christian thinkers, of reading the Song not merely literally, but figurally, that is as celebrating God's passionate
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Though not much of a movie-goer, I faithfully read movie reviews. My hands down favorite reviewer is Anthony Lane of the New Yorker. In the current New York Review of Books Geoffrey O'Brien reviews Ridley Scott's movie "Prometheus." and though I think the review's ending becomes rather
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In his long review in Commonweal of the Brazos "Theological Commentary on the Bible" series, Luke Timothy Johnson has unstinting praise for Paul Griffiths' volume on the Song of Songs. Johnson said in part:
[Griffiths'] reading of individual words, phrases, and stanzas is close, informed
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I find the prayers of this Sunday's Liturgy particularly rich and worthy of week-long meditation. Here is the "Prayer over the Offerings:"
O God, who in the one perfect sacrifice brought to completion varied offerings of the law,
accept, we pray, this sacrifice from your faithful
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Here is an opinion that will surprise:
"Many art historians identify Matthew with the bearded personage who with his hand seems to be pointing to himself, looking at Jesus. But more careful recent analysis of the painting has determined that this is one of the moneylenders – with his
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Since I will be in Boise (don't ask) on the feast of Saint Benedict, I thought to anticipate the celebration.
I've several times mentioned the Australian Trappist, Michael Casey, as one of my favorite spiritual writers. He has a relatively new book of reflections on the "Prologue" to
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On a recent trip to New York, I visited the Cloisters for the first time in many years. What a treasure house of beauty and peace! One of the paintings that most impressed me was a triptych from the School of Rogier van der Weyden, with a lovely representation of the embrace of Mary and Elizabeth.
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Some consider the Lectures on Justification to be John Henry Newman's finest theological work. In "Lecture 9: Righteousness the Fruit of Our Lord's Resurrection," he wrestles with the difficult question of the mutual indwelling of Christ and the Spirit in the believer. He ends his lecture
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Brother Ambrose, FSC, was my 6th grade teacher at Immaculate Conception School in the South Bronx. Rumor had it that he had spurned a minor league contract to join the Christian Brothers, That and his general commanding presence made him a hero to the 56[!] eleven to thirteen years-old whom he
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On the op-ed page of today's New York Times there is an ad from The Catholic League about an episode on the John Stewart Show. According to the ad, Stewart mocked Fox News' "War on Women" by suggesting that "Vagina Mangers" could be used by women "to protect their
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The great baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau died yesterday in Germany and today's Times has a wonderful appreciation (two in fact). Here's part of the front page story:
Mr. Fischer-Dieskau had sufficient power for the concert hall and for substantial roles in his parallel career as a star of
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Garry Wills, so adroit at parsing Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation," so subtle in his analysis of Verdi's Shakespeare operas, loses all nuance when he tackles intra-Catholic issues. Then, like the Verdi of the early potboilers, it's all villains and heroes.
So in the June 7th New
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From a homily on the Ascension by Hans Urs von Balthasar:
The Lord Jesus Christ shares in God’s mode of presence; but he is not only God, he is also man for all eternity, with a human body and a human soul. Now this humanity explicitly participates in the new mode of Christ’ s presence and
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During his apostolic visit to Tuscany last Sunday, Pope Benedict hoped to ascend to La Verna where Saint Francis received the stigmata. The weather did not permit this. But here is the reflection the Pope prepared for the pilgrimage:
The contemplation of the Crucified has an extraordinary efficacy
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The fourth volume of Robert Caro's monumental biography of Lyndon Johnson has appeared to rapturous reviews. Garry Wills joins the chorus in the latest issue of The New York Review of Books. Here's how Wills begins:
Robert Caro’s epic biography of Lyndon Johnson—this is the fourth volume of a
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The Spring issue of Notre Dame's new online journal, "Church Life: A Journal for the New Evangelization" is now available here. Aside from regular contributors like John Cavadini, Larry Cunningham, and Virgilio Elizondo, it has some fine articles on the place of art and film in Christian
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"Little Gidding," the fourth of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, has as its fourth movement Eliot's famous Pentecostal invocation:
The dove descending breaks the air/ With flame of incandescent terror.
This verse sprang to mind when I read Jerry Ryan's riveting reflection in the current
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In desperate need of a respite from term-paper reading (bleakness broken by the occasional flash of sunlight) I've been turning to the mainstream media -- which plumped me right into the lap of Bill Keller. In today's Times Keller skewers "Fox News:"
My gripe against Fox is not that it
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In this weekend's Wall Street Journal, Joseph Epstein has a high-octane review of Paul Ingrassia's Engines of Change. Ingrassia's point, among others, is how our car-buying reflects our persona. Herewith some of Mister Epstein's musings:
I am not sure how it came about, but in 1969 I owned another
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The New York Times reports today on its front page of a course offered at New York University by that venerable institution's President, Dr. John Sexton. The course is entitled, "Baseball as a Road to God."
Here is a profile of the professor-president:
As the president of N.Y.U., Dr.
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Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington posts regularly. Recently he had some reflections on the importance of music that climaxed with a remarkable video.
Scripture says the Lord puts music in our hearts and that many, by it will be summoned to faith: The Lord set my feet on a
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From this morning's Washington Post:
The barbarians have done it, finally infiltrated a remaining bastion of order in a linguistic wasteland. They had already taken the Oxford English Dictionary; they had stormed the gates of Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition. They had
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In the sanctuary of Sacred Heart Church in Newton Center (as in other sanctuaries) stands a splendid Paschal Candle. As I gazed upon it Sunday, while the first two readings were proclaimed, I remembered Pope Benedict's words at this year's Easter Vigil in Saint Peter's Basilica:
Dear friends, as I
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Details of alleged misconduct involving a Secret Service detail assigned to the President in Columbia are seeping out. At the end of its report, the New York Times quotes a former agent:
Daniel Bongino, a former Secret Service agent with the presidential protection division who left the agency in
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Rocco Palmo commemorated yesterday the thirty-second anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, by transcribing some of the homily he preached at the Mass during which he was martyred.
You have just heard in Christ’s gospel that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid
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Archbishop Rowan Williams announced today that he will be stepping down as Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of December. The announcement is here.
He was in Rome earlier this week and celebrated Vespers, together with Pope Benedict, at the Church of San Gregorio Magno, the Pope who sent monks
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Archbishop Martin of Dublin, in a recent reflection, took as his leitmotif John XXIII's opening address at the Second Vatican Council: "Gaudet mater ecclesia." Like most of Martin's talks it is nuanced and many-sided. Here is an excerpt:
Our rejoicing about the Irish Church must be kept
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Yesterday's New York Times featured a full-page ad placed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation advising "liberal Catholics" to leave the benighted institution.
Though some might find it objectionable that the ad was accepted at all, the FFRF complained rather of the Times prior
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Alex Ross of The New Yorker is to music critics what Luke Johnson is to exegetes. So when he characterizes the Metropolitan Opera's just completed new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle as "catastrophically vapid" you somehow sense he's not happy. He expatiates:
the most ambitious
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I know many have walked down the broad boulevard leading to Saint Peter's Basilica. And most know that it was planned by Mussolini after the Lateran Treaty. I also knew that many old buildings had to be torn down to construct it. But I had never seen what it was like before the demolition. Then a
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An encouraging sign among students at Boston College (and I hope elsewhere) is their discovery of the Liturgy of the Hours. Here is how Gregory Collins, OSB, in his Meeting Christ in His Mysteries speaks of this celebration:
What then are we doing when we pray the Liturgy of the Hours at regular
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Meeting Christ in His Mysteries by Gregory Collins, OSB is a book I have already recommended highly. Part Two is entitled: "Meditating on the Mysteries in the Liturgical Year" and provides rich reflections for the liturgical seasons.
The Feast of the Transfiguration receives much more
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The influential political scientist, James Q. Wilson, died yesterday at age 80. Today's Wall Street Journal has a number of commemorations, including a catena of quotes from Wilson's op ed articles. Here are two:
"A Life in the Public Interest," Sept. 21, 2009:
The view that we know
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One of the singular services of magazines like Commonweal are the book reviews, alerting us to worthwhile volumes we might otherwise miss. And when the reviewer is someone whom we have learned to trust, whose authority has impressed itself on us, then one pays particular heed. So, in the February
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When I was in grammar school with the Brothers of the Christian Schools, there was the spiritual practice of pausing on the hour to the injunction:
Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God
For sixth graders it was a welcome relief from the intricacies of English grammar or mental
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Here is a fascinating interview with a Catholic priest, Father David Neuhaus, who is the vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics. He is a convert from Judaism who first encountered Jesus through the witness of a bed-ridden eighty-nine year old Russian Orthodox nun.
The first part of the interview
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Each year Pope Benedict meets with the seminarians of the Diocese of Rome and engages with them in "lectio divina:" an in-depth meditation on a passage of Scripture. His text this year was Romans 12:1&2. Here is a part of his reflection:
What is Paul appealing for in this regard
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Larry Cunningham (whose stipends from "Commonweal" I believe are funding the new Notre Dame Journal on evangelization) has a fine Lenten reflection [subscribers only] in the current issue. He writes:
The Bible tells us two things about the desert: that it is dangerous (Mark’s Gospel
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Today the Church honors Blessed Fra Angelico, the patron of artists. In his "Lives of the Painters," Giorgio Vasari quotes the saintly friar: "chi fa cose di Cristo, con Cristo deve stare sempre:" he who is engaged in the things of Christ, must always abide with Christ.
In
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Notre Dame's Institute for Church Life has launched a promising online journal to be published quarterly: "Church Life: A Journal for the New Evangelization." The editor, Timothy O'Malley describes in the inaugural issue the vision that inspires the undertaking:
Pastoral theology is the
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The BBC, among its many virtues, has a program called "Assignment." I happened upon an episode this morning that is a stark, indeed horrific, presentation of homelessness in our time. It gives a face to the statistics. And if, as a defender of the present socio-economic order maintains,
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The title of the post is the title of a symposium held in Rome from February 9th to 11th, sponsored by the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI).
Among the invited speakers was N.T. Wright the noted New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop. I thought his intervention, available in English, was quite
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Michael Kimmelman, the fine architecture critic of The New York Times, has posted a utopian proposal to "Restore a Gateway to Dignity." It entails moving Madison Square Garden to a new location, and bringing back some measure of dignity and humanity to the tragedy and travesty which is
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For those who missed last evening's PBS "Newshour," Mark Shields was typically forthright in commenting upon the HHS decision:
what President Obama has done with this policy, and Secretary Sebelius, quite bluntly, is they have taken those Catholics who took a risk to support them,
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On the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God, some lines from Hopkins' lovely poem, The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe:
This air, which, by life's law/ My lung must draw and draw// Now but to breathe its praise/ Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only gave
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Today's Wall Street Journal has a review of a book of essays by Liu Xiaobo, the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, who is currently in prison in China. Mr. Liu was one of the architects of "Charter 08," which called for the promotion of democratic principles in China. This initiative
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Last year's "Christmas Editorial" in The New York Times "famously" located the heart of the Christmas Narrative in "shepherds abiding." This year notable progress has been recorded. They write:
It would be wonderful, too, to be woken in the earliest hours of the
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The opening chorus of Bach's Christmas Oratorio:
Rejoice and be glad! Come, praise the days//Glorify what the Lord has done this day.
Cease being fearful, banish lament//Raises your voices full of rejoicing and gladness.
Serve the Lord with wondrous chorus//Let us worship the Lord's Name
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from John Allen's NCR post:
According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular NGO based in Germany, fully 80 percent of all acts of religious intolerance in the world are directed at Christians. A recent symposium organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
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It is a special blessing to have four full weeks of Advent this year -- more time to ponder the glorious Advent of the Savior.
A friend, deeply devoted to the Church's liturgy, told me that one of his favorite breviary readings is that for December 20th. It is from a sermon of Saint Bernard on
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How often we catch ourselves fearing that in the last analysis there is no meaning in the chaotic course of this world and that world history divides all men into the stupid and the strong. The prevailing sense is that dark forces are on the increase and that goodness is impotent. When we look at
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From the New York Times:
Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who wove theater into politics to peacefully bring down communism in Czechoslovakia and become a hero of the epic struggle that ended the Cold War, has died. He was 75.
Shy and bookish, with wispy mustache and unkempt hair, Mr.
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From John Henry Newman's sermon, "Waiting for Christ:"
Scripture sanctions us in interpreting all that we see in the world in a religious sense, and as if all things were tokens and revelations of Christ, His Providence, and will. I mean that if this lower
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Planning to return to the Big Apple, once grading is finished, I consulted the current New Yorker for musical events during the Christmas season. I found this intriguing notice:
Harold Rosenberg's Canticum Novum Singers team up with Parthenia, New York's invaluable consort of viols, to offer "
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I often find myself smiling when I hear spiritual bromides floated, like "seeing God in all things," or "grace is everywhere." I wonder: do these people realize that the first is derived from the Fourth Week of Ignatius' Exercises (after passing through the purification of the
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In the early centuries of the Church most theologians were also pastors. For them, theology and spirituality, contemplation and Christian living were inseparable. One of their watchwords was: "To be, and not merely to seem to be, friends of God."
John Henry Newman drank deeply from the
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Today's Wall Street Journal features a front-page piece entitled "Corzine Rebuffed Internal Warnings on Risks." It recounts warnings by the executive in charge of controlling risks, made both to Mr. Corzine and to the firm's Board, regarding MF Global's over-extension in European bond
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From an Advent sermon of John Henry Newman, "Divine Calls," meditating upon the call of Samuel:
We need not fear spiritual pride then, in following Christ's call, if we follow it as men in earnest. Earnestness has no time to compare itself with the state of
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Like all generally good things, some issues of The New Yorker can be better than others. Any issue which features a movie review by Anthony Lane already is heading in the "better" direction. So it is with the December 5th issue. Lane begins with one of his trademark openings:
The hero of
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Alfred Delp, S.J., was executed by the Nazis short months before the regime's downfall. The Provincial of the English Jesuits has a moving personal reflection on his brother in the faith here.
Delp's Prison Meditations and Prayers are not as well-known as those of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; but they
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In the musical tradition of Lutheran Leipzig, Advent was a season in which musical offerings were restricted. Hence Bach has only a few Cantatas for Advent. His Cantata, "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" (BWV 62) is based on Luther's German hymn, itself dependent upon the fourth century
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Today, in his homily at Amitié Stadium, in Cotonou, Benin, Pope Benedict reflected on the challenge posed by our celebration of this Feast of Christ the King. He said:
Today, like two thousand years ago, accustomed to seeing the signs of royalty in success, power, money and ability, we find it
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Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard, doffs the prophet's hat to contemplate the United States of Europe, circa 2021. Here's the inaugural vision:
Welcome to Europe, 2021. Ten years have elapsed since the great crisis of 2010-11, which claimed the scalps of no fewer than 10
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The President is 85 year old Giorgio Napolitano, former Communist, whose election 5 years ago was commented upon by dotCommonweal here. The Professor is the formal and formidable Mario Monti who took on and defeated G.E. and Microsoft while head of the European Union's Commission on Competition
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Rod Dreher posts about a personal experience told by Tim Dalrymple. Dalrymple begins with a a friend who had just returned from a month-long Ignatian retreat.
As [my friend] described his retreat, I kept hearing a particular word — a word that surprised me, a word that I had not heard or spoken
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The amazingly prolific and informed Garry Wills (not always right, but always fascinating) has a new book on Verdi's three operas based on the plays of Shakespeare: Verdi's Shakespeare: Men of the Theater. There is an excerpt in the current New York Review of Books. Wills writes:
Most of the many
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In a remarkable reflection (that almost sums up his encyclical, Spe Salvi), Pope Benedict commemorated All Souls Day. The whole reflection is quite worth pondering, but here is his concluding paragraph:
This yearly commemoration, often marked by visits to the cemetery, is an occasion to ponder
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My fellow presbyter, Father Nonomen, has a column in the current Commoweal which begins with a less than enthusiastic welcoming of the new translation of the Roman Missal. But, having delivered himself of some (always civil) lamentations, he takes a turn:
I’d rather look for ways to work within
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In back to back editorials today the New York Times seems conflicted. In the first, "Greece on the Brink," the editors state:
It is late but, we hope, not too late to avert a full meltdown. Europe’s leaders need to renegotiate the pending Greek bailout deal to emphasize reform and
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DotCommonweal's clout clearly at work (with a little help from the Boston Globe):
The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure is expected to schedule an oversight hearing on seafood substitution in the coming weeks. The Patrick administration and members of the state
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I have a friend -- let's call him "Joe;" for years he's bad-mouthed the poor Euro.
Now, it seems, the Euro's poised to fall -- if you believe the nigh-infallible Paul!
Krugman:
The bitter truth is that it’s looking more and more as if the euro system is doomed. And the even more
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from Sunday's Boston Globe:
The sliver of raw fish sold as white tuna at Skipjack’s in Foxborough was actually escolar, an oily, cheaper species banned in Japan because it can make people sick. The Alaskan butterfish at celebrity chef Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger in Wellesley was really
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Frans Jozef van Beeck, S.J., died yesterday in his native Holland at age eighty-one. Although trained in literature, Father van Beeck taught theology for more than fifteen years at Boston College and then another twenty years at Loyola University, Chicago.
He was, in every way, an out-sized
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During his 2008 pastoral visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the Bishops. Among his comments were the following:
it is becoming more and more difficult, in our Western societies, to speak in a meaningful way of “salvation”. Yet salvation – deliverance from the reality
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Spurred by Paul Griffiths' intriguing review in Commonweal, I purchased Gillian Rose's Love's Work, her posthumously published memoir. I had not read Rose before; and I confess the book is unlike anything I've read. It can be read in an evening; but its effect remains far beyond the initial
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Joe Nocera bewails, in Italianate fashion, the "Fox-ification" of the once great Wall Street Journal. He also confesses his own well-intentioned, but in hindsight, rather naive optimism in the matter.
To tell you the truth, I’m hanging my head in shame too. Four years ago, when
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I saw Terrence Malick's film last evening, spurred in part by Geoffrey O'Brien's review in The New York Review of Books. O'Brien writes:
The film’s portentous epigraph is the grandest question of all, God’s challenge to Job—”Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?”—
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To commemorate the great founder of Western monasticism, I've been reading a splendid new book, by an Irish Benedictine, Gregory Collins. The title is: Meeting Christ in his Mysteries: A Benedictine Vision of the Spiritual Life (Liturgical Press).
Aside from the influence of his own monastic
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Here begins the front page review in tomorrow's New York Times "Sunday Book Review:"
John Julius Norwich makes a point of saying in the introduction to his history of the popes that he is “no scholar” and that he is “an agnostic Protestant.” The first point means that while he
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Though I have had the great good fortune of being able to spend significant time in Rome over the past ten years, I had not been to Florence in thirty years.
Finally, two weeks ago, I spent three glorious days there. The weather was ideal, the throngs good-humored, and the food fine.
But
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As complement to David Gibson's post on the Lord's Resurrection, here, from the "Epilogue" to volume two of Jesus of Nazareth, is some of Pope Benedict's meditation on the Ascension.
Jesus led his followers into the vicinity of Bethany, we are told. "Lifting up his hands he blessed
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In a post below I mentioned returning to read Karl Rahner after some years of relative neglect. In a typically dense essay, "Christianity's Absolute Claim," (Theological Investigations, volume 21) from relatively late in his life, Rahner ends on a very personal note:
In the challenge of
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The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger once remarked that he and Karl Rahner dwelt on different theological "planets." Perhaps more has been made of this passing comment than is warranted. But, as I re-read Rahner, I am newly convinced that their planets circle the same Sun.
Pope Benedict
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For approximately 15 years Karl Rahner was the contemporary Catholic theologian most influential upon my own theological understanding and development. Perhaps the earliest work of his I read was the evocative "Encounters with Silence." I greatly resonated with the cosmic vision of his &
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These were the themes of the Commencement Address given by Secretary of Transportation, Raymond LaHood, at Boston College this morning. And though he recognized these values as a present challenge, he was far from idealizing the past. As a matter of fact he said:
No one doubts that this is an age
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Joe Nocera, the people's choice, is now on the Times' op-ed page. Today he has a column on this week's LinkedIn I.P.O., and he's not celebrating. The stock more than doubled in price on the first day; but there's a catch:
For a small company with less than $16 million in profits last year, $352
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Apropos Eric's post below, I though dotCommonwealers would enjoy Commencement remarks by John Garvey, former Dean of Boston College Law School and the (still relatively new) President of Catholic University:
Mercy is a gift. First and foremost, it’s a gift from God. It’s not something we
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I've just finished reading 38 papers from my "Exploring Catholicism" course. They are a take-home final: an effort to encourage the students to bring the semester's readings and presentations together into a synthesis that is both faithful to the material covered, yet also personal.
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Jim Lehrer is continuing to step back from his "Newshour" duties, graciously ceding his place to younger colleagues. Here is a recap of his distinguished career. At the end of the segment he enunciates the "guidelines" which have made him one of the most respected voices in
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One of the most entertaining features of The New York Review of Books is the predictable follow-up to a critical review. Garry Wills' recent über-critical review of All Things Shining (mentioned on dotCom by John McGreevy) has elicited counter-accusations by the aggrieved authors:
Any good
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Though rather beyond the "mezzo" marker "nel cammin di nostra vita," I've been belatedly introduced by a friend to the writings of E.B. White, in particular, his classic, One Man's Meat, which chronicles with unerring eye and limpid prose his four years writing and tending a
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The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has a new website with non-subscription access through August 31st.
Here is the weekly English edition.
And here is the link for those who would like to read Sunday's Italian edition of the daily paper
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In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
"Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming" (Mt 24: 42) - these words remind me of the last call that will come at whatever time the Lord desires. I want to follow Him and I want all that is part of my earthly
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What did the Beloved Disciple see? What do we see? Here is what Bach saw
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Many know the extraordinary ancient homily that is read at "Tenebrae" on Holy Saturday. Just having read it in our parish church, I am struck anew by its depth and audacity. Those unfamiliar with it will, I hope, be as moved by it as I always am. It begins:
Something strange is happening
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Among the most prominent threads that make up the magnificent tapestry of the Gospel according to John is that of "the hour of Jesus." "My hour has not yet come," Jesus says to his mother.
The movement of the Gospel, then, is towards the full revelation of the hour of Jesus.
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In Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two: Holy Week, Pope Benedict writes:
Saint John's whole Passion narrative is built on this connection between humble service and glory (doxa): it is in Jesus' downward path, in his abasement even to the Cross, that God's glory is seen, that the Father and, in him, Jesus
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Palm Sunday in the Bronx was a lovely sunny morning. After celebrating the 9:00 a.m. Mass in Italian here at Saint Theresa's (the 80 or 90 usually in attendance unsurprisingly doubled in size), I walked around the neighborhood and stopped at the house of an elderly lady whose limited walking
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The word "realize" is central to Blessed John Henry Newman's pastoral vision. The challenge we face as Christians is to realize the grace that God so lavishly bestows upon us in Christ. To "realize," not merely notionally or cognitively, but with our whole being: body, mind, and
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Pondering this Sunday's Gospel of the Raising of Lazarus, I've been playing the "Credo" of Bach's Mass in B Minor, perhaps the very summit of Bach's genius "soli Deo gloria."
I am always especially moved by the close of the "Credo." The concluding words of the
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For a few years now I have from time to time recommended John Eliot Gardiner's recordings of the complete Bach cantatas on the "Soli Deo Gloria" label. Besides the fact that these are superb recordings, they are further enhanced by Gardiner's insightful notes, and helpfully grouped
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One of the musical pleasures of living near Boston is the Handel and Haydn Society's concerts. Founded in 1815, it will soon celebrate its bicentennial. For the past two seasons the music director has been Harry Christophers, who to my purely amateur ears, has revitalized the venerable Society.
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Joe Nocera, whose Saturday column, "Talking Business," is distinguished for its insight, passion, and plain common sense, writes his last column in today's edition of the Times. Happily, though, he is not leaving, but moving to the op-ed page.
This is my last Talking Business column; as
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My friend, Monsignor Tom Leonard, is pastor of Holy Trinity church on Manhattan's West Side. His energy, creativity, and enthusiasm are infectious. He carefully crafts his homilies with Irish wit, tenderness, and insight. He recently preached at the funeral Mass of his long-time friend, Bishop
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"They spoke of his exodus, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem" (Lk 9:31)
Though I had anticipated, because of the reviews, the scene in "Of Gods and Men" of the last supper with the fine wine and enchanting music, nothing had prepared me for the transfigured faces
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An address by Archbishop Martin of Dublin at Mater Dei Institute on "Church State Relations" :
The Church does not have all the answers to the questions of the day: to claim that would be fundamentalism. The Church cannot simply adopt politically correct positions: to claim that would
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That's Monsignor John P. Meier, priest of the Archdiocese of New York, Professor at the University of Notre Dame, Bronx native. His four volume (and counting) work, A Marginal Jew, drew this praise from Pope Benedict: "a model of historical-critical exegesis." This judgment, first offered
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Frank Rich, announcing his departure from the New York Times, writes in part:
When I felt frustrated by churning out a standard-length Op-Ed column after a few years, The Times went out of its way to accommodate me by giving me more space, all the better for trying to connect more dots. It was
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But Luke adds, ominously: "so he departed from him until an opportune time."
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From Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday catechesis:
it is above all in the liturgy, in participation in the holy mysteries, where we are led to undertake this journey with the Lord; it is putting ourselves in Jesus' school, reflecting on the events that brought us salvation, but not as a simple
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Sandro Magister reports on a new television and web initiative that features the homilies of Pope Benedict, the art commentary of Timothy Verdon, and music from the tradition of chant and polyphony:
Beginning this Saturday, the vigil of the first Sunday of Lent, Benedict XVI will be on TV every
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The nigh omni-competent Garry Wills has a piece in the current "New York Review of Books" on the collaboration between Giuseppe Verdi and his last and greatest librettist, Arrigo Boito. The article is only available to subscribers, but it begins:
Verdi had a great advantage over Rossini
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Apropos the film "Of Gods and Men" the heroic witness of the French Trappist monks was celebrated. Here is another witness, assassinated today.
From the Associated Press:
Militants gunned down the only Christian in Pakistan's government outside his widowed mother's home Wednesday,
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Today is the 90th birthday of Richard Wilbur, arguably America's greatest living poet. The Wall Street Journal has a handsome appreciation:
His productivity, never high to begin with, has slowed with age. He finishes poems at the rate that Antonio Stradivari constructed a violin. "I often
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A.O. Scott begins his review of the French film, "Of Gods and Men," in today's Times:
In the 1990s, Algeria was gripped by a gruesome, protracted civil war between the government — which declared martial law after annulling elections it appeared to have lost — and a ruthless Islamist
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In the second reading for Sunday's liturgy Paul tells the Corinthians:
Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.
Centuries later John Henry
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Karl Barth famously instructed the preacher to hold the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other. Over the years both The New Yorker and Commonweal have supplemented and surpassed the newspaper in providing provocative material to help actualize the sacred text.
In pondering the
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John Garvey (cousin of Commonweal's fine columnist of the same name and a sometime contributor to the magazine himself) was inaugurated today as President of the Catholic University of America.
John, former dean of the Boston College Law School and a friend of many years, entitled his inaugural
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The Times' music critic, Anthony Tommasini, as many undoubtedly know, has been embarked over the past two weeks in a quixotic, but intriguing effort to select the ten greatest classical music composers. He has announced his Oscar choices here. Along the way Tommasini has made a number of insightful
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John Allen has a fascinating interview that begins:
Fascinating characters have always populated the landscape of Jewish-Catholic relations, but even in that milieu it's tough to find a more intriguing personality these days than Joseph Weiler. A South-African born legal scholar and the son of
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A few months ago I posted excerpts from Anne Applebaum's appreciative review of a new book by Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale: Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. I quoted then Applebaum's stark conclusion which is worth repeating:
If nothing else, a reassessment of what we
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A new word entered the Big Apple lexicon this week, and it’s not a happy one.
Tertiary, despite managing to simultaneously sound like both euphemistic bureaucratese and ripping flesh, is a Latinate word that means, simply, third. In a classification system with only three levels, tertiary,
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"On the third day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg tried on empathy. Sort of." So suggests Michael Powell in (you guessed it) the Times.
Mr. Powell goes on to opine:
Our mayor comes with great reluctance to “I feel your pain” moments, calling to mind a Park Avenue dowager donning a
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Those, fortunate enough not to have to venture out in the blizzard-challenged Northeast, can catch up on accumulated newspapers. They might even pause over The New York Times "Christmas" editorial.
The newspaper of record suspects something happened in Bethlehem. "To Christians
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At Midnight Mass in Saint Peter's Pope Benedict concluded his homily with these words:
Saint Luke does not say that the angels sang. He states quite soberly: the heavenly host praised God and said: “Glory to God in the highest” (Lk 2:13f.). But men have always known that the speech of
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Among the memorable meditations in Commonweal's Christmas issue, Leo O'Donovan's "Fugitives" has particular relevance to the feast we are about to celebrate. It is a theological and aesthetic reflection upon St. Matthew's narrative of the flight into Egypt -- one that is also searing in
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It caused a stir when you chose the now famous camauro, a sort of peaked cap that had last been worn by John XXIII, as a head covering for the winter. Was that just a fashion accessory -- or was it the expression of a return to tried and true forms in the Church?
I wore it only once. I was just
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The discussion regarding Pope Benedict's new book, Light of the World, will doubtless be engaged at many levels over the coming weeks. In the up-till-now most cited passsage, the part that I found particularly typical of the Pope was this:
this can be a first step in the direction of a
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Alerted by the review in Commonweal and intrigued by the title, I purchased Wendell Berry's volume of essays: Imagination in Place.
I had only read occasional essays by Berry and did not really know his work. But this volume strongly struck me by its deep sense of the "sacramentality"
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This semester I am co-leading a graduate seminar on the Christology and Trinitarian Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar. It has been an exhilarating experience: a communal engagement with the dense and rich thought of the Swiss theologian.
We've read one volume from each of the three parts of his
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The Synod of Bishops held in October 2008 was dedicated to "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." Yesterday the Vatican released Pope Benedict's "Apostolic Exhortation: Verbum Domini," that reflects upon and presents the deliberations of the Synod.
It is a
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Today Pope Benedict consecrated the church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Here is part of his homily:
What do we do when we dedicate this church? In the heart of the world, placed before God and mankind, with a humble and joyful act of faith, we raise up this massive material structure,
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The superb teacher and Dante scholar, Peter Hawkins, delivered the Beecher Lectures at Yale. They have been published as Undiscovered Country: Imagining the World to Come. He weaves masterful resumes of Dante's three Cantiche with poignant, and often funny, personal reflections. Thus he writes:
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On October 31, 2000 John Eliot Gardiner's "Bach Cantata Pilgrimage" was in Wittenberg to sing the cantatas Bach composed for "Reformation Sunday." I have several times praised and recommended Gardiner's monumental achievement in recording all the cantatas on their liturgically
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The much anticipated book by Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale, has appeared. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin is reviewed in the current issue of the New York Review of Books by Anne Applebaum (herself the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gulag: A History).
She writes
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The New Testament scholar, Dale Allison, has just published a new book, Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History. It begins:
This is my fourth and, I hope, final book on the historical Jesus. I never intended to produce more than a single slim volume. But one thing led to another, or
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Whenever possible, my Friday evening includes the "News Hour" with Jim Lehrer and his marvelous team of professionals. And, of course, the duo of Shields and Brooks is always informative and often entertaining. Though they may not have attained post-partisan Nirvana, they have obvious
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The Synod on the Middle East began in Rome on Monday and there have already been a number of interesting interventions. Today the two Muslim observers addressed the Synod: a historic first.
Both John Allen at NCR and Austen Ivereigh at America are reporting on the spot, with their accustomed
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Last Friday evening I participated in a particularly memorable Liturgy at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church near the Boston College Campus. Seven young Jesuits were ordained to the diaconate, in the midst of a celebratory congregation, buoyed by splendid music. The Bishop, who presided, was imposing in
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Just two weeks ago I heard on the radio a Metropolitan Opera Broadcast of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." The voice was rock solid with incredible breath control and magnificent trills. I did not have to wait until the Act's end to recognize "La Stupenda."
Now, Joan
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At the Prayer Vigil last evening in Hyde Park, Pope Benedict began his homily with these words:
This is an evening of joy, of immense spiritual joy, for all of us. We are gathered here in prayerful vigil to prepare for tomorrow’s Mass, during which a great son of this nation, Cardinal John
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Pope Benedict, before the Vigil of Prayer in Hyde Park in preparation for the beatification of John Henry Newman, visited a home for the elderly conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
He spoke very personally to the residents, telling them:
Life is a unique gift, at every stage from
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"Cor ad Cor Loquitur:" this phrase of Saint Francis de Sales, which Newman took as his own when he became Cardinal, is the theme of Pope Benedict's Apostolic Voyage. This morning in the cavernous Westminster Cathedral of the Precious Blood, that is dominated by an immense suspended
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Today was a historic day. Not only did Pope Benedict address Members of Parliament and civic and cultural leaders in the very hall where Thomas More's trial took place, he also celebrated Vespers with the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey. Those who were able to watch both events saw
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Pope Benedict visited with the Archbishop of Canterbury at his residence, Lambeth Palace. He said in part:
The context in which dialogue takes place between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church has evolved in dramatic ways since the private meeting between Pope John XXIII and
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Pope Benedict's address at the significantly named Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is now posted on the Vatican website. This seems to be the governing theme of the trip and, indeed, of his pontificate:
Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny
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Pope Benedict leaves on Thursday for his voyage to Scotland and England, culminating in the beatification of John Henry Newman next Sunday in Birmingham.
The Vatican website has posted the Program and the Missal for the liturgical celebrations.
I transcribe the Opening Prayer of the
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There are sure to be many reviews of the new Stephen Hawking book The Grand Design. Here is an excerpt from the one in today's Wall Street Journal:
"The Grand Design" thus attempts to outline, in under 200 pages, a complete scenario for the nature of the universe and our place in it. The
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Monsignor Timothy Verdon, American born, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Florence and directs the diocesan "Office of Catechesis through Art." He is also a world expert on the art of the Italian Renaissance.
Verdon has written numerous works including a three volume commentary on the
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John Henry Newman is often heralded as the celebrant of "conscience" and the advocate of "change." But, of course, his is too discerning a heart and subtle an intellect to be conveniently pigeon-holed or reduced to sound bites.
His sermon on "The Religion of the Day"
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Sandro Magister has published this morning an anguished and bold letter from a priest of the Legion of Christ to the Legion's Director. Here is an excerpt:
I address myself to you again with sorrow and shame. The sorrow is increased by the knowledge that sending you this letter will again be a
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This year marks the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin. Today's Wall Street Journal has a fine article by David Dubal on Chopin's "Preludes." Dubal writes:
Most of the 24 Chopin Preludes were sketched out between 1837 and 1838. They are the ultimate miniatures.
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The late Catherine LaCugna wrote often of the doctrine of the Trinity as an eminently "practical" doctrine. Its native soil is the Church's liturgical celebration; and it is "soul-stretching" in its pastoral and personal implications.
Few theologians and pastors in the
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Not the one Joseph Komonchak has been providing, but the liturgical one. It seems that it will be set for October 9th.
The Catholic Herald also reports on the booklet being prepared for the papal visit:
The announcement of the feast day forms part of the Pope’s Declaration of Beatification,
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From today's New York Post:
It was three years ago today that firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino Jr. perished in a blaze at the 9/11-scarred Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St.
They had been trapped by a blocked stairwell on the 14th floor of the wrecked building.
The
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Though in the Church's liturgical calendar he seems to have been displaced by some upstart from Hungary, all Italians and lovers of things Italian know that today is the feast of San Rocco.
I grew up in the parish of Saint Roch in the South Bronx -- the form of the Saint's name reflecting his
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This past weekend, a glorious one weather-wise, I had the pleasure and privilege of being present at a gathering sponsored by the "Fordham Conversation Project."
The initiative brought together young professors of theology to discuss their emerging role in the Church and university at
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In May 2005 the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) issued an historic agreed Statement on Our Lady, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ.
Here is a portion of their Statement:
Aware of the distinctive place of Mary in the history of salvation, Christians have given her a special
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Today's New York Times has a moving account of the ten aid workers murdered in Afghanistan:
Their devotion was perhaps most evident in what they gave up to carry out their mission: Dr. Thomas L. Grams, 51, left a thriving dental practice; Dr. Karen Woo, 36, walked away from a surgeon’s salary;
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross who was killed on this day in Auschwitz. A few months before her death she composed for her Carmelite community in Holland a brief novena to the Holy Spirit in seven verses or "Beams." They comprise a remarkable
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Somewhere, on a thread below, a final judgment was rendered: "And…worst of all it’s hopelessly sentimental."
Which brought to mind an utterly unsentimental reading of the human condition:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their
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In a recent article in The New York Review of Books Tony Judt wrote:
In “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell castigated contemporaries for using language to mystify rather than inform. His critique was directed at bad faith: people wrote poorly because they were trying to say
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Peter said to Jesus: "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." He did not know what he was saying. And, as he said this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. They were terrified as they entered into the cloud
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In preparing a homily on the Letter to the Colossians, I had occasion to re-read Luke Timothy Johnson's brief but insightful account of the letter in his The Writings of the New Testament.
In the current issue of America the always challenging Professor Johnson pens these provocative words
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On July 18, 1610 the tormented genius Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio died forsaken in a small coastal town between Lazio and Tuscany. He had hoped to return to Rome, having fled some years earlier under penalty of death for the murder of a rival.
Here is part of an article that I wrote a few
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Saint Bonaventure, whose feast the Church celebrates on July 15th, begins his famous Mind's Journey to God, by invoking Blessed Francis, whose vision of the Six-Winged Seraph structures Bonaventure's reflection. Of Francis he says:
his preaching was the annunciation of peace both in the beginning
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Though the liturgy of the Lord's day preempts the feast of saints, today the Church also celebrates the feast of Saint Benedict.
I have several times referred to the wonderful book of the Australian Cistercian monk Michael Casey: Fully Human, Fully Divine. Casey has another work that I've been
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We've all experienced the hassle of lost baggage on flights. Well not even world leaders are exempt ... or at least their security details.
It seems that some Glock semi-automatic guns got lost in transit when Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the States recently.
Here's the story from today's
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On a post below I referred to the Valyermo Chroncile, published by St. Andrew's Abbey. Another fine article in the current issue is "Why Sing Psalms?" by Dr. Paul Ford who teaches theology and liturgy at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo. If I am not mistaken, Paul occasionally comments here
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Though I only stayed once at St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, California, I feel close to the community there through several friends who are actively involved in the life of the monastery and through reading its quarterly "Chronicle."
In the most recent issue there is this reflection
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The Gospel of today's Eucharist concisely narrates Christ's calling of St. Matthew. I cannot read it without "seeing" Caravaggio's magnificent depiction of the scene in Rome's church of San Luigi dei Francesi. When teaching, I encourage my students not to restrict theology to the
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From the Acts of the Apostles:
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they
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In the current issue of The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik has a stimulating essay on a rag-tag array of books that are more or less about Jesus. Because Gopnik is such a close and intelligent reader, the essay strikes me as more interesting for its insights into his own sensibilities than those of the
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In today's Wall Street Journal Daniel Henninger writes:
Here's something you don't read every day: a positive story about the Catholic Church. Amid the media brimstone and penitential outpourings, much of organized Catholicism proceeds with its mission. This is one corner of that mission that is
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A while back unagidon had a wonderful post on "Still Life with Rosary." He wrote, in part:
If God is everywhere at all times, then we are not really “summoning” God when we pray. The thing that actually stands between God and ourselves is….ourselves. We get in our own way,
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From The Cloud of Unknowing:
Christ ascended physically in the presence of all his disciples and sent the Holy Spirit as he had promised; and you feel that all this proves that you should literally direct your mind upward during prayer. We do indeed believe that Christ in his risen humanity
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There have been several references in threads below about the address by Archbishop Martin of Dublin. It is receiving acclaim from across the spectrum of Catholic opinion, and is worth a separate post.
Each will find in it something particularly cogent; but as a whole, it is powerful indeed.
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Sandro Magister has entered into dialogue with Joseph Komonchak on the "Chiesa" website. The issue is how to speak of the Church as holy, yet counting innumerable sinners among her members. Both refer to Joseph Ratzinger's great work "Introduction to Christianity." Here is the
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In yesterday's Commencement Address, President Obama suggested that regular readers of the New York Times might occasionally scan the Wall Street Journal. Having subscribed to both for a good number of years, I heartily endorse the President's proposal.
Transferred into a religious context (
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The St. Louis Beacon published the other day a remarkable and riveting memo written eight years ago by the vice-chancellor of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, David Spotanski and read aloud to its then Bishop, Wilton Gregory.
Reading the ten pages is both anguishing and cleansing for its
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Sacred Heart Church, Newton Centre, is an imposing red brick building, constructed in basilica style. Its corner stone dates from 1896 and the construction was the work of Irish immigrants, led by their pastor, Father Whooley, whose frowning portrait "graces" the front parlor of the
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Father James Martin was at the Convention of the National Federation of Priests' Councils where he heard a remarkable address by the Archbishop emeritus of San Francisco, John Quinn. He immediately asked the Archbishop for permission to print the address in "America." Here is part of what
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Archbishop Timothy Dolan spent Easter Week in Lebanon and Syria visiting the ancient Eastern churches in communion with Rome. He accompanied a New York priest (and an old friend of mine), Monsignor Robert Stern, who is the Executive Director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
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I found this article from the International Herald Tribune by the historian Paul Kennedy very worthwhile. It was sent me and I thought it deserved wider readership. However, I will merely post it for those who desire to read it, without follow-up comments.
Here is the ending:
The Church’s
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Timothy Radcliffe on discernment:
Why go? If it is to find a safer haven, a less corrupt Church, then I think that you will be disappointed. I too long for more transparent government, more open debate, but the Church’s secrecy is understandable, and sometimes necessary. To understand is not
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From Pope Benedict's Easter message:
Dear brothers and sisters, Easter does not work magic. Just as the Israelites found the desert awaiting them on the far side of the Red Sea, so the Church, after the resurrection, always finds history filled with joy and hope, grief and anguish. And
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One of Cardinal Newman's favorite verbs is "to realize." In many ways it sums up so much of spirituality and pastoral ministry: to make real for ourselves the mystery of our faith, especially the paschal mystery.
Peter Nixon's post below is a fine example of such "realization,&
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From Pope Benedict's homily in today's Chrism Mass at Saint Peter's:
Bread has to do with everyday life. It is the fundamental gift of life day by day. Wine has to do with feasting, with the fine things of creation, in which, at the same time, the joy of the redeemed finds particular
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Two testimonies to ponder as Holy Week begins:
Vain trifles and trivialities, my old loves held me back. They tugged at the garment of my flesh and whispered: "Are you getting rid of us? From this moment shall we never be with you again?" ... They were not confronting me face to face,
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Whoever watched the "PBS New Hour" last evening, knows that David Brooks was almost apoplectic regarding the possible use of the deem and pass tactic; and even genial Mark Shields deemed it less than desirable.
Well, it seems someone was listening:
With the ground shifting by the hour
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Pope Benedict has sent his awaited Pastoral Letter to the Church in Ireland. Here is part of his opening comments:
On several occasions since my election to the See of Peter, I have met with victims of sexual abuse, as indeed I am ready to do in the future. I have sat with them, I have
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In the days when grammar school children were taught civics (those golden days before "deem and pass"), New York youngsters thrilled to the State's motto: "EXCELSIOR!" which, we were informed, meant "Ever Upward." And we believed it -- buttressed by incontrovertible
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On a post below I referred to a prudential judgment made with biblical "fear and trembling" regarding the health bill's non-funding of abortion.
Today's Washington Post views the financial aspects of the bill with the more secular-sounding "trepidation:"
For some on the left
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In the important and seemingly endless health care debate, a crucial item that has rightly received much attention here is whether the Senate bill provides sufficient safeguards in the matter of not funding abortion on the part of the federal government.
Despite the strong counter-position taken
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From this morning's Washington Post:
After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.
Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a
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In his post below Paul Moses helpfully links to the transcript of Pope Benedict's Catechesis on Saint Bonaventure at last Wednesday's general audience. This is the latest of his reflections on great ecclesial figures of the Middle Ages.
Here is the passage that I found of particular interest:
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The pianist, Byron Janis, has a moving article celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin. Here is an excerpt:
Chopin's own words perhaps best describe him: "Bach is like an astronomer who, with the help of ciphers, finds the most wonderful stars. Beethoven infuses the universe
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Cries of "shame" resounded in Rome's magnificent Pantheon as bureaucratic personnel shut down Sunday's concert four minutes before the end of the Vivaldi piece that was being played.It seems that the witching hour of six o'clock had been reached and the custodians desired to close up shop
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In his penetrating and provocative fashion Luke Timothy Johnson has recently reflected in Commonweal on "Why Religion Can't Live without Mysticism." The article, of course, needs to be read in its entirety. But this paragraph particularly caught my attention:
By so creatively fusing
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It is said of the great Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, that he began his day with the music of his favorite composer, Mozart.
Readers of this blog know how enthusiastic I am (in a very amateur way) of the "Cantatas" of Bach. I try to play the appropriate ones for the liturgical
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The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent narrates the temptations of Jesus. That for the Second Sunday celebrates Jesus' Transfiguration. The Lucan account of the Transfiguration begins with the words, "After eight days" (omitted from the lectionary reading).
In his small, but rich book
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The spiritual practice of "lectio divina," the slow meditative reading of Scripture, stems from the monastic tradition, but is easily adaptable even to the more frenetic life patterns of non-monastics. Enzo Bianchi, the prior of the extraordinary monastery of Bose in Northern Italy, has
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From Asia News:
Wissam Georges, a 20-year-old Christian student, was killed today in Mosul, northern Iraq, this according to local police who found his bullet-ridden body. His death is the fourth targeted murder in three days against the Christian community. Among Christians, the assassinations
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So said freshman senator and graduate of Boston College Law School, Scott Brown, commenting on the first vote in favor of Harry Reid's trimmed down, "bi-partisan" jobs-bill.
But this morning's Washington Post article also offers this nugget:
Three hours before the jobs-bill vote, the
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Several months ago I referred to a book by the Australian Cistercian, Michael Casey, which I found rich in concrete insight. The book, "Fully Human, Fully Divine," will serve as my Lenten reading. Here are a few excerpts:
When it comes to fighting sin, we need to identify and neutralize
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On days, where there is no feast or memorial of a saint to be celebrated, one often hears at Mass the prayers of the preceding Sunday.
However, the Sacramentary contains an entire section of "Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions." Here is one, from a set of prayers "For the
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My love for opera began in high school and continued at fever pitch for a good number of years. The fanatical "high"point was during my senior year of high school when I limped on crutches to the old Metropolitan Opera House and stood for the four hours of Verdi's "Aida,"
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I don't spend much time on the Sports Pages, except when the Yankees make the final four (or whatever they call it). But, then, one doesn't come across many articles like this too often -- on any page.
Tebow's 30-second ad hasn't even run yet, but it already has provoked "The National
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On January 16th honorary citizenship of the City of Freising was conferred upon Pope Benedict. He gave a brief, but moving talk, replete with images of grateful memory and hope. Here is a portion of what he shared:
Today Munich airport is located at the gates of Freising. Those who land or take
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I'm currently engaged in the onerous, humbling, instructive task of reading applications for Boston College's doctoral program in systematic theology. Onerous because all is done on-line and sifting through countless links to documents that number many pages is taxing on aging eyes and limbs.
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from today's New York Times:
It will be up to the pilots on those flights to decide whether to restrict passenger movement or the use of blankets or other items often held on passengers’ laps during the last hour of flight. Some airlines are turning off in-flight audio and video navigation
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At the conclusion of today's audience, the Pope expressed his prayerful wishes:
Cari amici siamo giunti alla fine di questo anno e alle porte dell’anno nuovo. Vi auguro che l’amicizia di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo vi accompagni ogni giorno di questo anno che sta per iniziare. Possa questa
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Maureen Dowd composing a Newmanian period ... make that "question:"
If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket
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From today's New York Times:
Obama administration officials scrambled to portray the episode, in which passengers and flight attendants subdued Mr. Abdulmutallab and doused the fire he had started, as a test that the air safety system passed.
“The system has worked really very, very smoothly
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However joyful the angelic host of the midnight hours, however contemplative the shepherds' simple gaze of dawn, the full scope of Incarnation is only glimpsed in the noon light of the Johannine "Prologue." God's Word dwells in our midst, has become fully incarnate, in the life, death and
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An intriguing article in today's New York Times about a Cheryl Lins who is distilling absinthe in the Catskills:
Since 2007, when the Treasury Department relaxed its position on the sale of absinthe, 13 American distilleries have begun producing the spirit legally, according to the Wormwood
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Fifteen years ago the prolific Harold Bloom published The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation. As I recall, Bloom identified that religion, whose avatars were Emerson and Whitman, with "gnosticism."
Now another Avatar has appeared and Ross Douthat, in today's
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Rather than an in-class final exam, I give my students a take-home final in an effort to allow them to bring together and appropriate the material of the semester. This year I gave them as a title for their paper: ""Exploring Catholicism: A Tapestry of the Journey." I also reminded
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Though Advent inclines toward Isaiah, Frank Rich clearly prefers Jeremiah with his morning coffee. His latest reads like an updating of Auden's "low dishonest decade."
If there’s been a consistent narrative to this year and every other in this decade, it’s that most of us, Bernanke
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That's James Martin, S.J., and in the WSJ yet, lamenting: "this year what's been irking me are the slogans that companies are deploying in their December ad campaigns that hope to have it both ways: They're using religious themes without actually being religious. Call it faith-based
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As the Copenhagen Climate Conference moves into its crucial final week, the Vatican has released Pope Benedict's annual Message for the World Day of Peace. It is dedicated to environmental responsibility, and concludes:
If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation. The quest for peace by
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Sandro Magister, on his Chiesa website, reports on a conference in Rome that brought together philosophers, theologians, scientists, and artists to discuss the topic: "God Today." It was sponsored by the Italian Episcopal Conference and was the inspiration of its former President,
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Thirty years ago, a not yet thirty year old Rowan Williams wrote a remarkable book, The Wound of Knowledge: Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to St. John of the Cross.
To celebrate today's feast of Saint John of the Cross, some reflections from that book:
John of the Cross sums up,
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On the first anniversary of his death:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, persecution or famine, nakedness or peril or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor
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Joseph Ratzinger (in Credo for Today), reflecting on the gospel reading for this feast of the Immaculate Conception, writes:
Mary is identified with daughter Zion, with the bridal people of God. Everything said about the ecclesia in the Bible is true of her, and vice versa: the Church learns
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This weekend for the 156th consecutive year Boston's famed Handel and Haydn Society presented full performances of Handel's Messiah. The performances this year were conducted by the Society's new musical director (a figure well-known in the world of classical music) Harry Christophers.
In his
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During my undergraduate years at Fordham College, one of the premier course offerings in the English Department was one that wed T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" with the late String Quartets of Beethoven.
In today's New York Times, Anthony Tommasini, their talented music critic, reports
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Some years ago I was invited by the Maryknoll Sisters to Macao to offer reflections on the Theology of the Holy Spirit. On our way there, by ocean ferry from Hong Kong, we passed the island off the coast of China where Saint Francis Xavier died without being able to fulfill his dream of bringing
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The Jesuit Robert Taft is a renowned liturgist and a fervent advocate of the conciliar and post-conciliar reforms. In the course of a recent interview published in U.S.Catholic he offers some trenchant remarks on a number of counts. Here is a sample:
Liturgy is the expression of where we're
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Mosul (AsiaNews) – Explosive devices were detonated this morning at two Christian sites in Mosul, the Church of Saint Ephrem and the Mother House of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine. At present, there are no reports about casualties but the church was entirely destroyed. The convent also
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I've been neither an Obama-basher nor an Obama-gusher. Since he is President of the United States, we all have a tremendous stake in the success of his policies and initiatives. But I don't seem to be alone in experiencing concerns.
Today's New York Times editorializes on Mr. Obama's China
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Tomorrow Pope Benedict meets with artists in the Sistine Chapel and will address them. In last Wednesday's Audience the Pope spoke about the beauty and spiritual inspiration of Europe's cathedrals. He said:
the power of the Romanesque style and the splendor of the Gothic cathedrals remind us that
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Niall Ferguson of Harvard and Moritz Schularick of Berlin have a piece in today's New York Times: "The Great Wallop." Here's the beginning:
A few years ago we came up with the term “Chimerica” to describe the combination of the Chinese and American economies, which together had
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I thought I had a decent knowledge of history, yet I never knew that the Nazis had been wooing the Poles:
The Nazi foreign minister had lost his patience with the Poles. 'You are stubborn on these maritime questions,' he told Polish diplomats in January 1939. 'The Black Sea is also a sea!"
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I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Sister Doris Gottemoeller, R.S.M., when Cardinal Bernardin and Monsignor Philip Murnion began the discussions that eventually led to the launching of the Common Ground Initiative. She has been an ardent advocate of the Initiative in the years since,
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From the story in today's New York Times:
Ms. Pelosi, the first woman speaker and an ardent defender of abortion rights, had no choice but to do the unthinkable. To save the health care bill she had to give in to abortion opponents in her party and allow them to propose tight restrictions barring
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For All Souls Day, from Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life by Joseph Ratzinger:
"The Body of Christ" means that all human beings are one organism, the destiny of the whole the proper destiny of each. True enough, the decisive outcome of each person's life is settled in death, at the
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Cathleen Kaveny has a post below on "The Ethics of Blogging." It might be complemented by some reflections on the spirituality of blogging. Indeed, the two, ethics and spirituality, seem inseparable.
What is the tone we encounter (and perhaps contribute to) on blogs? Is it divisive,
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Appropriately for this liturgical season, my graduate seminar has been reading Joseph Ratzinger's great work, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life. Here is a passage:
In all human love there is an implicit appeal to eternity, even though love between two human beings can never satisfy that appeal.
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From New York's Archbishop Dolan:
The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
The rest is on his new blog
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In the most recent issue of Emmanuel Magazine, the "editorial" includes a quote from Cardinal Newman:
So again, they who enter Holy Orders promise they know not what, engage themselves they know not how deeply, debar themselves of the world's ways they know not how intimately, find
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Pascal's bleak intuition provided impetus for the French painter, Georges Rouault's equally dark "Miserere" series of prints.
An item in the October 19th issue of America brings further stark confirmation:
Gangs affiliated with the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda have been
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Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras in a recent interview with CNS said:
Years ago "I was accused of being a liberation theologian and now I am accused of being a 'golpista,'" he noted, chuckling at the irony. "I am the same person. I have not changed, but it all depends
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This is Austen Ivereigh's conclusion in his informative post on the America blog concerning Pope Benedict's Apostolic Constitution that was announced today both in Rome and in London.
He writes:
Rome today has announced a legal means for disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholic while
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The Church celebrates today the feast of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. The seven letters he wrote on his way to martyrdom in Rome (probably 107 A.D.) provide a moving and precious testimony of faith.
Here is an excerpt from his "Letter to the Smyrnaeans:"
I give thanks to Jesus Christ,
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On October 12, 1891 Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Germany. It was the Jewish feast of Yom Kippur. A brilliant and sensitive student she wandered from the faith of her ancestors, yet remained avid in her quest for truth.
As is well known, she received her doctorate in philosophy as a student
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That's today's Wall Street Journal on America blog's Michael Sean Winters.
The column is discussing the attempts of Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich) to put forward an amendment opposing federal funding of abortions, and the lack of enthusiasm for his efforts on the part of the leadership.
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Today's Dedication of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut was awe-inspiring. The distinctive beauty of the setting, the solemnity of the liturgical prayers, the abundant flow of oil and incense, the creative variety and appropriateness of the music
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Last May I entered a post on dotCommonweal about the new chapel that was under construction on the campus of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, and about the striking mosaics that are one of its most distinctive features. Tomorrow the chapel will be dedicated. In today's New York Times, Peter
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He is Richard Dawkins. In today's Wall Street Weekend Journal, after singing a hymn of praise to Darwinian evolution, he says:
Where does that leave God? The kindest thing to say is that it leaves him with nothing to do, and no achievements that might attract our praise, our worship or our fear.
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Last week, on the feast of St. Gregory the Great, I entered a post on the "Spiritual Combat." I did not know at the time that the Monastery of Bose in Northern Italy was sponsoring an ecumenical conference on the theme, "Spiritual Combat in the Orthodox Tradition" from September
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In today's New York Times, Michael Kimmelman has a quite devastating review of a concert in which the pianist, Lang Lang "twittered his way through Chopin's F Minor Piano Concerto."
In making his point, Kimmelman quotes some reflections by the estimable Anne Applebaum:
It brought to
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The always informative and challenging Austen Ivereigh has an interesting post on the America blog, concerning Archbishop Rembert Weakland's assessment of his fellow monk, Thomas Merton. Here is how he sums up Weakland's view:
In sum, Weakland is saying that Merton was arrogant, formulaic, not
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The lovely first reading for today's liturgy in honor of Pope Saint Gregory the Great is from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, and concludes:
We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for the sake of Jesus. For God who said, "Let light shine out
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Three phrases are always associated with the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin: "common ground," "a consistent ethic of life," and the "seamless garment." More than phrases, they embody a challenge, difficult of realization, and often, in their pursuit, strangely divisive
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In his wonderful book, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God, Robert Wilken not only provides a fine introduction to the fathers of the Church, he also offers an overview of the fundamental themes of the Catholic wisdom tradition.
Chapter Eight, "Happy the People
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Thanks to a recommendation by Austen Ivereigh (on the America site), I have been led to the works of Michael Casey, an Australian Cistercian monk. I' ve been reading his Fully Human, Fully Divine with much pleasure and profit.
The book is a theological-spiritual meditation upon the Tradition's
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Today's New York Times gives a matter of fact and chilling chronology of the time elapsed from when a small plane left Teterboro airport to its collision with a helicopter over the Hudson River last Saturday: 11:43:30 a.m. to 11:53:14 a.m.
Today's Wall Street Journal has an article by a priest
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On this feast of the Assumption of Mary, from John Donne's "A Litanie:"
For that faire blessed Mother-maid,
Whose flesh redeem'd us; that she-Cherubin
Which unlocked Paradise, and made
One claime for innocence, and disseiz'd sinne,
Whose wombe was a strange heav'n, for there
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The reading in today's Morning Prayer is from the Book of Job. It served to bring to my mind once again the two horrendous and fatal accidents of the past few weeks in my native New York.
One was on the Taconic State Parkway in which a van drove the wrong way on the highway and crashed head-on
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As I've mentioned before, my bi-weekly after Mass treat is opening the Boston Globe to Katherine Powers' column, "A Reading Life." She has led me to rediscover authors once read, but long forgoten (by me). Spurred on by her, I've recently picked up the stories of Nikolai Gogol. At least I
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It is sad that the great feast of Christ's Transfiguration is tucked, almost unobtrusively, into the middle of the week. In some of the Eastern Christian traditions the feast is preceded by a vigil and followed by an octave. Nonetheless the Transfiguration remains one of the richest feasts of the
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Catholics celebrate the Eucharist in communion with the Pope, the local bishop, and all bishops, with the clergy and the entire people. If we attend to the words of the eucharistic prayer, our hearts and minds are stretched, we become more catholic in our concerns.
When praying this part of the
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Though I love teaching theology to college and graduate students (and learning much in the process), the theological high point of my week is the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. For this reason I have a special fondness for the saint we honor today: the 5th century bishop of Ravenna, Peter
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Alypius was Saint Augustine's student and friend who was later baptized with him by Saint Ambrose. But his conversion also entailed a turning away from his addiction to the gladiatorial games. Though he had forsworn them at one point, his resolve was undermined by (who else?) his young peers who
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David Bentley Hart is, perhaps, the most stimulating (and, at times, disconcerting) Orthodox theologian writing in America today. His most recent book, Atheist Delusions, was appreciatively reviewed in Commonweal (May 8, 2009) by William Portier.
A recent post on the First Things blog has Hart
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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has issued a thoughtful and (to my reading) poignant response to the recent decisions by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
Here is a crucial paragraph:
18. To accept without challenge the priority of local and
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For those who do not live in the Athens of America, a few insights from Sunday's Boston Globe.
The editorial proposes a concluding (hope springs eternal) unscientific postscript to the Cambridge dust-up:
Each man [Gates, Crowley, Obama], in his own way, has spent considerable time contemplating
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It was early summer of 1958 and I was on my way to France for a Junior Year Abroad. Eight Hundred students from colleges throughout the country were tucked into the Dutch ocean liner, the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, which had clearly seen better days, but whose wonderful interior wood work and
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Matt Emerson writes in a comment on Eric's post about Goldman Sachs:
I find it revealing that neither Commonweal nor America bloggers have seen fit to address the CBO’s analysis of the Democrats’ proposed healthcare legislation.
A snippet from today’s Washington Post article:
“
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The July issue of Commonweal is rich and varied. Sidney Callahan's reflection on Alzheimer's disease has particular resonance and poignancy for me.
My brother and sister in law, their children, and I accompanied my mother for twelve years of increasing memory loss -- years of deep sadness, but
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One of the present graces I experience is the communal praying of Morning and Evening Prayer among the priests of the parish in which I live. At the insistence of the youngest among us three, we begin each of the "hours" with a hymn. Happily, our Benjamin has a good voice!
This morning
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Michael Sean Winters contributes regularly to the America blog: "In All Things." He strikes me as being both theologically knowledgeable and politically savvy. I believe him to be a not uncritical admirer of President Obama. Thus I find one of his posts today particularly powerful. He
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If memory serves (an increasingly "iffy" if), I have posted annually on dotCommonweal to mark the Feast of St. Benedict. And I probably have quoted from Columba Stewart's fine book, Prayer and Community: The Benedictine Tradition. Here is a reflection from the book:
Awareness of the
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John Allen received some mild criticism on this blog for his report on the new Motu Proprio entrusting the ongoing dialogue and discernment regarding the Society of Saint Pius X to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Evidently stung by the perceptive remarks of a number of the
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As we continue to ponder Pope Benedict's gift, Caritas in Veritate, the always astute Austen Ivereigh has helpful remarks on the America site.
He agrees with George Weigel that some passages of the encyclical are more "Benedictine" than others; though this fact does not justify Mr.
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While perusing the new encyclical of Pope Benedict, Caritas in Veritate (available at Casa Rocco), a little aperitivo. What is the source of the following:
But it’s not right to end on a note of cultural pessimism because there is the fact of President Obama. Whatever policy differences people
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Today's Boston Globe carries the welcome news of the coming beatification of John Henry Newman.
Pope Benedict XVI ruled that the recovery of a Marshfield, Mass., resident who for years suffered from a spinal disorder was miraculous, meaning Newman can now be beatified.
The miracle concerns
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from a story in today's New York Times:
the Jackson family and city officials and those from the Staples Center prepared a grand forum for public adoration of the singer. The event will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday
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The fourth volume of John Meier's A Marginal Jew has appeared. It is subtitled, "Law and Love," and weighs in at a hefty 735 pages. As reported on the America blog, this is not beach reading! Nonetheless, it exhibits Meier's trademark clarity, carefulness, and verve -- not least in his
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Though overshadowed liturgically by the celebration of the Lord's Day, the Church celebrates today one of its earliest and greatest theologians: Irenaeus of Lyons. As is well-known, Irenaeus came from Asia Minor, studied in Rome, and became bishop of Lyons. Thus he is a compelling witness to the
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This past week I had the pleasure to offer reflections on the "Theological Foundations of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition" to a faculty seminar at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. The seminar is in its fifth year, sponsored and actively participated in by the University's
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From today's Washington Post -- with feeling:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), one of the Senate's leading abortion rights supporters, said she will not specifically ask Sotomayor about Roe but said she has no reason to doubt Sotomayor's position on the issue. "I feel as comfortable as I could
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Julian Barnes has a lovely, perceptive, and quite personal tribute to John Updike in the latest New York Review of Books. It ends:
In his very last story, "The Full Glass" (published in The New Yorker on May 26, 2008), a former insurance salesman turned floor sander, now approaching
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I was one of those most impressed by President Obama's address and overall performance at Notre Dame on Sunday. I recognize, of course, the old Italian proverb: "fra il dire e il fare c'è in mezzo il mare" -- between words and deeds the sea lies in-between.
Michael Stokes Paulsen, of
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The Speaker of Britain's Parliament has resigned, a victim (some say scapegoat) of the moat and manure scandal (see post below).
After days of mounting pressure over Britain’s parliamentary expenses scandal, Michael Martin, the speaker of the House of Commons, announced Tuesday that he would
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It's well known that the Boston Globe, owned by the paper in the other city, is in serious financial straits. Should the Globe go under, there are certain columnists I will not miss (James Carroll, anyone?). But I shall very much miss Alex Beam whose dry humor enlivens the morning and goes quite
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Stanley Fish has a column on his blog at the New York Times. Actually it's his second on Terry Eagleton's dissecting of Hitchens, Dawkins, and their tribe.
Fish begins:
According to recent surveys, somewhere between 79 and 92 percent of Americans believe in God. But if the responses to my
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Though it's only just been gathering attention on this side of the pond, Britain has been buffeted by a widening scandal. Today's Wall Street Journal reports:
Britain has been convulsed by a series of escalating revelations about the expenses claimed by members of Parliament.
A week or so ago,
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On the novelist:
I have not read the novel by Dan Brown on which this film (directed, like its predecessor, “The Da Vinci Code,” by Ron Howard) is based. I have come to believe that to do so would be a sin against my faith, not in the Church of Rome but in the English language, a noble and
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Before thirty thousand the Pope celebrated Mass today in Nazareth. Here is part of his homily:
Dear friends, in the Opening Prayer of today’s Mass we asked the Father to “help us to live as the Holy Family, united in respect and love”. Let us reaffirm here our commitment to be a leaven of
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Henri de Lubac, S.J., is one of the pioneers of Vatican II, well known for his recovery of the fathers of the Church that helped make possible Vatican II's "ressourcement."
But, as priest and teacher, he well knew that Christians could not live in the 3rd or 4th centuries -- that
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from the New York Times website:
In his address, the pope, who planned to visit a Palestinian refugee camp later, said: “I know how much you have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the turmoil that has afflicted this land for decades. My heart goes out to all the families who have
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From the poignant and yet hopeful homily at the Mass in the Valley of the Josaphat:
In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul tells the Colossians to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1). His words resound with particular force here,
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In his visit with the Gran Mufti, Pope Benedict gave an address. Here are some of his words:
Since the teachings of religious traditions ultimately concern the reality of God, the meaning of life, and the common destiny of mankind – that is to say, all that is most sacred and dear to us –
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From an article on Mr. Justice Scalia in today's New York Times:
[A]t the argument in a big voting rights case, Justice Scalia seemed to violate his rule against citing foreign law. Expressing skepticism about the significance of the 98-0 vote by which the Senate reauthorized the Voting Rights Act
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The Pope had a full day in Jerusalem and some of his addresses are already posted on the Vatican website. Here is some of what he said to organizations engaged in interreligious dialogue:
Abraham’s first step in faith, and our steps to or from the synagogue, church, mosque or temple, tread the
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Here begins the review of Christopher Buckley's fond, irreverent memoir of his parents in today's Boston Globe:
Oh boy, William F. Buckley Jr. must be rolling in his Sharon, Conn., grave.
First, there's the annoyance that he's actually buried in a coffin, when his instructions were to have his
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Pope Benedict in his homily this morning during the celebration of Mass in Amman, Jordan:
Fidelity to your Christian roots, fidelity to the Church’s mission in the Holy Land, demands of each of you a particular kind of courage: the courage of conviction, born of personal faith, not mere social
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From Peter Steinfels:
An editorial in America, the weekly magazine published by the Jesuit order of Catholic priests, characterized much of the opposition in even stronger terms: “They thrive on slash-and-burn tactics,” the editors wrote, adding that “their tactics, and their attitudes,
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Some of the "rewards" of posting on dotCom are the behind-the-scenes encounters and exchanges that never appear in the "comments" section. Through one such I was introduced to the esays of "Spengler," the anonymous columnist for Asia Times. Now his true identity is
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In a post below Grant introduces the new issue of Commonweal. As usual there are many fine pieces available to all (including the Editorial). But one outstanding piece is only available to subscribers, Tom Baker's review of James Carroll's new book. But from the tenor of Tom's review and a
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Sandro Magister reports on a remarkable collaboration between the Italian Bishops Conference and the newspaper, La Repubblica, perhaps the leading "secularist" voice on the Italian scene.
He writes:
In a few days, the daily "la Repubblica" and the weekly "L'espresso&
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On a post below I quoted from Pope Benedict's Easter Vigil Homily. Kathy grumbled (gently and politely) that I had not quoted the final section of the homily in which the Pope speaks of "song." So I thought to go back to one of the sources of Benedict's theology and homiletic art: Saint
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Joe Nocera has been awol for a few weeks; and at least two of us have been concerned. It turns out he's been attending various symposia on the financial crisis, culminating in the big one at the Big Apple's Metropolitan Museum.
Here are his closing thoughts:
I can’t say that I left the
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Though it's the Feast of St. Joseph, I'm sure he won't mind letting his spouse take center stage. He's always shown in the background anyway.
An alumna of Mary's University has written a moving testimony to her struggle on graduation day ten years ago:
For many members of the Notre Dame Class
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A parishioner, born and raised in Siena, told me this morning that the bells would be ringing out their joy today to feast Caterina, Siena's doctor of the Church.
Suzanne Noffke, O.P., in her fine "Introduction" to Paulist's Classics of Western Spirituality edition of The Dialogue
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The Pope visited the region devastated by the recent earthquake and still experiencing the tribulations of rain and cold.
Cindy Wooden of CNS translated Benedict's prayer for the victims and the survivors:
We entrust our loved ones to you, Lord,
Knowing that you never take the lives of your
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Our daily challenge -- from the Pope's Easter Vigil Homily:
The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of the new Temple from which a spring issues forth that becomes a great life-giving river (cf. Ezek 47:1-12). In a land which constantly suffered from drought and water shortage, this was a great vision
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In today's Sunday Times Magazine Christopher Buckley has an affectionate, funny, poignant piece on his parents Patricia and William Buckley. Here is the ending:
Recently, I was driving behind a belchy city bus and suddenly found myself thinking, not for the first time, about whether Pup is in
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Bishop John D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend issued a Statement to the members of his diocese that concludes with these words:
Proper consultation could have prevented an action, which has caused such painful division between Notre Dame and many bishops — and a large number of the faithful.
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During the first days of Holy Week, the Red Cross sponsored a blood drive on the Boston College campus. The generosity of the young students in donating their blood was an inspiration, and the sight of them prone on tables as their blood dripped into the receptacles to be used for the good of
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Bono has an intriguing op-ed piece in today's New York Times in which he writes:
Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie.
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I've just returned from the lovely Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral during which Archbishop Timothy Dolan was festively installed as the new Pastor of the Catholics of the Archdiocese of New York.
The dominant impression was the personal warmth of the Archbishop and the enthusiasm of the
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From this morning's New York Times:
At its nadir last November, Goldman Sachs’s share price closed at $52, nearly 80 percent below its high of around $250. By then, many of its chief competitors — Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and UBS — were dead or shadows of their former
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In a post below I gave a link to the three talks on "Prayer" that Archbishop Rowan Williams presented during Holy Week. In the third talk Williams speaks of six 20th century figures who have influenced his thinking and praying: two Jewish women and four Catholic monks.
One of the women
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From Pope Benedict's Easter homily:
“Let us celebrate the feast … with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. This exhortation from Saint Paul, which concludes the short reading that was proclaimed a few moments ago, resounds even more powerfully in the context of the Pauline
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One of Bach's earliest and greatest cantatas is "Christ lag in Todesbanden" -- "Christ lay in the bonds of death" (BWV 4). It takes as its text Martin Luther's fiery hymn which is itself inspired in part by the early Medieval "Victimae paschali laudes" that remains the
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A good friend gifted me today with news of the lectures on prayer that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gave during Holy Week.
There are three lectures of about an hour each available here in audio files.
I have only listened to the first in which Williams speaks of prayer in the
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From an ancient homily in the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday:
"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up
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From the Letter to the Hebrews:
Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1&
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Pope Benedict, in his preaching and teaching, has often stressed the importance of images to convey the Good News of our redemption. In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which he oversaw as Cardinal Ratzinger, he stipulated that it contain a variety of images, both classical
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I've known Lucille for over twenty years. She is the "memory" of the parish where I reside, having gone to grammar and high school here (when the parish still had both). She remembers previous pastors, Francis Spellman, Richard Cushing, up to the present. She attends daily Mass, sometimes
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The Boston Globe is in serious difficulty. Even after severe downsizing, its parent company, that, you know, New York paper, has given unions a 30 day deadline to give concessions or risk the total deflation of Boston's pride.
However, not all Bostonians are lamenting. A letter in today's Globe
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All of us join in prayer for the victims and survivors of the earthquake that devastated the Abruzzo region of Italy early this morning. I know from a friend in Rome that tremors were felt there, sixty miles to the West.
The Guardian has a helpful map showing the region, the epicenter, and the
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been decidedly unenthusiastic about undertaking further stimulus programs for combating the current recession/depression. Many attribute this to fear of the sort of inflation that wreaked havoc upon Germany in the past.
Today's Wall Street Journal has an
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New York City's brand new stadiums open today and are extensively covered in the New York Times. The Times' architecture critic, Nicolai Ouroussoff provides an overview:
each stadium subtly reflects the character of the franchises that built them. Yankee Stadium is the kind of stoic, self-
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For all the pitfalls of the internet, it can also be a helpful way of realizing the catholicity of the Church. Asia News is an indispensable point of reference. Here is its account of a meeting concerning the Church in China that ended yesterday in Rome:
"Profound sadness" over the
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I have posted before one of the poems from "Gitanjali," the "Song Offerings" of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). I first discovered them during my time in Rome in the early sixties, and have bought and given away numerous copies of this small, but precious book.
Yesterday one
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The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.
Dear Mr. Liddy,
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G.
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Rowan Williams' new book, Dostoevsky: Language, Faith, and Fiction, has garnered much praise. Here is an excerpt that I found especially striking:
What Dostoevsky does in Karamazov is not to demonstrate that it is possible to imagine a life so integrated and transparent that the credibility of
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Though he's no Joe Nocera, Frank Rich asks some pointed questions and wonders about dirty little secrets:
it’s hard to imagine taxpayers shelling out billions for a second bank bailout unless there’s a full accounting of every dime of the first, and true transparency for the new plan whose
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A Laetare hymn of praise:
How should I praise thee, Lord! how should my rymes
Gladly engrave thy love in steel,
If what my soul doth feel sometimes,
My soul might ever feel!
Although there were some fourtie heav'ns, or more,
Sometimes I peere above them all;
Sometimes I hardly reach a
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Joe Nocera sums up my reaction to the past week's congressional circus:
By week’s end, I was more depressed about the financial crisis than I’ve been since last September. Back then, the issue was the disintegration of the financial system, as the Lehman bankruptcy set off a terrible chain
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New York's Governor Paterson is proposing to allow grocery stores to sell wine. The owner of a wine shop does not object, but asks for "reciprocity" -- like allowing wine stores to sell cheese. Here is the conclusion of his piece in today's Times:
Wine, after all, has always been more
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John Allen continues his fine coverage:
In Cameroon today, Benedict XVI seemed infected with an "ad extra" spirit, concentrating on how the gospel message can transform the broader culture. He delivered a largely outward-looking message during his open-air Mass before an enthusiastic
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I thought that this exhortation from Pope Benedict's homily for the Feast of Saint Joseph celebrated in Cameroon is a good follow-up to Matthew's post from Cardinal Newman:
Dear fathers and mothers here today, do you have trust in God who has called you to be the fathers and mothers of his adopted
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Peggy, with unerring instinct, guessed it right: I am "on the road." But, happily, the nation's leading newspaper accompanies me.
She also resolved my dilemma regarding which of two homilies in today's Times I should post. Since she chose my man Joe, let me choose her man Peter.
In
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The current issue of The New Yorker (available online only for subscribers) has a number of the poignant final poems of John Updike, some written as he was preparing for his death and bidding farewell to his loved ones.
They are also replete with grateful memories of the relations he formed as a
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From John Thavis at Catholic News Service:
Pope Benedict XVI has written a letter to the world's bishops defending his decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops and expressing regret that it gave rise to misunderstandings and polemics, according to Italian newspapers
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I've devoted two posts in praise of Joe Nocera for helping the economically challenged (like me) gain a bit of knowledge (I almost said "leverage") about the mess we're in.
Now, to show I'm an equal-opportunity-praiser, let us now praise Gretchen Morgenson. She writes in today's Times
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At the beginning of Lent Pope Benedict meets with the clergy of Rome and enters into "dialogue" with them. I had been waiting for the Vatican website to provide an English translation, but, happily, John Allen has come through first (and before Lent ends!). Here is part of an exchange
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Funny how associations are kindled. Matthew Boudway's post of George Herbert's lovely poem on Lent brought to mind Herbert's famous poem, "Prayer," one of whose descriptive lines is: "Heaven in ordinarie." This, in turn, reminded me of Nicholas Lash's wonderful book, Easter in
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My man Joe Nocera was on the Lehrer "News Hour" last evening. That he reminded me of my Uncle Ben from Brooklyn is another point in his favor.
Two of the words he used in talking about the latest A.I.G. bailout were "counterparty" and "blackhole." And, lo, they
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I never dreamed that I would avidly read the "Business Section" of the Times with a mix of fascination and dread. But such are the times that are upon us.
A great help, for their clarity and moral indignation, have been the columns of Joe Nocera, in my humble view, fully meriting a
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The Times of London:
The ceremony was rendered ludicrous by some of the sallies of that poor President.
The Harrisburg Patriot and Union:
We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation, we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that
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Stephen Carter of Yale Law School has an op-ed piece in today's New York Times. The immediate issue is the recent talk by Attorney General Eric Holder about race. But the wider concern is the down-sizing of our discourse to sound-byte morsels. Carter writes:
When we talk about race we do tend to
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In a comment on a post below, Jimmy Mac quoted a reflection on Newman. Only when I came to the end did I realize it was from an article I had written in 1991.
But then the associations came thick and fast. I had taken a year's leave from Boston College to be close to my mother during her growing
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Here begins Frank Rich's hebdomadal jeremiad:
“I don’t want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems,” the president said on Tuesday at the signing ceremony in Denver. He added, hopefully: “But today does mark the beginning of the end.”
Does it?
No one knows, of
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"Unclogging the spirit" was a phrase used by a film critic (I think John Simon) in reviewing Ermanno Olmi's great film, "The Tree of the Wooden Clogs." No composer, in my opinion, is so adept at unclogging the spirit and allowing it access to such spiritual depths as Johann
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Commonweal's January 30th issue had Christopher Ruddy's fine introductory article about the English theologian, James Alison. Here's how Ruddy begins the article:
It is said that there are two kinds of theologians: those whose subject is theology, and those whose subject is God. James Alison
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California has been plagued by so much bad news lately that it was a welcome change to come across this appreciation in today's Wall Street Journal for California's ... Catholic cathedrals.
California is home to the three most imaginative and successful modern Roman Catholic cathedrals in the
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A few frames back, I posted on the striking Italian film "Gomorrah." Now the estimable Anthony Lane joins in the plaudits in The New Yorker:
“Gomorrah” is a beautiful movie. That may sound perverse, given its welter of drive-by shootings and toxic dumps, but what is most impressive
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Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia has been assiduously tracking the signals about a soon-to-be-announced (?) successor to Cardinal Edward Egan as Archbishop of New York.
Certain whispers seem to point in the direction of Timothy Dolan, former rector of Rome's North American College,
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These well-known words from the "Benedictus," which the Church prays each day at Lauds, refer, of course, to all of us, and serve as a salutary recall from distraction and division to gratitude for what we have been gifted and commitment to be bearers of blessing.
This morning, as I
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In today's New York Times there is a review of the Italian film, "Gomorrah," an interweaving of five stories whose "golden thread" is the brutality and desperation that accompany the myriad activities of the Neapolitan criminal network known as the Camorra.
Manohla Dargis
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The Pope met today with American Jewish leaders. Here, from tomorrow's Osservatore Romano, is part of what he said:
The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was a crime against God and against humanity. This should be clear to everyone, especially to
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To celebrate the Lincoln bi-centennial I've been reading Ronald White's wonderful new biography, A. Lincoln.
I was dimly aware that the former President had a seemingly strained relationship with his own father, Thomas.
What I had not realized was that Thomas, at age six, stood next to his
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With all the news focused upon Rome, the meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion in Alexandria, Egypt earlier this month received scant attention.
Jordan Hylden, on the First Things Website has an interesting summary/interpretation. He also includes several helpful links. Here is part
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The Catholic League and its President, William Donohue, has, from time to time, received less than favorable notice on this blog.
Recently, the following appeared on the League's website:
On February 3, Link TV featured a three and a half minute video that mocks Catholicism. The media outlet is
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Sandro Magister, whose analysis of curial ineptitude, was referenced here a few days ago (and was cited by Rachel Donadio in yesterday's Times), has posted an analysis of the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr by one of Italy's Niebuhr specialists, Gianni Dessi.
Dessi traces the growing influence of
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The American Papist is carrying an open letter to the Legionaries of Christ by Dr. Germain Grisez. Here is part of what he says:
If I were you, I would bear in mind that your fundamental commitment is to Jesus and his Church. The question that should be uppermost in your minds is how to continue
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Together with many readers of dotCommonweal, I remembered at Mass this morning Michael Dubruiel, as well as Amy and their youngsters.
But I also prayed for the members of the Legionaries of Christ and of Regnum Christi as they struggle to come to grips with the recent revelations. May this
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Sandro Magister has just posted a column on his website that is highly critical of the Curia's handling of the lifting of the excommunications of the SSPX bishops. And he does not mince words:
The decree revoking the excommunication bears the signature of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of
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From Amy Welborn:
"Michael collapsed this morning at the gym and was not able to be revived despite the efforts of EMTs and hospital personnel.
We are devastated and beg your prayers."
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Like other moralistic Americans, I experienced a certain self-righteous tremor when I heard President Obama denounce those avaricious Wall Street scoundrels who raked in the bonuses as our 401ks tanked (still tanking ... will continue to tank).
But I admit to sharing the puzzlement of Peter
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Bernard Lonergan, S.J., in Method in Theology, identifies what he terms "eight functional specialties" in doing theology. The eighth is "communications." Pope Benedict may be an expert in "doctrines" and "systematics" (two of the other functional specialties
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Boston College's Church in the 21st Century Initiative sponsors quite a number of activities. Among them is its semi-annual "C-21 Resources." Here, around a chosen theme, articles are excerpted (mostly from periodicals such as "America" and "Commonweal") that afford a
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On this feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, having just finished Paul Mariani's dense, devoted biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins, I thought I would post Hopkins' translation of the "Adoro Te Devote:"
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing
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I confess. When I'm in New York I read The New York Post. But, to keep my good standing among dotCommers, let me make it perfectly clear that, when riding the subway, I keep it carefully hidden within the pages of The New York Times.
However, it seems that now The Post is reaching me even in
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Cardinal Ricard, the Archbishop of Bordeaux and member of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" has issued a statement regarding the lifting of the excommunications. The link to the French bishops website is:
http://www.eglise.catholique.fr/actualites-et-evenements/actualites/
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"The discernment of spirits, such as the First Letter to the Thessalonians demands in response to the dubious prophets and prophecies of the time (5:9ff.), remains our permanent task. Both the acceptance of justified criticism and the protection of the faithful from falsifications of the
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I am always taken with the editorial decisions a newspaper makes: not only its editorials themselves, but what it chooses to report on, what placement it gives to the stories (page one, page twenty-one) etc.
Yesterday, according to Catholic News Service:
For nearly two hours Jan. 22, a
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The new President took the oath of office for a second time last evening, using the exact words prescribed by the Constitution in their proper order. A spokesman said:
“We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday
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The last words in the February issue of First Things were written by Richard J. Neuhaus as he came to grips with the cancer that would lead to his death on January the eighth. Father Neuhaus wrote:
Who knew that at this point in life I would be understanding, as if for the first time, the words of
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A suggestion from the Wall Street Journal:
Even after the IRS audited him in 2006, Mr. Geithner paid back taxes only for the two years -- 2003 and 2004 -- for which he had been audited. He did not bother to amend his 2001 and 2002 returns until late last year, when the tax issue came up during the
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As many know, the great mother church of the Society of Jesus in Rome is called "Il Gesù," literally, "the Jesus."
Fewer know that the article is there because the full name of the church is "Il Santissimo Nome di Gesù," "The Most Holy Name of Jesus."
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Today's New York Times has a sobering op-ed by the sober-minded Benny Morris. It should be required reading for team Obama. Here's the ending:
Between 1948 and 1982 Israel coped relatively well with the threat from conventional Arab armies. Indeed, it repeatedly trounced them. But Iran’s nuclear
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Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" was first performed in Leipzig during the Christmas season of 1734-35. Or at least that's when the magnificent final version was heard. But much of the music had been heard before in other guises.
Scholars tell us that much of the music was "parodied:&
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I hope everyone had a joyful Christmas celebration with loved ones.
In a post below I mentioned the wonderful CD, from Cambridge's King's College Choir, of Christmas music by Benjamin Britten. One offering on the recording that I did not mention was Britten's setting of some poems of the 18th
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I have several CDs which provide musical-spiritual accompaniment in preparing liturgies and homilies during this holy season.
Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" has pride of place, as it takes me from the first days of Christmas through New Year's Day and culminates on the feast of Epiphany.
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Aside from the wonderful "O" antiphons that enhance Vespers during this last week of Advent, the prayer of the Church is replete with antiphons that provide orientation and lead us deeper into the mystery that the liturgy celebrates.
One practice we have restored in the parish where I
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Like all of you, I thrill in this Advent season to the Isaiah who promises, to those who walk in darkness, a child who will be called "Wonder-Counselor, Prince of Peace" (9:5). And, like all of you, I rejoice in the Isaiah who proclaims "Comfort, give comfort to my people" (40:1
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Somewhere out there a new, doubtless different, Balzac is furiously clipping newspaper pieces for his 21st century update of the 19th century cycle of manners and morals. He/she would find some useful tidbits in today's New York Times.
Ian Urbina takes us to a "Palm Beach Enclave, Stunned
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Saturday's Wall Street Journal has an interesting column on the Madoff scheme, "How Bernie Madoff Made Smart Folks Look Dumb."
Here's its beginning:
What do George Carlin and Bernard Madoff have in common?
The late comedian immortalized oxymorons, those absurd word pairs like "
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David Gibson has already reported on the death this morning of Cardinal Avery Dulles after some months of growing physical paralysis that did not diminish his mental alertness or his spiritual radiance.
I had the privilege and grace of being able to visit with him several times during his stay
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I have younger colleagues who speak with fondness of their graduate school days. Mine I prefer to forget. I studied at Yale during a time of intense turmoil in Society, in Church, and in University. The Religious Studies Department was in disarray. And my last "public" act was as a
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In today's New York Times Book Review George Packer examines the already much praised and notorious "authorized biography" of V.S. Naipaul. Packer begins:
A great writer requires a great biography, and a great biography must tell the truth. V. S. Naipaul wanted his monument built while
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David Brooks has been positively gushy about President-elect Obama's choices for his team. In yesterday's New York Times he wrote:
Believe me, I’m trying not to join in the vast, heaving O-phoria now sweeping the coastal haute bourgeoisie. But the personnel decisions have been superb. The events
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Yesterday the Church celebrated the feast of Pope Saint Leo the Great. Leo is considered one of the great masters of the Latin Church's homiletic tradition.
It has been my persuasion for some time now that we are gifted in our day with the example of a homilist who will rank among the great ones
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Or at least that's how I read the editorial in today's Wall Street Journal. Here's the gist:
The car makers say that bankruptcy is unthinkable and "not an option." And bankruptcy would certainly be expensive, not least for Washington itself, which could be responsible for 600,000 or so
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John Allen has just posted an unsolicited letter to President-elect Obama. Here's an excerpt:
You are a hero to much of Africa, giving you a degree of political capital on the continent that no other Western leader could rival. At the same time, 2009 is shaping up as a “Year of Africa” in
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At the conclusion of the historic "Catholic-Muslim Forum" held these past two days at the Vatican, Pope Benedict addressed the participants.
I am well aware that Muslims and Christians have different approaches in matters regarding God. Yet we can and must be worshipers of the one
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In Italy Walter Veltroni's "Partito Democratico" has put up posters, celebrating the Obama Victory. "Il Mondo Cambia -- the World Is Changing." Though I contend that a special puddle in Dante's "Purgatorio" should be reserved for graffiti "artists," were I
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Having recently returned from four weeks in Europe, yesterday's historic election was an occasion of renewed pride in the possibilities and good sense of the American people.
The gracious concession speech of Senator McCain and the magnanimous remarks of President-elect Obama serve as beacons
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Both William Kristol and Paul Krugman weighed in on the Administration's Trillion Dollar game plan in today's New York Times. Can you connect the dots from opinion to opinionator?
Here's K-1:
Everyone seems to agree on the need for a big and comprehensive plan, and that the markets have to
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Reading several appreciations of the late David Foster Wallace, I confess, with some embarrassment, to never having read him. A piece in today's Boston Globe spurs me to rectify that omission. The author writes:
Wallace's real subject is what he calls "a very modern and American type of
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I don't know if it is a consequence of the crisis-like downward spiral in the financial markets, but in today's New York Times Anthony Tommasini reports on an emerging trend in that staid old relic: opera. It seems that opera buffa is fast becoming opera in the buff.
Mr. Tommasini seeks to cast
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Pope Benedict celebrated the liturgy of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross this morning at Lourdes. He afterwards gave an important address to the gathering of the French episcopate, and concluded his day with a rich reflection on the mystery of the Eucharist at the end of a candle-light
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This morning the Pope celebrated an outdoor Mass before an estimated 200,000 people in the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris. Today's feast is that of the great Greek father of the Church, Saint John Chrysostom. Drawing upon the liturgical readings and the writings of the great Patriarch of
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The Pope's evening address at the Collège de Bernardins is a rich reflection, using as his point of entry the monastic tradition and achievement. He several times refers to the classic work by the late Jean Leclercq, "The Love of Learning and the Desire for God."
Here is the opening
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The Pope has arrived in Paris for the start of his first visit to the "elder daughter" of the Church since his election. Later today (5:30 local time) he will address seven hundred representatives of the world of culture at the Collège des Bernardins in a talk that will be closely parsed
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today its selection of a new director, Thomas Campbell, to succeed the irrepressible Philippe de Montebello. The "Met," arguably the world's most important museum, has had, since 1880, the same number of Directors as the Catholic Church has had
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The attacks on Christians continue in India. Here is the latest from Asia News:
The Missionaries of Charity are again in the crosshairs of the fundamentalists: yesterday, September 5 - the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta - four sisters of Mother Teresa were attacked by about
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The Vaughan Monroe crowd will recall "Semper Idem" to have been the motto of the late Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, much to the predictable merriment of certain "liberal" (as contrasted with open-minded "progressive") circles.
I am coming to the view that "Semper
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Boston College's McMullen Museum of Art has mounted a remarkable exhibit, "Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault, 1871-1958." To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the artist's death, the Museum has assembled paintings and prints from the Fondation Rouault, from Paris's
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At the conclusion of the reading of the martyrology in Latin, the remembrance of the saints and martyrs of the particular day, the formula begins: "and elsewhere, others ..."
So, despite the genuine importance and excitement of conventions and vice-presidential picks, distressing news
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Last Sunday afternoon, the Fordham University church rang with joyful and grateful voices -- voices of family, of fellow Jesuits, and of friends -- celebrating the 90th birthday of Cardinal Avery Dulles. Rendered mute by illness, Dulles's alert eyes sparkled as he acknowledged smiles, words of
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Archbishop Charles Chaput issued a statement today, challenging Speaker Nancy Pelosi's understanding of the Catholic doctrinal tradition which she had enunciated during yesterday's "Meet the Press" appearance.
Here is part of the Archbishop's statement:
Interviewed on Meet the Press
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Dante's Divina Commedia is the great Catholic poem of graced mediations.
In the very first canto of the Inferno Virgil appears as a rescuer, sent (as the second canto reveals) by the trinity of heavenly mediators: Beatrice, Lucia, and the Virgin Mary (in ascending order). But the initiator of
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The 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus was held in Rome from January to March. One of its key actions was the election of a new Father General. But the Congregation also discussed and discerned a number of pressing issues in the life of the Society and of the Church.
The documents
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I have been reading with enjoyment and great profit John Burrow's A History of Histories. In effect he does what the title indicates: discusses and comments upon works of great historians from Herodotus to the twentieth century. Since I shall, alas, not read most of them in the span of life
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I first posted on Charles Taylor's massive A Secular Age some months back. A project I'm working on has led me to re-read Taylor's book, especially his crucial final chapter, "Conversions," where he indicates possible paths beyond the "unquiet frontiers of modernity."
A key
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Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and one of the Catholic Church's leading theologians, yesterday addressed the Anglican bishops gathered at the Lambeth Conference.
His talk gave a helpful overview of the history of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations
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I only recently discovered a lovely little book, Frederick Bauerschmidt's Why the Mystics Matter Now.
Its straightforward presentation of seven mystics of the Catholic tradition and its non-jargon writing style can conceal the depth of understanding and insight brought to the subject.
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Today is the feast of St. Peter Chrysologus, fifth century bishop of Ravenna and doctor of the Church. I have come to appreciate more and more the pastoral depth of his homilies. Here is an example:
Each of us is called to be both a sacrifice to God and his priest. Do not forfeit what divine
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The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a major address at the Lambeth Conference today, seeking to prevent the sundering of the Communion. Here is an excerpt:
We are here at all, surely, because we believe there is an Anglican identity and that it’s worth investing our time and energy in it. I
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I served for ten years on the United States Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue (ARC-USA). In the course of numerous discussions, I found one brief remark by an Anglican colleague especially illuminating. The remark was: "for us the THAT of communion is more important than the WHAT of communion.&
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I always enjoyed Paul Gigot when he was Mark Shields' opposite number on the Friday Lehrer News Hour.
Gigot left the Show when he became editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal.
In today's Journal he launches a rather stinging indictment of Fanny and Freddie and assorted accomplices
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Not being much of a movie-goer, I rely on others to steer me towards or away.
My former colleague at Boston College, Tom Hibbs, now Dean of the Honors College at Baylor, has a reflection on "The Dark Knight" that certainly impels me to see the film (if it's ever released in Boston).
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A remarkable personal narrative in today's Sunday Times Magazine by David Carr (the Times' Media columnist). The mix of honesty and self-deception, freedom and addiction, waste and grace is stunning. Here's a small sample:
To be an addict is to be something of a cognitive acrobat. You spread
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I and others have spoken often of Pope Benedict as a superb homilist and preacher. To my mind one of the marks of this is his raising of questions in the course of his presentation.
So, in the homily at the closing Eucharist in Sydney he asks: "But what is the 'power' of the Holy Spirit?&
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At Saturday's Vigil celebration in Sydney, Pope Benedict offered the young people another wonderful wedding of the personal, the pastoral, and the theological:
The Holy Spirit has been in some ways the neglected person of the Blessed Trinity. A clear understanding of the Spirit almost seems
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The First Letter of Peter counsels, in a well-known verse, "Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you" (3:15). And that hope is new life through Jesus Christ -- now and in eternity.
Pope Benedict's Australian pilgrimage continues in unusually balmy weather. In
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From Pope Benedict's address to the articipants at World Youth Day today in Sydney:
My dear friends, God’s creation is one and it is good. The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot,
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Over thirty years ago, when I taught at Dunwoodie, the Seminary of the Archdiocese of New York, there was a student who had a perpetually furrowed brow. His favorite expression was: "As if we didn't have enough trouble, now this!"
Well, the prospects facing us when moon day's markets
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On this feast day of Saint Benedict, the entry under "Creation" in Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B.'s, lovely A Monk's Alphabet well reflects the Saint's vision:
The whole created world is already God's open and gracious communication of himself. One needn't go elsewhere or leave it behind in
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On the America blog James Martin, S.J., welcomes Pope Benedict's new appointment to the CDF:
Pope Benedict has appointed Luis Ladaria, SJ, as secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, replacing Archbishop Angelo Amato, who becomes prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
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In less than a year Giovanni-Maria Vian, the new editor of the Vatican's newspaper, has given a new tone and style to the venerable daily.
He has opened its pages to a number of authors, who are not Catholics, and who raise respectful challenges to issues regarding the Church and modern society
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In a recent issue of The Tablet a well-intentioned article exhorts priests to preside at liturgy with liturgical sensitivity and pastoral care. A sentiment to which we can all mutter a pious "Amen!"
But in developing his case the author speaks of the priest acting "in persona
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At Bard College's Summer Music Festival anticipation was high for the world premier of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" with newly discovered music and the original "happy ending" in which the lovers elope and their feuding families reconciled. The new (old) version was
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During the month of July not only is the second reading at the Sunday Eucharist from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans, the next five weeks will present passages from the same chapter of Romans: chapter 8, often called Paul's "Gospel of the Holy Spirit."
A fine way to enter into the
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The current issue of America has a moving and thoughtful article on a woman's conversion both to Catholicism and to the Church's vision of the Gospel of Life. Here is an excerpt:
My pro-choice views (and I imagine those of many others) were motivated by loving concern: I just did not want women to
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Yesterday the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople celebrated together First Vespers of the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Pope Benedict, in his splendid homily, inaugurated the Year of St. Paul: a year of renewed reading and meditation upon the writings of the Apostle of the
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I leave for Rome tomorrow, and, upon landing (safely, speriamo!), will make for San Clemente and the ritual candles for friends, both living and dead.
Thanks to the Methodist liturgist, theologian, and ecumenist, Geoffrey Wainwright, I have a new (to me) prayer/poem by the 17th century Anglican-
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I have been a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America for 35 years now; and though I have not attended each and every convention over those years, I have attended well over half of them.
The Convention which ended today, as many know, had as its theme "Generations." The
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Adam Nagourney in todays' New York Times speculates on the role of Senator Clinton in Senator Obama's agenda:
There would be obvious advantages to an Obama-Clinton ticket. For one, it would go far toward healing wounded feelings among Mrs. Clinton’s supporters, especially women. Some of those
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from Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times:
I made a crack in a column last week that Senator Clinton, who had no discernible route to her party’s nomination, was waiting for a Rev. Wright on steroids to burst into view.
Within days, we had the astounding video of the Rev. Michael
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Yesterday I had the privilege of spending some time with Cardinal Avery Dulles in the Jesuit community infirmary at Fordham. A privilege, not in the first instance, because he is a Cardinal of the Church, nor even because he is a renowned theologian, but because he is an inspiring witness of faith
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Cardinal Newman's motto is apt for today's feast of the Sacred Heart. I did not remember that Newman himself took the phrase from St. Francis de Sales. And now the new auxiliary bishop of Denver has appropriated it (with due attribution) as his own episcopal motto.
Thanks to "Whispers in
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"Terroir" is the French term that wine-mavens use to speak about the distinctive sense of place (soil, sun, climate) that enters into the cultivation of grapes and the production of notable wines.
Benedictine monasticism, with its vow of "stability," also cultivates a sense
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Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis (now retired) issued a pastoral letter on "The Moral Conscience." In the face of widespread appeal to "conscience," he both stresses its importance and the responsibility of the subject to form his or her conscience in the
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Hans Urs von Balthasar has placed "beauty" at the very threshold of his theological opus. It is one reason his work resonates powerfully with many.
When I first came to the parish where I live, the lower church, where daily Eucharist is celebrated, had been "creatively"
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In today's New York Times Edward Luttwak has an op-ed piece on the significance and possible peril of Senator Obama's conversion to Christianity. He writes:
As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference
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Veni, Sancte Spiritus, known as the Golden Sequence, is the sequence for the Mass for Pentecost. It is commonly regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of sacred Latin poetry ever written. The hymn has been attributed to three different authors, King Robert II the Pious of France (970-1031),
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There is some discussion on a post below about "liberal" or "progressive" Catholics. Dot-Commers, as one would expect, are of different views, and there seems little common ground even as to the meaning of the labels.
Meanwhile a video is making its way around Boston College
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A Friday night ritual where I live is to catch Mark Shields and David Brooks on the Lehrer "News Hour." The segment is always entertaining, sometimes enlightening, and, on occasion, David even manages to get a word or two in. In recompense, David writes a column for the New York Times
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In his "Connections" column in today's New York Times, Edward Rothstein remembers Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD.
Rothstein reflects on romanticism's love/hate relationship with technology, and concludes:
It is through technology, not despite it, that LSD visions were realized
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Mere chance led me to tune into NPR at noon only to find myself caught up for a riveting fifty-three minutes. The program, "Speaking of Faith," in conjunction with the Pope's visit asked Catholics to submit essays on their own Catholic experience. A number were selected and asked to read
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In the very personal letter he wrote to the bishops to accompany his Motu Proprio, "Summorum Pontificum," Benedict XVI expressed the hope that "the two Forms of the usage of the Roman Rite can be mutually enriching." He also said that "it behooves all of us to preserve the
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Bob Herbert in today's New York Times is not overjoyed by Jeremiah's tirade:
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright went to Washington on Monday not to praise Barack Obama, but to bury him.
Smiling, cracking corny jokes, mugging it up for the big-time news media — this reverend is never going away. He’s
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Sunday and Monday cives Romani will go to the polls to elect a new mayor. The candidates are Francesco Rutelli, a vice-premier in the outgoing government of Prodi, the noblest Romano of them all, and Gianni Alemanno who belongs to Silvio Berlusconi's Center-Right coalition.
In the midst of a
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Recently, I wrote about the powerful effect made by the images of the Pope during his visit to the States. I drew particular attention to his meeting with children suffering from disabilities and to his encounter with survivors and family members at Ground Zero. Indelible images for those who
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Karl Barth famously enjoined the preacher to mount the pulpit with "the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other." For forty years I have tried to follow Barth's counsel, but the object of choice, held lightly in my left hand, is not the newspaper, but (chauvinist that I am
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In case the melodrama in New Haven has escaped the notice of those preoccupied with Pennsylvania, here is a brief summary from today's New York Times:
Last week, Yale officials announced that Ms. Shvarts had admitted that her project, her senior thesis, was a fiction, and that she had neither
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Even the Boston Globe was impressed! After the requisite detour through Hitler youth and Panzer-Kardinal, today's editorial ends rather (for the Globe) upbeat:
Many Americans weren't quite sure what to make of this pope. In 2005, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he arrived with heavy baggage,
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One of my very favorite essays is Andre Dubus' "On Charon's Wharf" (in his collection, Broken Vessels). He writes:
My belief in the sacrament of the Eucharist is simple: without touch, God is a monologue, an idea, a philosophy: he must touch and be touched, the tongue on flesh, and that
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Those, who watched on television the Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, saw, from time to time, the large cross placed on the altar, between the Pope and the assembly. It is Benedict's effort to introduce a spiritual "ad orientem" posture to the eucharistic liturgy.
Yesterday, at the
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The Pope's lovely homily at the Eucharist in Saint Patrick's Cathedral used the physical aspects of the Cathedral to evoke the spiritual richness of the faith.
Here is how he ends his reflections:
The spires of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral are dwarfed by the skyscrapers of the Manhattan skyline
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The style is moderate and no riot acts are being read. But the content is clear and the directions indicated challenging -- whether in the Address to the Catholic Educators or to the United Nations General Assembly or, now, to the Ecumenical leaders. Thus:
Even within the ecumenical movement,
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Two among a number of interesting letters in today's New York Times:
To the Editor:
Re “Pope, in U.S., Is ‘Ashamed’ of Pedophile Priests” (front page, April 16):
The Holy Father’s expression of shame for the sexual abuse scandal is well taken. But I think he should also, at some
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From the Pope's Message to the Jewish Community on the occasion of the Feast of Passover:
according to the prophet Isaiah, the hope of redemption extends to the whole of humanity: “Many peoples will come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob
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Among the many suggestive points of the Pope's homily today at Washington Nationals Stadium, these had a particular resonance for me:
I wish to offer a special word of gratitude and encouragment to all those who have taken up the challenge of the Second Vatican Council, so often reiterated by
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The New York Times has assembled a first-class group to comment on the Pope's visit, but none more astute, balanced, and challenging than Peter Steinfels.
Here is a portion of today's reflection, which will undoubtedly provoke outcries from right and left, but which shows an uncommon common
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At least that's what Maureen Dowd keeps saying:
I’m not bitter.
I’m not writing this just because I grew up in a house with a gun, a strong Catholic faith, an immigrant father, brothers with anti-illegal immigrant sentiments and a passion for bowling. (My bowling trophy was one of my most
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It looks like Silvio Berlusconi's coalition has won power in Italy.
Here's the latest from the Times:
''I think it was a vote against the performance of the Prodi government in the last two years,'' said Franco Pavoncello, a political science professor at Rome's John Cabot University. ''
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For those who missed it, here (thanks to Jim Martin at the America blog) is Obama's Catholic Advisory Group:
Obama's Catholic Kitchen Cabinet:
National Co-Chairs: Senator Bob Casey; Representative Patrick Murphy (PA-08); Former Congressman Tim Roemer, President of the Center for National Policy;
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On April 10th Cardinal Walter Kasper, published an important article in L'Osservatore Romano, apropos the recently modified prayer for the Jewish people in the Good Friday Service of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Sandro Magister has made available the text on his website, as he had
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"In the era of an aging population, memory is the new sex:" or so David Brooks reveals in today's New York Times.
And the buttoned-down Mr. Brooks expatiates further:
The dawning of the Bad Memory Century will have vast consequences for the social fabric and the international balance
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The Vatican has released the "missal" of the various liturgies and prayer services to be led by the Pope during his voyage to the United States.
Here is the link to the documents in pdf format:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/travels/2008/documents/messale_USA.pdf
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Not even three months after the resignation of the government of Romano Prodi, Italians will vote this Sunday and Monday in national elections. What a contrast to our interminable primary season. Admittedly, it would be a purgatorial penance to take endless months of Silvio Berlusconi. But then
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In preparation for the Pope's visit to the United Nations and the United States, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life sponsored an event with presentations by John Allen and George Weigel, followed by their responses to questions from reporters. I give one excerpt from a long and, to my mind
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From today's Wall Street Journal Editorial:
The former, and perhaps future, first couple earned $109 million over the past eight years, putting them among the top .01% of taxpayers. Apparently the Bush years haven't been a Depression era for everyone. The bulk of the Clintons' income came from
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As if the mozzarella fiasco were not enough, now Italian wines are under suspicion.
There are two separate investigations under way.
First, it has been charged that a large quantity of cheaper wines, sold in supermarkets, have, at best, been admixed with water, or even worse, adulterated by
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Before the talking-and-scribbling heads cruise into high gear for the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict, some commonsense observations from Peter Steinfels:
Of course, part of the problem in getting a fix on Benedict is simply the feebleness of accepted categories for understanding any serious
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Even occasional visitors to il bel paese know the simple but delectable antipasto known as "insalata caprese."
Here's a mouth-watering refresher from Wikipedia:
Insalata Caprese (Salad in the style of Capri) is a simple salad from the Italian region of Campania, made of sliced fresh
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Commonweal readers know how influenced Pope Benedict has been by Saint Augustine: writing one of his dissertations on Augustine's thought, quoting him in his encyclicals, recently devoting a series of Wednesday catecheses to the life and works of the great Saint.
What has long been clear to me
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Pope Benedict's "Easter Vigil Homily" concludes with words that we might well carry within us throughout the Forty Days ... and beyond:
In the early Church there was a custom whereby the Bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: “Conversi ad Dominum
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The editorial in Commonweal's edition of March 14th is entitled "The Missing." It reflects upon the recent "United States Religious Landscape Survey" by the Pew Forum.
The survey revealed, among other things, that former Catholics comprise close to ten percent of that
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It has been my happy custom over the past years to celebrate Holy Thursday at Sacred Heart Parish in Newton Centre where I reside. Then on Good Friday morning I drive to the Bronx, arriving at St. Theresa's parish for the afternoon Service. On the way I play Johann Sebastian Bach's "St. John
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The Stations of the Cross to be prayed tomorrow in the Colosseum have been composed this year by Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong. The accompanying booklet features depictions of the Stations by 20th century Chinese artists. They may be viewed here, though the text is in Italian. Click on the image
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from Wikipedia:
The traditional Roman Catholic Tenebrae is a combination of Matins (composed of 3 nocturns each day) and Lauds, the first two hours of the Divine Office. The readings of each day's first nocturn are taken from the Book of Lamentations. Each day, the office of Tenebrae contains 14
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Shelby Steele in today's Wall Street Journal:
nothing could be more dangerous to Mr. Obama's political aspirations than the revelation that he, the son of a white woman, sat Sunday after Sunday -- for 20 years -- in an Afrocentric, black nationalist church in which his own mother, not to mention
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How quickly we have moved from "slower growth," to "zero growth," to "mild recession," to "recession," to "worst recession since World War II." Now Paul Krugman's prophesy: "big bailout coming."
Before surrendering to March Madness, one
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In a comment on Joseph Komochak's post on "Resurrection," I suggested that Bishop Wright gets Dante wrong.
By contrast, I think that Hans Urs von Balthasar gets il Poeta exactly right.
Here are some insights from von Balthasar's Glory of the Lord, volume three: Lay Styles: "
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The founder of the Focolare movement Chiara's spiritual vision was founded on the Lord's prayer: "that all may be one."
Here is the report from Asia News:
Chiara Lubich, founder of the Work of Mary, better known as the Focolare Movement, died at 2 am this morning in here home in Rocca
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When the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal start singing the same tune, you gotta believe we're in big trouble.
Here's Paul Krugman in today's Times:
Four years ago, an academic economist named Ben Bernanke co-authored a technical paper that could have been titled “Things the Federal
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The annual Templeton Prize (awarded last year to Charles Taylor) has been awarded this year to a Polish priest and physicist, Father Michael Heller. Here is an excerpt from a Statement he made in conjunction with receiving the prize:
When contemplating the universe, the question imposes itself:
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The other day Pope Benedict addressed the plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Here is a report of his remarks from Asia News:
Referring to the theme chosen for the current assembly of the dicastery, "The Church and the challenge of secularisation", the pope then
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Almost twenty years ago I wrote an article for Commonweal entitled "Resurrection and Real Presence."
I ended the piece by quoting a just-published poem of Czeslaw Milosz. As I recall, permission had to be obtained to quote it, and Milosz granted permission in return for a year's
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Over on the First Things website (yes, I regularly peek surreptitiously), Richard Neuhaus has some reflections on a new book by Austin Dacey, The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life.
Neuhaus's take:
Here is Dacey’s thesis: “Secularists have the moral high ground, if they
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Sandro Magister's indispensable website, Chiesa, has recently reported on the new Italian Lectionary for Sundays and Feasts and (this being Italy) the "contestazione" it has aroused.
With the liturgical lectionary that went into use last Advent, the Italian bishops' conference, CEI,
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Karl Rahner famously opined that the Christian of the future will be a mystic -- one who experienced something -- or will not be. He clearly did not intend extraordinary mystical manifestations (think Bernini's "St. Teresa in Ecstasy"), but what he sometimes called "the mysticism of
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The New York Times' Public Editor weighs in on the McCain story. Here's part of his exchange with Bill Keller, the Executive Editor of The Times:
[I]n the absence of a smoking gun, I asked Keller why he decided to run what he had.
“If the point of the story was to allege that McCain had an
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DotCom readers have been enriched this Lent by the Augustinian feast that Joseph Komonchak is providing. Here is another morsel from the Bishop of Hippo's commentary on a verse from this Sunday's gospel:
“Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus at the well. It was about the
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A few weeks back there was a discussion on dotCom of the words of St. Ignatius in the "Constitutions of the Society of Jesus" to the effect that one under obedience should allow himself to be directed "as if he were a lifeless body:" perinde ac cadaver.
One of the blogs on
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From the greeting of the new Father General of the Jesuits to Pope Benedict at today's audience:
What inspires and impels us is the Gospel and the Spirit of Christ: if the Lord Jesus was not at the centre of our life we would have no sense of our apostolic activity, we would have no reason for
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Today's New York Times features a number of questions that readers would pose to the Democratic candidates in this evening's debate.
Here are three I found intriguing:
Senator Obama, in a speech in Chicago you joined the call for negotiations toward the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
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Lorin Maazel, music director of the New York Philharmonic, expresses in today's WSJ, his personal justification for the orchestra's upcoming performance in North Korea. It is a deeply personal statement which concludes:
I composed an opera to a text drawn from George Orwell's scathing indictment
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The grief-stricken mother of one of the victims of the slaughter at Northern Illinois University said of her daughter: "She was our only child; the light of our lives."
In some small measure we all bear that grief in our hearts and pray that the light of the transfigured Christ may
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Here is the abbreviated version from today's Boston Globe:
The archbishop of Canterbury yesterday faced calls to resign over remarks that have been interpreted as suggesting that the introduction of some aspects of Islamic law was unavoidable in Britain.
Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the
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The Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent fittingly recounts Jesus' fast of forty days, followed by Satan's testing.
In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict devotes the second chapter to an extended meditation upon "The Temptations of Jesus."
The Pope concludes:
What did Jesus
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Today's Boston Globe has a gracious editorial on the Giants' amazing victory last evening.
Viewers around the world last night got an opportunity to watch good, tough football. The New York Giants, by their gritty defensive play and clutch offensive performance on the final drive, elevated
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In the current Commonweal, Luke Timothy Johnson revisits the notification of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on aspects of the Christology of Jon Sobrino, S.J.
Johnson's article, "Human and Divine: Did Jesus Have Faith?", is a typical example of Johnson's informed
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What's not to like about The New Yorker's Joan Acocella? First, the very name sings. Second, the lady knows dance: her ballet reviews and criticisms are splendid. Third, her book reviews are sharp, even provocative. I called attention some months back to her review of a new translation of Dante's
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Apologies for today's "trifecta," but Tim Parks has a piece in the Wall Street Journal Online that is an acute reflection on the crisis in Italy. I found it a helpful "state of the question" and thought others might as well. Parks concludes:
Here then is an extraordinary
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On this feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas a reflection from Nicholas Healy's fine book, Thomas Aquinas: Theologian of the Christian Life:
His theology is best approached from his concern with the Christian life.....Theology, as Thomas understands and practices it, attempts to clarify what has been
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In a story on the scandal engulfing France's Société Générale a New York Times' headline declares:
A bnak that earned the respect of rivals
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Gene Palumbo in a comment on another thread called attention to Frank Rich's column in Sunday's New York Times. I agree: it's worth a look. Rich writes:
In a McCain vs. Billary race, the Democrats will sacrifice the most highly desired commodity by the entire electorate, change; the party will be
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Hard on the heels of the New York Times' endorsement yesterday of Hillary's nomination, two op-ed contributors express their reservations from both a historical and a contemporary political perspective.
First, Garry Wills:
We have seen in this campaign how former President Clinton rushes to the
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Just a week ago I entered a post, "Malaise or Meltdown?" on the situation in Italy. I thought things were moving from the former to the latter. The latest sign is that the government of Romano Prodi has just lost a vote of confidence in the Italian Senate and has resigned.
As La
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William Blazek, a Jesuit scholastic, medical doctor, and ethicist, wrote a piece for the Washington Post, on the occasion of the March for Life. I think it a fine integration of commitment and critical discernment.
Here is how it begins:
“Thou shalt not kill,’ not kill yourself, not
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There is an article on Cardinal Newman in the current Tablet (sign-in required) by Father Roderick Strange. A passage that particularly struck me follows:
Touching hearts was one of his fundamental preoccupations. It inspired his commitment to education. There is an entry in his journal in January
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Some lovely photos of the new Father General of the Society of Jesus in the rooms of Saint Ignatius and at the Church of the Gesu: http://magis.creighton.edu/ss/08_Gesu_Nicolas/ "A simple homily from a fellow Christian" to be posted later on the Creighton site
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In keeping with the sports metaphors (for which I am becoming known even in South Bend), Whispers in the Loggia has scored in announcing to a still somnolent America the gaudium magnum of the newly elected Father-General of "this least Society:"
The septuagenarian Fr Adolfo Nicolas --
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I know, I know: this is the guy who trashed Mother Teresa. But he has a devilish knack for pricking the pieties of both left and right -- and the man can write!
So in today's Wall Street Journal on "The Perils of Identity Politics" he concludes:
Not to dampen any parade, but if one
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The pasta is still uniformly good; and the wines keep improving. But, though ten days in Rome do not an expert make, they allow certain impressions to take hold. And they are disquieting.
I had already posted on this site, a few weeks back, the Times' Ian Fisher's front-page report on the
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"When I see a person hasty and violent, harsh and high-minded, careless of what others feel and disdainful of what they think -- when I see such a one proceeding to inquire into religious subjects, I am sure beforehand that he cannot go right -- he will not be led into all the truth -- it is
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I post this reluctantly, for I claim no expertise in international politics, much less in prophesying, but the situation, after the horrific assassination of Benazir Bhutto, seems to border on the catastrophic. On this both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal concur.
From the Times
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Some may recall that a year ago, almost to the day, I posted on dotCom the following:
One of the truly remarkable undertakings in classical music recording was the pilgrimage of John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi Choir during the millennium year 2000. It was also the 250th anniversary of the
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In his homily at Midnight Mass Pope Benedict invoked the Gospel and the theological tradition and applied it to our situation today:
In some Christmas scenes from the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the stable is depicted as a crumbling palace. It is still possible to recognize
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Kenneth Woodward on "The Plight of Bethlehem" in today's WSJ:
A mere nine kilometers separates Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, from Jerusalem, where he was crucified, died and was buried. Pilgrims can easily visit both the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in
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Catherine Pepinster, the editor of The Tablet, offers some thoughtful reflections on Tony Blair's reception into the Catholic Church (in the Sunday Telegraph, via Rocco Palmo);
I would hope that my fellow Catholics will welcome Tony Blair into the Church, just as they welcome other converts.
That
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from "A Christmas Sermon" of John Donne:
Though in the ways of fortune,
or understanding, or conscience,
Thou have been benighted till now,
wintered and frozen,
clouded and eclipsed,
damped and benumbed,
smothered and stupefied till now,
Now God comes to thee,
not
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Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco has issued some forthright questions and answers regarding the new document of the United States Bishops. Here are two that especially struck me:
Q: Isn't the Catholic Church really interested only in abortion and euthanasia?
A: No. The Catholic
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This morning's Times Science Section takes up the endless debate and concludes (provisionally, of course):
Maybe both alternatives — Plato’s eternal stone tablet and Dr. Wheeler’s higgledy-piggledy process — will somehow turn out to be true. The dichotomy between forever and emergent might
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As a break from grading papers, I have been enjoying the wonderful new edition of selected letters of Abigail and John Adams, My Dearest Friend (Belknap Press). Here are two excerpts:
John to Abigail from Paris, July 17, 1783, after three years of separation, considering the possibility of
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Charles Taylor's monumental A Secular Age (about which I blogged on dotCommonweal some weeks back) has received a substantive and suggestive review by John Patrick Diggins in tomorrow's Times Book Review.
Here is Diggins' conclusion:
Emerson called society “a conspiracy against the manhood of
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The Gospel of the Third Sunday of Advent (Matt 11:2-11) recounts the question that the imprisoned Baptist sends his disciples to ask of Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come?" And Jesus' response: "Go and tell what you hear and see."
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the
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And, as usual, he's probably right:
It’s easy to get lost in the details of subprime mortgages, resets, collateralized debt obligations, and so on. But there are two important facts that may give you a sense of just how big the problem is.
First, we had an enormous housing bubble in the
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I have long grumbled (yes, I confess it) about the newspaper of record's shoddy reporting on things Italian: sensationalistic, superficial, prejudiced are my printable comments. And often the coverage of Vatican affairs was depressingly predictable -- one could always guess what would appear in the
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The Italian daily, La Repubblica, has put on its website photos of the young Omaha killer, taken by the store's surveillance cameras, as well as facsimiles of the notes he left behind. Scroll to "Nebraska: La fotosequenza." One can only pray for all caught up in this terrible tragedy that
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And now a word from the sponsor:To the Editor of The New York Times:Re “Gospel Truth” (Op-Ed, Dec. 1), about the Gospel of Judas:April D. DeConick speaks too confidently when she talks about our mistakes in translation. She knows better. The issues of translation she highlights are almost all
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An op-ed piece in today's New York Times speaks of the benefits of Latin study. (After Saturday's op-ed on the "Gospel of Judas" and its mistranslation, does this signify that the newspaper of record has taken a promising turn towards the benefits of the study of ancient languages? Stay
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In an earlier post I recommended Benedict XVI's Encyclical, Spe Salvi, for Advent reading. But it is (in the Augustinian sense) a "weighty" and lengthy document.In the meantime, one could hardly do better than meditate on John O'Callaghan's lovely reflection in the current Commonweal: &
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The Bishops of the United States have issued a new document on music in the liturgy: "Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship."A first quick reading finds a number of helpful reminders/recommendations, such as:
116. At daily Mass, the above priorities should be followed as much as
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Pope Benedict's new encyclical, his meditation on hope, Spe Salvi, was released today. My initial impression is that it is denser than Deus Caritas Est -- the hand of the professor is evident. It could well serve for Advent reading: a lectio continua.Here is a passage that caught my attention:
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I've always been intrigued by those Renaissance paintings depicting some crucial moment in the life of Christ: the wedding feast at Cana, the healing of the blind man, even the Last Supper. There is an intensity of energy at the center, but as our eyes move toward the periphery of the painting, the
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In his homily during Saturday's Consistory, the Pope turned his thoughts to Iraq:
I now think with affection of the communities entrusted to your care and, in a special way, of those that are most tried by suffering, by challenges and difficulties of different sorts. Among these, how can I not
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Boston College's Church in the 21st Century Book Series, published by Crossroad, has a new title: Take Heart: Catholic Writers on Hope in Our Time. It contains short essay-reflections by many authors, including such Commonweal stalwarts as Lawrence Cunningham, Luke Timothy Johnson, Don Wycliff,
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When Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth appeared, I commented favorably on the review by New Testament scholar, Richard Hays, published in First Things. I thought the review both appreciative and critical of the book.Now, in the current (December) issue of First Things, a number of letters are
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Today is the eleventh anniversary of the death of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.The Gift of Peace is the book of reflections he wrote as he literally lay dying.Here is an excerpt:
In the final analysis our participation in the paschal mystery -- in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus --
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Our 9:00 a.m. Eucharist today began with a stately "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and concluded with a rousing "Shall We Gather At The River."Afterwards we gathered, not at the river, but at the parish center for coffee. An eighty-year-old, involved in prison ministry, collared
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In his "Beliefs" column in today's New York Times, Peter Steinfels writes of a new book, Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion. Its author is Antonio Monda, based in New York, as cultural correspondent for the left-leaning Italian newspaper, La Repubblica.In his book Signor
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Anyone who has crossed the border into Canada recently, not to mention Europe,doesn't need an elaboration of this post's title.Today's Wall Street Journal gives background and lays blame -- in the process seemingly going against Wall Street's own fervent desires.
To understand the dollar's current
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Jon Levenson is the Alfred List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School. He has contributed to Commonweal, and is, in my view, one of the most insightful commentators both on the Hebrew Bible and on Jewish-Christian dialogue.In the recent issue of the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, he
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Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto gave the keynote address at the annual "Cardinal's Dinner" to support Catholic charities in the Archdiocese.His address builds upon the declaration of Pope Benedict of a "Pauline Year;" but it also shows a contemporary sensibility (perhaps
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John Allen's weekly online post is devoted to the publication in English of a book on the Dominican Bishop of Oran, Algeria, Pierre Claverie. Claverie was assassinated in his residence in 1996, along with his Muslim driver and friend.Here is part of Allen's report:
"I know enough Muslim
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Apropos Colbert's appearance on Meet the Press, David Carr has a lengthy reflection in today's Times.Here is part of what he writes:
[T]he message I draw from Mr. Colbert is not that members of the
media-political complex need to laugh at themselves, but that they need
to take a hard look. The
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Column by Archbishop George H. Niederauer, to be published Oct. 19th in Catholic San Francisco:A recent event that greatly concerns me needs some additional explanation -- and with it an apology. On Sunday, October 7, 2007, I celebrated Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Parish here in San Francisco,
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Bob Herbert in today's Times discusses the new book by Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint, Come On, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors.Here is part of the column:
The most important step toward ending the tragic cycles of violence
and poverty among African-Americans also happens to be the
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In a post today on the First Things website, Wilfred McClay takes issue with an article by Paul Elie in the November Atlantic Monthly. He especially faults Elie for misrepresenting McClay's own position.I have not read the Elie piece, but McClay's own view of the work of Reinhold Niebuhr (the
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To celebrate the feast of Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, lines from Richard Wilbur's "Teresa:"
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..... and so the penitent pilgrim, bearing the 850 page burden, struggles upward toward the elusive goal. He/she stumbles onto Purgatorio's twentieth terrace (aptly titled "Conversions"), and here the revelation, so long desired, at last occurs.Beatrice-like, the guiding genius of the
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Laudato si', mi Signore, per quelli che perdonano per lo tuo amoreet sostengono infirmitate et tribulatione.beati quelli che sosterranno in paceca da te, Altissimo, sirano incoronati.For Larry Cunningham and my niece's favorite painting:http://www.wga.hu/html/b/bellini/giovanni/1480-89/098ecsta.
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Since its arrival by the friendly Amazon express, I've been browsing Charles Taylor's monumental, tantalizing, and repetitive magnum opus: A Secular Age.Happily, the author states at the outset: "I ask the reader who picks up this book not to think of it as a continuous story-and-argument, but
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The Episcopal House of Bishops ended its six day meeting in New Orleans yesterday with the almost unanimous approval of a Statement responding to the requests of the Anglican Primates.Reporters for the Boston Globe and the New York Times seem to have reached somewhat different assessments of the
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A post below, on the resignation of his office by Episcopal Bishop Jeffrey Steenson, elicited a long and fascinating thread.Now Bishop Steenson has addressed the House of Bishops and given some of the personal and theological reasons for his choice.He said:
Our spring meeting this year at Camp
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Now that a semblance of normalcy has returned to upper Broadway, I thought it worthwhile to call attention to what some may have missed: the Public Editor's column in last Sunday's Times.It begins:
For nearly two weeks, The New York Times has been defending a
political advertisement that
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Pope Benedict gave a short address on Friday to a gathering of participants in a meeting of the "Centrist Democratic International."The following paragraphs may offer a preview to his anticipated Address to the United Nations in April.
Another cause highly esteemed by all of you is the
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Michael Paulson, writing in today's Boston Globe, reports on the crucial talks being held in New Orleans between the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the bishops of the Episcopal Church.
Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams, in a last-ditch effort to avoid a schism in
the
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I may be spending too much time with theology, but today's Times' story (somewhat buried inside) came as a complete surprise. Here's the opening:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 — The Sept. 6 attack by Israeli warplanes inside SyriaNorth Korea struck what Israeli intelligence believes was a nuclear-
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Paul Krugman has a column "Sad Alan's Lament" in today's Times (available online only to the well-heeled subscribers to TimesSelect).In it he excoriates Alan Greenspan for claiming in his new book that he was opposed to the Bush tax cuts. Krugman contends that Greenspan never distanced
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I began the new semester of my "Exploring Catholicism" course using a new edition of the Bible: The Saint Mary's Press, College Study Bible. One of the features that motivated my choosing it was its excellent "Glossary" of terms.Among the twenty terms I asked the students to
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I have discovered lately (and belatedly) the religious music of the Scottish Catholic composer, James MacMillan.I am growing to love his Mass, performed wonderfully by the men and boys of the Westminster Cathedral Choir (Hyperion CD).The Mass is a setting of the English translation of the Novus
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Pope Benedict's homily in St. Stephen's Cathedral Vienna this morning began with a phrase that is dear to him and that guides his theological vision: "Sine dominico non possumus." He explains its significance:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,“Sine dominico non possumus!” Without the gift
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Joseph Komonchak has a post below on Pope Benedict's address to Austrian leaders and members of the diplomatic corps.During the celebration of the Eucharist today at the Marian shrine of Mariazell (the goal of his pilgrimage) Benedict's homily spoke of the central theme of his preaching and
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Luciano Pavarotti who died yesterday at age 71 was, like only a select number of operatic tenors, immediately recognizable on hearing his glorious voice. I pride myself on being able to recognize Caruso, Gigli, Del Monaco, Di Stefano after only a few notes on the radio. Pavarotti belongs in their
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For years, after Vatican II, the issue of the Catholic identity of colleges and universities, was, for the most part, avoided. Most institutions were, in effect, drawing upon previously accumulated capital.John Paul II's Ex Corde Ecclesiae brought the issue to the center of attention once again,
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Joan Acocella (the name sings!), the dance critic of The New Yorker, has a stunning book review in the current issue. She discusses (at welcome length) Robert and Jean Hollander's new translation of Dante's Paradiso, bringing to a close their epochal journey through the three cantiche of the
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Yesterday, the Feast of St. Augustine, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England preached at a Mass at Merton College Oxford. The occasion was a workshop, sponsored by the Latin Mass Society, to instruct priests on the celebration of the "extraordinary form" of the Roman Rite.The
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I confess to having been in the dark concerning the contemporary re-incarnation of the ancient philosopher (happily this occurred prior to the Chinese Government's prohibition).But several posts by Grant enlightened me to his existence.So, from time to time, I've surreptitiously peeked into his
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William Collier, in a comment on a post below, refers to an extraordinary article in Time Magazine by David Van Biema on Mother Teresa's prolonged "dark night of the soul."The article is based upon a new book of Mother Teresa's Letters:
A new, innocuously titled book, Mother Teresa: Come
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Over the past months there has been a number of references on dotCom to a "Manichaean" mindset. Now The New Yorker has belatedly entered the lists.Adam Kirsch has a review of Ann Wroe's new book, Being Shelley, which he entitles: "Avenging Angel: Inside Shelley's Manichaean Mind.&
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Whatever the Church's universal calendar may say, all red-blooded Italian-Americans (like Rocco Palmo and yours truly) know that today is the Feast of San Rocco.Paul McCreesh has a wonderful recording, Music for San Rocco (Deutsche Grammophon/Archiv) which I faithfully play on the feast. It is a re
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Last Sunday was the eleventh anniversary of the announcement by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative.And this Sunday is the fourth anniversary of the death of Monsignor Philip Murnion, his close collaborator in conceiving and implementing the Initiative.Those whose
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The dismal science is turning more dismal by the hour as the markets roll downward from East to West.The New York Times' Paul Krugman is not (no news here) optimistic. He writes:
The origins of the current crunch lie in the financial follies of the last few years, which in retrospect were as
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James Wood, literary critic at The New Republic, is leaving for the (more prestigious? better paying? less monochrome) New Yorker.Here's the reaction from Leon (never at a loss for words) Wieseltier, TNR's literary editor: “The New
Republic plays many significant roles in American culture, and
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Today's Boston Globe has an article by the mother of a nine-year old whose son is afflicted with what some term "pediatric bipolar illness." Her reflections are poignant, heart-breaking, and conclude:
Yes, I would love to find another way to find some peace in
the storm, but unless you
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When the abuse crisis burst in Boston, I was invited to write some reflections for the Common Ground Newsletter. The words that kept haunting me were from the Letter to the Colossians: "Stop lying to one another!" They will be read tomorrow at the Sunday Eucharist, and they call to
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In June Pope Benedict issued a Motu Proprio that restored the ancient rule for papal elections.Prior to the last conclave John Paul II had modified the long-standing tradition of a two-thirds requirement to elect a Pope. He stipulated that, though this would hold true for the first thirty-four
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Like most dotCommonweal readers, I try to practice the Catholic principle of "both/and" (or, on alternate days, yin and yang). Hence I subscribe to both Commonweal and First Things; both the NYT and the WSJ.In my view, the Journal actually shows a greater differentiation between
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Spurred by a very positive assessment by Garry Wills in The New York Review, I purchased and read Robert Richardson's marvelous intellectual biography of William James, William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism.Though the book approaches James' life through his intellectual work, plenty
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Those who peruse James Carroll's "Pontifications," know that two subjects, in particular, obsess Mr. Carroll: the Pope ... and James Carroll.As a follow-up to my post on "Gioia's Nightmare," some might care to be made privy to Carroll's Nightmare. It's a fish story -- not for
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In this Sunday's reading from Colossians, Paul exclaims: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake."I have been reading these past days Sidney Callahan's richly evocative and deeply personal new book, Created for Joy: A Christian View of Suffering. Her reflections help illuminate the
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In today's Wall Street Journal, Dana Gioia reveals his nocturnal panic attack:
I have a recurring nightmare. I am in Rome visiting the Sistine Chapel. I look up at Michelangelo's incomparable fresco of the "Creation of Man." I see God stretching out his arm to touch the reclining Adam's
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An intriguing comment on one of the posts below mentions Jack Miles' review of Jesus of Nazareth in the current Commonweal.I thought a wider discussion of the piece might be useful.For myself, a number of points in the review puzzle me.Firstly, and sensibilities may differ here, I found a strain of
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At the apogee of nineteenth century Ultramontanism, W.G. Ward reportedly lusted for a papal bull to spice every breakfast.Monday breakfasts in Boston regale on bull of a different breed (courtesy The Globe):
The God whom atheists aggressively deny (the all-powerful,
all-knowing, unmoved Mover;
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Today, tucked into the celebration of "the weekly Easter," the Dies Domini, the Church also commemorates, with the entire Franciscan family, St. Bonaventure, theologian and pastor.In 1959 the young professor, Joseph Ratzinger, published a significant study: The Theology of History in St.
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Cardinal Walter Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has provided an irenic exegesis of the recent CDF Declaration that has been commented on in a post below.Kasper writes:
A first and quick reaction among Protestant Christians to the
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Benedict. His life span (480-547) conjures up a world in disarray. His genius was to chart anew a path to the abiding and life-giving Center that was both contemplative and practical: a school of the Lord's service.The famous close of his Rule reads:
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An item from the Christianity Today website, with interesting links:
Bishop corrects priest who announced, "I am both Muslim and Christian"The June 2007 newspaper for the Seattle-area Episcopal Diocese of Olympia had an article on Ann Holmes Redding, proclaiming her "both a
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The Vatican web site has now published Pope Benedicts' Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum. It is currently available only in Latin (as seems fitting).But the accompanying Letter to the Bishops is available in English. Here is, to my mind, a crucial paragraph, reflective of the personal tone of the
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Today's New York Times (yes, Cathy, there is life [and death] after "The Sopranos") has a lament by Michael Goldfarb on the demise by suicide of his alma mater, Antioch College.Here's the mournful ending:
I grieve for the place with all the sadness, anger and
self-reproach you feel
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The horrors continue to multiply in Iraq. Yesterday after Sunday Liturgy a Catholic priest and three subdeacons were assassinated. Catholic News Service reports:
Father Ganni, the three subdeacons, and the wife of one of the
subdeacons were driving away from the church when their car was
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In my years of studying philosophy, the most salient piece of wisdom I have encountered comes from (of all people) Rene Descartes.The Father of modern philosophy once opined: Common sense is what is most widespread and least used.Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe distinguishes herself in my eyes by
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Michael Downey, who teaches Theology and Spirituality at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, wrote, a few years ago, Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality.This lovely and deeply pondered book (more suited to lectio than to quick perusal) was originally conceived as a joint undertaking with the
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In the current New Yorker David Remnick is doing a pretty fair imitation of Cathy Kaveny.
[T]he mobsters and their families in “The Sopranos” are a recognizable
reflection of all of us. The epic is peopled with every variety of
twenty-first-century character imaginable: mobsters, yes, but
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I have long respected John Allen's intellectual acumen, but I did not realize, until today, that it is rivaled by his olfactory astuteness.In today's New York Times he sniffs out the implications and consequences of the anticipated motu proprio, allowing for wider use of the Tridentine liturgy.
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Andrew Bacevich's poignant reflections on his son and his country in today's Washington Post:
In joining the Army, my son was following in his father's footsteps: Before he was born, I had served in Vietnam. As military officers, we shared an ironic kinship of sorts, each of us demonstrating a
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Today's Corriere della Sera carries an Italian translation of a reflection on Pope Benedict's book, given in Paris by the biblical scholar and retired Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini.Given the ongoing discussion of the Pope's book, here is the generous and nuanced conclusion of
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In today's Boston Globe (of all places!), a pro-life op-ed piece that is straightforward and refreshing. Though I don't agree with every point, the conclusion strikes me as unimpeachable.
Because we don't know where life begins, the only logical thing to
do is to err on the side of caution -- the
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Nicolas Sarkozy, le President de la France, has, as promised, appointed the Socialist Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Doctors without Borders, as his foreign minister.Today's New York Times has an informative profile, spiced with some telling tidbits.
Mr. Kouchner, who has served as France’s
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Awaiting the arrival (via Amazon) of Pope Benedict's new book on Jesus, I've been spending the time reading my favorite ecclesial exegete, Luke Timothy Johnson.In a book of more popular essays, The Living Gospel (Continuum: 2004), Johnson sums up some of his longstanding convictions regarding
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In Memoriam: First Lieutenant Andrew J. BacevichFrom a Homily of Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Ascension of the Lord:
The Lord says to us, mysteriously, that his going away and disappearing will also be a coming and an appearing: "I am going away, and I will come to you" (Jn 14:18). And
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Today's Boston Globe reports the sad news of the death in Iraq of First Lieutenant Andrew Bacevich, son of Boston University Professor and Commonweal contributor, Andrew J. Bacevich:
Boston University professor Andrew J. Bacevich has been a
persistent, vocal critic of the Iraq war, calling the
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Today is the last and climactic day of the Pope's stay in Brazil. This morning he celebrated Mass at the shrine of our Lady of Aparecida. And this afternoon he delivered an address, formally opening the Fifth General Assembly of CELAM.At the Regina Coeli following the Mass, the Pope spoke not
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From the Pope's address to the Brazilian Bishops assembled for Vespers in the Cathedral of Sao Paulo:
There is nothing new in the observation that your country is living through a historic deficit in social development, whose extreme effects can seen in the vast cross-section of Brazilians
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In his homily to the young people gathered in the Stadium of Pacaembu yesterday the Pope said:
Many times, we who are pastors feel a sense of trepidation as we take stock of the situation in today’s world. We hear talk of the fears of today’s youth. These fears reveal an enormous lack of
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Francis Beckwith, former President of the Evangelical Theology Society, has returned to the Roman Catholic Church in which he had been baptized.As dotCommonweal readers know, his decision aroused much commentary, both cordial and extremely critical.Christianity Today online has an interview with
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Pope Benedict, in his weekly audiences, has been offering a remarkable series of meditations on significant figures in the early Church.For the past two Wednesdays he has reflected on the third century exegete and theologian, Origen.Last Wednesday's reflection is not yet available in full in
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Holland Cotter is the fine, always stimulating, art critic of The New York Times. In today's paper he reviews an exhibiton of the work of Edward Hopper, opening Sunday at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.Here's how the review begins:
A certain slant of light was Edward Hopper’s
thing. And he made
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The restoration of the ecclesial catechumenate is one of the significant pastoral gains stemming from Vatican II. It has helped renew Christian communities both in parishes and on college campuses.Some years ago, however, I began to employ the term "cultural catechumenate" to highlight
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In his recent Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict wrote:
42. In the
ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that "the new man sings a new
song. Singing is an expression of joy and,
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The great Russian cellist and conductor, Mstislav Rostropovich, died yesterday in Moscow. His musical genius and human integrity are justly celebrated in a front page tribute in today's New York Times.His friend, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whom Rostropovich sheltered in the 1970s when the author was
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For those of a younger generation the name Barbara Stanwyck would most likely draw looks of befuddlement. Alas, to most Commonweal readers it probably evokes fond recollections.In the current NewYorker, Anthony Lane, with his usual elegant insight, celebrates the late film star.The piece makes for
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An article by Notre Dame Professor Brad Gregory explains why he left a tenured positon at Stanford to teach at Notre Dame.
What drew me to Notre Dame was its Catholic identity. Numerous academics think that any university with a religious mission must be inhibiting academic freedom, marking itself
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Today's New York Times' Editorial leads the way in pushing the panic button:
As far as we know, Mr. Kennedy and his four colleagues responsible for
this atrocious result are not doctors. Yet these five male justices
felt free to override the weight of medical evidence presented during
the
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Sandro Magister (magister #3) has posted a chapter by chapter resume of Pope Benedict's book, Jesus of Nazareth, released in Rome today.In the appendix Benedict XVI (magister #1) refers to works by scholars whose work he has found helpful. He singles out one in particular:
For each of the ten
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In a previous post I suggested that the Public Editor of The New York Times would do well to examine the paper's coverage of the accusations against the three Duke lacrosse players, now belatedly found innocent of the charges leveled against them.In today's Times-owned Boston Globe, columnist Cathy
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Contrary to custom, Pope Benedict will celebrate his 80th birthday tomorrow by giving a gift: his new book Jesus of Nazareth will be released in Italian, German, and Polish. The English edition will be available in mid-May -- though Amazon is taking pre-publication orders.The book was formally
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Since (full disclosure) I love to hate The Times, post-Easter generosity prompts my giving credit where credit is due.First their report today on the pressure brought on China to take some action regarding the genocide in Dafur. The newspaper of record even acknowledges the role played by Mia
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The nasty, academic (I know: that's redundant) squabble between Harvard's own Alan Dershowitz and DePaul's (at least until now) Norman Finkelstein has hit the front page of The New York Times' "Arts Section" -- right next to the ninety-eighth episode of the long-running soap opera, "
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From Pope Benedict's Homily at the Easter Vigil:
This is the joy of the Easter Vigil: we are free. In the resurrection of Jesus, love has been shown to be stronger than death, stronger than evil. Love made Christ descend, and love is also the power by which he ascends. The power by which he brings
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I keep waiting for the New York Times to discuss Catholicism in general or Pope Benedict in particular in a way that moves beyond platitudes and fluff to some substantive insight. I know, I know: naive me.The cover story in Easter Sunday's New York Times Magazine (not yet online) deals the latest
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Thomas Cahill is writing a series of popular (and profitable) books under the general title: "The Hinges of History." The latest handsome volume is Mysteries of the Middle Ages.Acknowledging one of his own sources, Norman Cantor's Inventing the Middle Ages, Cahill calls it "
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The mosaic of the Cross as Tree of Life is the jewel of the twelfth century Basilica of San Clemente. But there are other wonders as well.Surrounding the Cross, serving as frame for it, is the triumphal arch: also an extraordinary theological composition in mosaic.At its apex is Christ as
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In one of his Wednesday audiences, the late John Paul II spoke of the key theological theme of "recapitulation." He said:
God's saving plan, "the mystery of his will" (cf. Eph 1: 9) for every creature, is described in the Letter to the Ephesians with a distinctive term: to &
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My dictionary defines an "epigraph" thus: "a quotation placed at the beginning of a book or chapter to indicate the leading idea or theme."For the past few years, I've asked my undergraduates to affix an epigraph on the title page of the book review they are doing for class. For
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"Maureen Dowd is on vacation" says the notice at the bottom of the op-ed page of today's New York Times. (Lent discourages any unseemly display of joy!).In Maureen's little pond Stanley Fish swims this month. Professor Fish has an engaging column today entitled, "Religion without
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A dear friend alerted me to a blog that I had not been aware of. It is entitled Vultus Christi, and is part of the spiritual ministry of Father Mark, a Cistercian monk at the Abbey of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Rome.Today's post reflects on the spirituality of John Henry Newman. He quotes from
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The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece today that I found intriguing. Unfortunately, it is available on-line only to subscribers; but the gist is here:
The 'Genocide Olympics'By Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow
"One World, One Dream" is China's slogan for its 2008 Olympics. But
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When I come across an article whose author is David Remnick of The New Yorker, I immediately hasten to read it, because I'm sure of finding intellectually stimulating fare (even when he writes about sports!). One may not always agree, but one is enriched by the contact.For me another such author is
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Yesterday I saw the superb film, "Into Great Silence." Superlatives fail, and, in some sense, are unfitting to a film that lives on a different plane from our habitual, often unthinking, verbal excess. One of the biblical quotes that appear from time to time on the screen is the famous
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Today's New York Times reports on the conclusion of the meeting of the Bishops of the Episcopal Church.
Responding to an ultimatum from leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, bishops of the Episcopal Church
have rejected a key demand to create a parallel leadership structure to
serve the
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Jonathan Rizzo, a graduate of Boston College High School, was stabbed to death in July 2001. His parents and two younger brothers were devastated by their loss. There the newspaper stories generally end.But today's Boston Globe recounts how Jonathan's younger brother, Nick, is transforming grief
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Yesterday Benedict XVI issued his long-awaited Apostolic Exhortation, reflecting upon the 2005 Synod of Bishops. The Pope entitles the lengthy document: Sacramentum Caritatis.In today's New York Times Ian Fisher writes:
Pope Benedict XVI strongly reasserted on Tuesday the church’s opposition to
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I have already mentioned in this space the sheer pleasure I derive every fortnight from Katherine A. Powers' column, A Reader's Life. In her most recent offering she celebrates the re-issue of a book that details and honors the author, Walter Rose's nineteenth century grandfather, The Village
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German filmmaker Philip Groening's acclaimed film, Into Great Silence, has already been brought to the attention of readers of this blog.In today's Boston Globe, there is an interesting interview with Groening. Two comments which caught my attention follow:
The film does not depict a monastery,
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The Transfiguration of the Lord, so central to the mystical theology of the Eastern Church, has remained marginal for much of the West. The feast itself is often lost in August's exodus.Happily, the Gospel for Lent's second Sunday brings the Lord's Transfiguration to the fore, in a scene where past
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A few years back a good friend gifted me with a subscription to The Wall Street Journal. Since then, breakfast has been unduly prolonged by reading both the Journal and the Times. Sometimes I feel like exclaiming, with Cicero: "Ubinam gentium sumus?" Are we living in the same world?Today'
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In 1978 the Italian director, Ermanno Olmi, wrote and directed a film that I would list among the five greatest I have seen. He entitled it: "L'Albero degli Zoccoli" -- "The Tree of the Wooden Clogs." Relatively little action takes place in its three hours: peasants labor and
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Though he can sometimes sound like Jeremiah on a bad beard day, one admires the moral passion of The New York Times' Bob Herbert.In today's column (available online only to TimesSelect subscribers), Herbert takes his cue from the late Neil Postman's book, Amusing Ourselves to Death.Here are the
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The morning Mass at Boston College, that usually brings together 15 to 20 people, today saw 40 to 50 gather. The noon Mass at the parish where I live usually assembles 20 to 30 people. Today there were 140. It is no secret that Ash Wednesday is a holy day, not by episcopal injunction, but by
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The story of the Primates Communique unfolds: here in The Guardian and here by Ruth Gledhill in The London Times. A conservative Anglican blog has initial commentary here.There is so much at stake both for the Anglican Communion itself and for Anglican-Roman Catholic relations. Archbishop Rowan
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The Communique at the conclusion of the Primates meeting has just been issued.The document will require close reading and commentary. But a key passage from the appended recommendations is the following:
The Primates recognise the seriousness with which The Episcopal Church addressed the requests
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Apropos the Archbishop Wielgus affair, a recent letter to The Tablet (27 January) offered some background.
The Communist system relied on the permanent infiltration of society at all levels, and on state-backed measures to discredit and disrupt any independent, anti-Communist activity. Catholic
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Too often, even among those tutored in theology, knowledge of the great doctor of the church, is limited to his masterful Summa Theologiae. And, even here, it is the first two parts that receive most attention. What can thereby escape notice is how radically Christocentric Thomas' vision and
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In a previous post under this title I referred to the Vatican II-inspired dialogue among Catholics and adherents of non-Christian religions. I cautioned, however, that this crucially important and relatively new undertaking strive to respect the full range of Vatican's II's theological and pastoral
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I first taught theology in a Seminary where it sometimes seemed that the governing orientation was provided by the verse of chapter 16 of St. Matthew: "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church."I then taught for a number of years in a School of Theology where the text of
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The Anglican theologian, Mark McIntosh has an intriguing book, Discernment and Truth. Speaking of the theology of St. Bonaventure, he writes: for Bonaventure "the deep structure of all creatures is a kind of echo or vestige of the trinitarian rhythm of existence."Reading that, I could not
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An unkind cut, but worth pondering: Joseph Rago in today's Wall Street Journal on blogs and bloggers:
The blogs are not as significant as their self-endeared curators would like to think. Journalism requires journalists, who are at least fitfully confronting the digital age. The bloggers, for
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One of the most fearsome moments in all opera comes in the first act of Verdi's Aida. The tenor, barely warmed-up, must launch into Radames' great aria, "Celeste Aida," that surges to a B-flat at the words "vicin'al sol." Like many an Icarus, flying too close to the sun, it can
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On December 14th the Church celebrates the feast of the great Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross.In his elegantly written book, Denying and Disclosing God: The Ambiguous Progress of Modern Atheism, Michael Buckley, S.J., draws significantly upon John's mystical theology.Commenting upon the Saint'
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I'm still not clear on what the "truthiness" business is all about, but "getting at the truth" seems a more urgent undertaking.Hence I was taken with the column in today's Boston Globe by Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried.Fried writes:
There is such a thing as truth; that is
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If memory serves, the film "Miracle on 34th Street," featured a Santa who worked for Macy's, but scandalized management by, occasionally, sending customers across the street to arch-rival, Gimbel's.I shall follow Santa's lead and direct dotCommers to the First Things website for RJN's
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A few months ago the classical music world mourned the death of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson at the age of only 52. Hers was a voice and a presence of surpassing artistry and integrity.A new CD will be released in a few weeks, "Neruda Songs," composed by her husband, Peter Lieberson, to texts
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Johann Sebastian Bach's stirring Cantata 140 sounds the turn of the Church's liturgical year toward Advent.After the magnificent opening chorus, Wachet auf, the tenor recitative proclaims: "Er kommt, er kommt" -- "the Bridegroom comes!"And the first duet between the Christian
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John Allen has his usual perceptive analysis of the Pope's visit to Turkey. Among other points he makes:
Relativism, not Islam, is Benedict's real bogeyman, and it explains why he believes he can "square the circle" by preaching Christian identity and openness to Muslims at the same time
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NBC "Nightly News" has a segment that they term, rather grandiosely, "Nightly News in Depth." Unfortunately, it's rather thin brew.By contrast "The NewsHour" with Jim Lehrer on PBS consistently provides illuminating analysis of the main issues of the day's news.Tonight
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From today's Common Declaration:
We have viewed positively the process that has led to the formation of the European Union. Those engaged in this great project should not fail to take into consideration all aspects affecting the inalienable rights of the human person, especially religious freedom
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Benedict XVI addressed today the President of Turkey's Office of Religious Affairs. He quoted a medieval pope:
As an illustration of the fraternal respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together, I would like to quote some words addressed by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 to a Muslim prince
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On Thanksgving Day (of all times), my twenty-two year old nephew made a passing reference to the Tet offensive (of all topics). It was, he asserted, an American defeat, of course.Not being a historian or a political pundit, and increasingly loath to enter into disputation, I let the comment pass. (
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In his recent book, Simply Christian, the Anglican bishop and New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright, comments:
at certain places and moments God's future and God's past (that is, events like Jesus' death and resurrection) arrive in the present -- rather as though you were to sit down to a meal and
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Today's lectio saecularis from the WSJ: Christopher Hitchens on O.J., Murdoch, and other non-judgmental nonsense
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More years ago than I care to recall, a seminary colleague declared: if God had intended there to be conversation at breakfast, He never would have invented the New York Times. I confess still to being addicted.But, happily, a friend also gave me a subscription to the Wall Street Journal -- thereby
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Today the Church remembers the thirteenth century saint Gertrude of Helfta.Here is how that wonderful spiritual writer, the late Aelred Squire, introduces her:
Gertrude had received a good literary and religious education in the convent which she entered. She could express herself with clarity and
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Robert Fagles' new translation of Virgil's Aeneid has received stunning reviews.In today's Boston Globe, David Barber, poetry editor of The Atlantic, offers some jazzy, but nuanced reflections on Virgil's relation to imperium.He concludes:
Much as it might tickle the literary fancy to imagine the
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Here is what passes for enlightened commentary on matters Catholic in the Boston Globe.If pre-moderns sometimes played with the issue of how many angels might comfortably land on the head of a pin, post-moderns seem obsessed with how many prevarications can be squeezed into the space of one column?
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In the most recent issue of the London Review of Books, Terry Eagleton shreds Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. His observations begin thus:
Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like
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Rod Dreher has written a moving testimony to his decision, along with his family, to enter the Orthodox church. It makes for painful, but ultimately liberating reading.In a previous posting, I wrote of Edith Stein and Carmelite spirituality. The heart of her spirituality was the single-minded
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On October 12, 1891 Edith Stein was born in Breslau. As is well-known she was a brilliant student of the philosopher, Edmund Hussserl. She was attracted by the phenomenological method and the quest for the truth of things in themselves. But secretly she sought God.Visiting friends in the summer of
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In an ex tempore homily to the International Theological Commission meeting in Rome, Pope Benedict meditated on the need for theologians to serve the Word of God, and the temptation to revel in one's own words. He said:
We find ourselves invited anew to this path of renouncing our own words, on a
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Peter Nixon has a posting below on the sin of smugness. I confess that I smugly pictured the legion of those who smugly intone "crusades" whenever the talk gets around to violence and religion.All of us addicted to smuggery may be given pause by a new book by Christopher Tyerman, God's
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Pope Benedict's Address to Ambassadors of nations with a Muslim majority includes this quote from John Paul II:
Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres,
especially in that which concerns basic freedoms, more particularly religious
freedom. They favor peace and agreement between
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The historian Niall Ferguson is the author most recently of The War of the World. In an interview in the "Ideas" section of today's Boston Globe, he has this to say:
IDEAS: How do you understand radical Islamism? Is it, as some say, the successor to Marxism?
FERGUSON:
It is. The great
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Timothy Garton Ash has a piece in the current New York Review of Books that strikes me as unusually perplexed and pessimistic (though it may be only an indication of how intractable the reality is).Under the title, "Islam in Europe," it is his review-cum-reflections of books by Ian Buruma
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In today's Audience, Pope Benedict reviews his recent trip to Bavaria. When he speaks of his Regensburg University address, he once again distances himself from the negative tenor of Manuel II's observation regarding what was "new" in Mohammed's message. His concern, rather, was to
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The Pope Professor lectured today at his old university. Here is part of what he said:
This attempt, painted with broad strokes, at a critique of modern reason from within has nothing to do with putting the clock back to the time before the Enlightenment and rejecting the insights of the modern
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In today's Boston Globe James Parker has some tongue-in-cheek reflections on "The self-destruction of Lee Siegel, late of The New Republic."He concludes with some cautionary comments for those of us less gifted than the writers of TNR at displaying "artful artlessness" -- what
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Yesterday Pope Benedict spoke in the Marienplatz in Munich before the President of Germany, the Prime Minister, dignitaries of Church and State, and a large crowd.He recounted the delightful legend of Saint Corbinian, his predecessor as Archbishop of Munich.Corbinian was crossing the Alps on his
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For the past five years, on trips to Rome, I have been blessed by being able to stay in a friend's apartment on the Caelian Hill, rising to the East of the Colosseum. At the base of the hill is the magnificent church of San Clemente which I've mentioned on a previous post. At its summit is the
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From the start of the recent tragic conflict in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI spoke forcefully against the extension of the conflict, especially the bombing of the civilian population in Lebanon. His stance was denounced by elements of the Catholic right as naively moralistic and by the ever-
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Since the Gunter Grass dustup has not found its way into the dotCom space, I thought I'd link to a piece in today's New York Times. The author concludes his reflections with these words:
involvement in the Nazi system, even among the youngest Germans of
the time, was more widespread than we have
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The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission's Agreed Statement, "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ," offers fine resources for reflecting on Catholicism's Marian "sensibility." Here is one excerpt:
[T]he 20th century witnessed a particular growth in convergence as many
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Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity in the University of Cambridge, is well-known to Commonweal readers. In the July 8th issue of The Tablet he has an elegant and pointed review of a new book by the eminent English philosopher, Sir Anthony Kenny, What I Believe.Though trained in
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In the course of his transformative journey, Dante Alighieri arrives at the heaven of the sun, where he encounters the great theologians and doctors of the Church. The two most prominent are, of course, Thomas of Aquino and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, whose feast the Church celebrates today.In the
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In the next last chapter of his Rule, St. Benedict, whose feast the Church celebrates today, draws upon and applies to monastic life the "two ways" theme of the biblical tradition:
Just as there is a wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good
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Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity in the University of Cambridge, is the author of the splendid study, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, now newly updated.As Commonweal readers know, he also has a fine collection of essays, entitled Faith of Our Fathers: Reflections on
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Some years back I read a book review in the New York Times that particularly struck me. The reviewer was clearly intrigued by the book, appreciative of the terse and powerful writing, yet puzzled by much of the content. It seemed the author of the book, a collection of essays entitled The Death of
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Ten years ago I had the privilege of being among a group of lay persons, religious, priests, and bishops, gathered by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, to launch the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. We crafted an inaugural statement, "Called to Be Catholic: Church in a Time of Peril,&
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National Geographic, teamed with Elaine Pagels, may have done an unwitting service, if they lead Christians to ponder anew the writings of one of the greatest figures of the second century Church: St. Irenaeus of Lyons.For if, as Harold Bloom suggests, gnosticism is the American religion, then
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We are in John Allen's debt for his superb reporting, but also for his keen theological sense. His commentary on the Pope's Auschwitz meditation is insightful. Here is part of what he says:
In a sense, Benedict's Auschwitz speech marks a turning point in
post-Auschwitz Christian theology, which
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"Your absence has gone through meLike thread through a needle.Everything I do is stitched with its color." W.S. Merwin, &
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Do others share my impression that for many Catholics Ascension is the neglected feast, falling, scarcely noticed, between Easter alleluias and Pentecost pyrotechnics?And that Jesus' Ascension, when pondered at all, appears to represent the Lord's leaving, embarking, perhaps, on a well-earned
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In today's New York Times there is a moving report of a new book by Madge McKeithen. Her son suffers from a debilitating illness, and in struggling to come to terms with it, she turned to reading poetry. She has now published a book of favorite poems and her commentary on them: Blue Peninsular.
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Chris Ruddy is assistant professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. a frequent Commonweal contributor, and (as intrepid readers of this blog know) a pen pal of Cathy Kaveny. He is also a discerning reader who generously recommends to his friends not-to-be-missed articles and
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In my last post, o Theophiloi, I hazarded the guess that the next President of the Republic of Italy, would be the former head of the Italian Communist Party, Massimo D'Alema.Right party, wrong person.On the fourth ballot this morning (requiring only a simple majority, in contrast to the two-thirds
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Not the United States, but Italy. The recent parliamentary elections were narrowly won by the "Left," an assemblage of parties, ranging from former Communists to left-of-center Christian Democrats. They are led by "the Professor," Romano Prodi. The colorless Prodi comes out of
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Thanks to a posting on Amy Welborn's blog, I was introduced to Mary Karr's book of poems, Sinners Welcome.The book includes, as "Afterword," a remarkable essay: "Facing Altars: Poetry and Prayer." It reads like a contemporary "Journey of the Heart to God."Here is how
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Harold Bloom is one of our most prolific literary critics; James Wood one of our most incisive. An encounter of the two is like Sir John Falstaff meeting Prince Hamlet in some Danish dark alley. Incisiveness is all.Wood dissects Bloom's Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine in the current New Republic
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In his recent extended interview with Globe editors and reporters, Cardinal Sean O'Malley mentioned that he had himself founded two newspapers, but "none as illustrious as the Boston Globe."In a spirit of Easter good will I would like to recommend one feature of the Globe for which I am
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One of the features of Commonweal that has kept me a faithful reader and contributor over the years is the seriousness of its attention to theology. The latest example is the insightful article by Ronald Modras in the current issue (April 21st). "Benedict XVI: Then and Now" draws upon
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"Transparency" and "accountability" have been the watchwords of many, both laity and clergy, who yearn for authentic renewal in the church. Cardinal Sean O'Malley is leading the Archdiocese of Boston to unprecedented financial disclosures that offer promise for the future.Today'
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St. John the Divine is the well-known and massive cathedral of the Episcopal Church on the upper West Side of Manhattan (not too far from the Commonweal office). It is named for the Evangelist St. John, who is designated by the Great Tradition of the Undivided Church, "the divine," "
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Since no one has taken a bite from the apple, let me begin the discussion on the "Gospel of Judas."From the reports I've read and seen, the reconstruction of the text seems to be an impressive achievement that provides further insight into early Gnosticism.The propaganda blitz and the
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In the minds of many, the two greatest theologians of the twentieth century were the Protestant Karl Barth and the Catholic Hans Urs von Balthasar.For many years they lived and worked in the same city: Basel, Switzerland. They shared a profound respect for one another. Balthasar's book on Barth's
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Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar are rightly considered the two giants of twentieth century Catholic theology, indeed, as contemporary "doctors of the church."Though their approach to theology is often dramatically different, they converge upon the heart of the matter: the person of
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In the March 23rd issue of Origins, Father James Heft, SM, Chancellor of the University of Dayton, has a suggestive and lucid discussion of "Catholic Universities as Open Circles: Academic Freedom."Heft does not minimize the challenge posed by the ambition to be both a first rank
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The Catholic Common Ground Initiative, founded by Cardinal Bernardin, will celebrate its 10th Anniversary this August. Last weekend I participated in a meeting of the Common Ground Committee to take stock of where we've been and what directions we might take in the future.The Initiative's Founding
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I've read countless pages of often turgid philosophical prose over the years, but the words that have had the most abiding impact come from, of all people, Descartes. The advocate of "clear and distinct ideas" once said: "Common sense is what is most widespread and least used."
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Boston is once more embroiled in controversy over the Catholic Church. And the Boston Globe is once again pontificating about matters Catholic.In its editorial of March 14th, "Romney's Retreat," the Globe takes Governor Romney to task for proposing to file legislation exempting Catholic
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A bleak Boston winter was miraculously illumined by Masterpiece Theater's eight hour serialization of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. Towards the end of each week spirits began to soar in anticipation of Sunday evening's episode.Splendid casting and superb acting transported one into Dickens' pulsing
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