I finally got around to reading Pope Benedict’s Christmas message — it’s both concise and rich, just like everything he writes. Unfortunately, it also seems to have gotten lost in the media coverage of that mentally ill woman who attacked him. Here’s a passage I found particularly striking: The first thing we are told about … Read more
http://www.rhapsody.com/bela-fleck/perpetual-motion http://blog.naxos.com/2009/11/03/podcast-don-giovanni-for-string-quartet/ Crazy Accordian Boy
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!
In 1917, Wallace Stevens published “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” a poem now firmly ensconced in every anthology of American poetry. Generations of students have read it as a lesson in perspectivism — how the imagination can see the same thing under a variety of guises. Bart Stupak (D-MI) is not the subject … Read more
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!
On the Feast of St. Stephen, 1951, from St. Mary Magdalen College at Oxford, C. S. Lewis wrote a Latin letter to Don Giovanni Calabria in Verona (letters published with a translation by St. Augustine’s Press). The day after Christmas, Lewis prays for Calabria “all spiritual and temporal blessings in the Lord.” Lewis adds: … Read more
With all of the bleak news out there these days, it’s easy to get discouraged — so Catholic Vote’s “Top Ten Reasons for Hope” list seems especially appropriate right now. Some of their nominations: 7. Priests, Religious, and More Priests From Ireland to New Zealand to many dioceses across the United States, Catholic seminaries are … Read more
If you think today’s recession is bad, be glad you’re not living in Britannia at the close of the Western Roman Empire. For two or three hundred years, beginning at the start of the fifth century, the economy of Britain reverted to levels not experienced since well before the Roman invasion of AD 43. The … Read more
A poem by Christina Rosetti, published posthumously in 1904, became a favorite Christmas carol after Gustav Holst set it to music for the English Hymnal two years later. The poem underscores the harsh setting of the nativity — the first stanza reads: In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, … Read more
As I warned when I started my considerations of the Seven Deadly Sins and opposing Virtues, there will be a test. Seven of them, in fact, each inspired by Walker Percy’s quizzes in his satirical work of apologetics, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book. It’s a marvelous book: I only plagiarize the best. … Read more
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Divine Child, we face some sobering numbers: There are an estimated 145 million orphans worldwide — more than enough little ones to go three times around the planet at the equator. A few years ago, the United Nations put the number of child victims of trafficking … Read more
The argument that Shakespeare may have been a Catholic is not new, but a seminary in Rome is claiming to have evidence that is. The Venerable English College says that a guest book for visiting pilgrims contains three signatures that could indicate that the Bard traveled there during his “lost years”: Father Andrew Headon, the … Read more
It’s Christmas time again, and that means, among other things, that revelers around the world are quaffing nog, getting figgy with their pudding, and lifting their voices in song. “Christmas carols are the creed of Christendom,” wrote Frederick Wilhelmsen, and I don’t think he’s half wrong. It’s a pleasure to sing the ancient songs, as … Read more
Netflix and The Criterion Collection, two of my my very favorite “people” in the whole world, have teamed up to bring me a surprise Christmas present a few days early: For years, the Criterion Collection has been around to provide one of the best film educations a casual viewer can receive. Just by checking out … Read more
Kathleen Gilbert at LifeSiteNews has a fascinating interview with Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life. On the surface the interview tells the story of a senator who made rather boastful promises of sticking to his pro-life convictions but abruptly broke those promises with a nonsensical cover story of adding “Stupak-plus” language to … Read more
Yesterday, Merck and Co. announced that Dr. Julie Gerberding has been named president of Merck Vaccine, effective at the end of January. As far as credentials go, she has them in spades… the most noteworthy is her recent position as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2002 to 2009. Of … Read more