A particular kind of market-driven capitalism is at the root of America’s success as a world economy and it was shaped and promoted by Puritans in Boston, according to church historian, Mark Valeri. Valeri’s new book, Heavenly Merchandize is an attempt to answer the question of how a people “who loathed market principles birthed a … Read more
Passages in Scripture tell us that, when the Lord comes again, few believers will remain. Looking around the world, it is not hard to believe. Of the strict essence of the Christian teaching and practice, believers are a distinct minority. Both the Old and the New Testaments paint a dark picture of the number of … Read more
Sorry, that’s a silly title. I was blown away by this drawing by Daniel Mitsui featured on Korrektiv: The artist says: Here is something unlike anything I’ve drawn previously. This ink drawing (with gold leaf details) of St. Michael fighting the devil was commissioned by a priest of the Maryknoll Missionaries, an order with a … Read more
You are cordially invited to join the board, staff, writers and friends of InsideCatholic in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, September 16, for our 15th Annual Partnership Dinner & Dance. This year, we’ll be honoring Bishop Robert F. Vasa, D.D., of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon. In an era of lukewarm, go-along-to-get-along prelates, Bishop Vasa … Read more
The right to bear firearms is not one of the causes I’ve ever been deeply passionate about, but an article in Marie Claire about an apparently growing trend among women to openly carry weapons caught my attention. It’s hard to know how much of a trend it actually is, since the neither the article nor one … Read more
I’m heading to the Holy Land for eight days. This will be my fifth trip since 2004, and I hope to post daily reports on InsideCatholic. (“Holy Land” refers to the area lying between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, encompassing both Israel and Occupied Palestine and parts of Lebanon and Jordan.) Not all of … Read more
Friday is a good day for a fish report. GOOD ran a short but interesting interview with author Paul Greenberg of the new book, Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. Greenberg believes wild-caught fish should be treated like game, with specific places of origin. Here’s a short excerpt from the interview: GOOD: When it comes … Read more
As I sit down to write this, I imagine a dramatically lit hourglass perched on the desk in front of me, the slipping sand warning me that shortly they will awaken — ravenous, pulling books off shelves, turning electronic devices on and off at random, climbing everything in sight, and tearing open any package of … Read more
Perhaps I have a skewed vision of Distributism. But when I try to envision a Distributist society, I see a town in the Wild West. The federal government is so distant as to be 90% irrelevant. There’s a general store, a bar, an inn, a post office, a sheriff’s office, and a blacksmith. Maybe a … Read more
The Associated Press reported yesterday that only two weeks after BP finally put an end to what seemed like an impossible oil gusher, most of the oil seems to have…disappeared. So where did the oil go? “Some of the oil evaporates,” explains Edward Bouwer, professor of environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That’s especially true … Read more
Time for some Friday-morning link action. Somehow all the links today ended up being reading/writing/storytelling related, so get ready: Novelist Anne Rice, who had a very public reversion to the Faith in the 1990s, is now just as publicly breaking it off again: “I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, … Read more
Just as Catholic parishes and schools sigh with relief that the sex-abuse crisis appears to be under control, a new sexual predator is emerging, preying on Catholic teenage boys in schools across the country. This new predator is younger, gentler in appearance, nearer in size and age to the young male victims, and enjoys an … Read more
Every day while I’m at home with the kids, they bug me to do “actibuhdees” with them. I’m not great on the activities front: I’m artsy but not craftsy. I can put crayons and paper in front of them, have them help me cook something – I’ve even enlisted their assistance in the making of … Read more
I crave the indulgence of IC readers everywhere for what I am about to do, but I’ve been reading too much about the dangers of suppressing one’s anger to keep this bottled up any longer… As a fairly recent Wyomingite attracted to the state in no small part through the hope that “The Man” would be kept … Read more
It’s an interesting question. Did Leonardo wear a cilice or use a discipline? Though not mentioned in Dan Brown’s popular fantasy novel, The Da Vinci Code — with its bizarre and misleading description of corporal mortification — and granting Leonardo a certain religious fervor, it’s possible. The cilice, a sharp chain worn around the leg, … Read more
Church on the Move does it again (only click if you like “Queen”): Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo. I can’t see any Catholic church I know doing this, but if they did, I’m betting those 3 leads could be sung by Simcha, Danielle and a friend of mine here in MI.
Over at First Things, George Weigel has written an excellent tribute to a man much beloved around here: Father James Schall. Father Schall is entirely incapable of blowing his own horn, so Weigel must do it for him: He is a deeply learned man, yet he wears his learning lightly. He looks the part of … Read more
News to warm my heart: Apparently, the hip, new thing is farming. CNN ran a short piece about educated young people who are turning in their Wall Street jobs and Ivy League credentials for the agrarian life. Roy Skeen, a 28-year old Yale graduate from Baltimore is one such example. A history major who also worked in finance, … Read more
Admittedly, I like Lady Gaga, or used to like her. She reminds me of a type of a younger Madonna – someone who is theatrical, a rule breaker, line crosser but talented and able to reinvent herself. Lately, however, her theatrics have become increasingly bizarre in a way that is following the trend toward … Read more
As hard as it is to express the truths about abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research to Democrats, it can be even harder to talk about homosexuality. Many people wrongly equate opposition to same-sex marriage with opposition to racial equality during the civil-rights movement, applying the emotional power of race issues to homosexuality. The … Read more