It would be easy — too easy — to toss off Sloth as a sin that only afflicted the lazy. My initial instincts in writing about this deadly sin led me to do just that. But friends pointed out to me that there’s another and subtler form it takes, which occurs among the busiest workaholics. … Read more
Damian Thompson has a few words for traditional Anglicans still agitating for concessions from Canterbury: The Anglican Church will eventually ordain women. Either accept that, or leave. I am not saying that if you are an Anglo-Catholic who opposes women’s ordination then you must now seek to join the Ordinariate that Pope Benedict has set … Read more
Well this is unsettling: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a threat assessment of local pro- and anti-abortion rights activists before an expected rally last year, even though they did not pose a threat to national security. The DHS destroyed or deleted its copies of the assessment after an internal review found it … Read more
A friend’s therapist once suggested that she consider becoming Episcopalian. Wouldn’t that be so much easier than wrestling with all her Catholic angst? This suggestion made me think about the many misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding religious faith — and, maybe especially, religious conversion. No metaphor can really capture the wild variety of conversion experiences … Read more
Brenda Steele watched the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist on The Oprah Show today. Her comments published at Catholic Advocate, I am sure, echo what all of us who were able to watch the show were thinking. Here Brenda hits the nail right on the head: It would have been impossible for … Read more
When Roland Emmerich’s climate change film The Day After Tomorrow first came out, it was difficult to know exactly where to begin. I remember focusing my contemptuousattention on two story points that seemed particularly grievous members of the “Offence Against Credulity” category: the “superstorms,” and the wolves. WeatherUnderground had a fairly thorough debunking of the superstorm idea, recent (and … Read more
A Vatican economist has a very different suggestion for stimulating the economy: have more babies. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi explains: “The true cause of the crisis is the decline in the birth rate,” Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, said in an interview on Vatican Television’s “Octava Dies.” He noted the Western world’s population growth rate is at … Read more
Here’s something incredible: killer whales that have developed the ability to hunt seals and sea lions on the shoreline. National Geographic scientists spotted two orcas on the beaches of Argentina, riding waves onto the shore, grabbing seals, and then using their fins to “walk” back into deeper water. Apparently, the whales are teaching each other … Read more
Apologies for my long blog silence. I spent most of last week serving on a jury, and the remainder battling off a life threatening Man Cold. But now I’m done with both, and ready to get back at it. Lucky you. First, here’s a little good news for Christians in the Middle East: The world’s … Read more
Matt Smith has published more information on the USCCB’s problematic membership in the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Calling it LCCHR’s “Greatest Hits,” Smith juxtaposes the civil rights organization’s opposition to the Federal Marriage Marriage and support for CEDAW with the Catholic positions advocated by the USCCB. Why would the bishop’s conference be … Read more
At the time Gabriel appeared to Mary, there was an emperor who ruled the known world. His name was Augustus Caesar. A common greeting among citizens of the empire at that time was, “Hail, Caesar!” Caesar, while originally a proper name, had already begun to morph into a title (a title that would be preserved … Read more
Over at the Catholic Advocate, I have posted my interview with Marco Rubio, who is on track to be the GOP candidate for the Florida Senate seat vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL). Here is an excerpt: For Rubio, his pro-life convictions are the “cornerstone” of everything else. “A society that does not respect the … Read more
Only last night, I was discussing James Fenimore Cooper’s classic, “The Last of the Mohicans,” (as well as the surprisingly tepid film adaption from Michael Mann). As a less-than-eager Cooper fan, I was waxing poetic about the validity of Mark Twain’s side-splittingly hilarious critique of Cooper’s works, particularly Cooper’s “high talent for inaccurate observation.” Demanding rigorous accuracy … Read more
In the House of Commons, Earl Winterton remarked that Muslims did not like the Allies calling the war a “Christian Crusade,” as both terms were odious to them. This was a sensitive matter, since, while there was no significant Islamic population in Great Britain or the United States, they made up a third of the … Read more
News has been spreading through the blogosphere that the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, will be appearing on Oprah tomorrow afternoon. The sisters explained how it all came to be in an e-mail update: Oprah was interested in doing a show on religious life as a hidden way of life which many people never … Read more
I’m not much of a football fan, but I usually find myself watching the Superbowl every year. It provides an excuse for a party, after all, and that means snacks. This year I was rooting for the Saints, mainly because they were the underdogs and have never taken home the Lombardi trophy. (Plus, I like … Read more
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has some surprising associations. For example, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), founded in 1950, lobbies the Congress and White House on behalf of its 200 coalition members, which includes the USCCB. Members of the LCCHR must pay annual dues depending on the size … Read more
Don’t sign that contract, Uncle Harry! Those guys are up to no good!! (As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact. This is part five of a 10-part series from 1960.) You just don’t see steam engines used in stories anymore…
OK, the snow may be beautiful, but it is not fun! I took this picture from the kitchen this morning when there were only 19″ on the ground. We are headed for 30″or more. Enough snow was shoveled in the back yard for the dogs to have a space for their “business,” and then … Read more
Over at the frequently amusing, ever-quirky blog Within the Cranium, I ran across this demo reel from Stargate Studios, “a high tech production company offering visual effects and production services to the film and television industries.” It’s called simply “Trust No Video.” And that pretty much says it all. Some of those sequences contain fairly obvious CGI elements. (What … Read more