"The dogma of Christianity gets worn away before the advances of science."--Adolf HitlerThis is not the beginning of a reductio ad Hitlerum. I will not be attempting here to argue that Christianity is good and science bad because Hitler hated the one and championed (in his own depraved way) the other. But I came across this quotation in Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, and it triggered some assoc
Hollywood star Paul Newman's widow Joanne Woodward is coming out of acting retirement only two months after the death of her husband of 50 years. According to the National Enquirer, the actress struggled with her grief following Newman’s death from cancer in October, until he visited her in a dream and told her to get back to work. The 78-year-old Oscar winner is listening to his advice and
This is my response to being tagged (along with Vehige) by Steven McEvoy at Book Reviews and More. I'll leave it to Vehige to pick further victims.The book turned out to be the Scribner's edition of The Boy's King Arthur -- Sidney Lanier's modernized and abridged version of Malory's Morte d'Arthur (with N.C. Wyeth's wonderful illustrations). Although it was conceived as a way of making Malory acce
...and as an accompaniment to the post on religion and politics, I'll cite a recent example of the secular media's fascination with religion and science. Although in this particular case there should probably be quotation marks around both "religion" and "science."The Washington Post, in that snide tone that comes so easily to it whenever Catholicism is the subject, reports that a medical panel wi
I used to be a lot more interested in politics than I am now. In college (late 1960s) I was something of a right-wing activist at a time when almost everybody I knew was a left-wing activist. Over time, both I and my left-wing friends mostly moved on to other interests and concerns, as it slowly dawned on us that political activism, of whatever stripe, pays extremely limited dividends on the time
Woodward Satin Logo Zip Hoody. The pump of many styles to daily with woodward the postcode the logo of cloth of children's satin hoody featuring satin cloth did the denim logo in front. 80% kapas/20% polyester.
Written By: Bill Stinson, published with permission.
Bill wrote this story in May of 2006, but it wasn’t until 2007 when I first saw the Silver 1968 Plymouth GTX known as the Silver Bullet. The undisputed “King of Woodward Ave” drew a crowd for days at the legengary Woodward Avenue cruise and stirred up quite [...]
Biography for Joanne WoodwardDate of Birth27 February 1930, Thomasville, Georgia, USA
Birth NameJoanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward
NicknameJoey
Height5' 4" (1.63 m)
Mini Biography
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on February 27th, 1930 in Thomasville, Georgia USA. She was born to Wade Woodward and Elinor Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward, a modest household. Her one older brother, Wade Jr
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, Emmy and Cannes award-winning actress. Woodward, widow of Paul Newman, is also a television and theatrical producer. The legendary actor Paul Newman has died aged 83. The screen hearthrob starred in more than 50 films over 50 years. Watch Video here: Special Video:
This story is written by Paul Schram. I met Paul after he left a comment at one of my first (and most read) blogs at MyRideisMe.com: The Real “Silver Bullet” - 2007 Woodward Cruise. The comment said:
“True, not true, fact, fiction, legend, Only Jimmy and maybe I know.
I have heard many stories…”
Being a curious (and [...]
...the only appropriate response to which is laughter. John Cleese is very good at identifying some of these ideas.By the way, I was prompted to put up this post by the gene that makes people want to find out whether they can embed YouTube videos in their blogs.
It's hard to believe it's been a month already since the 14th Annual Woodward Dream Cruise. The outdoor cruise spans every year from Pontiac to Ferndale in Michigan, attracting millions of people to sit along the street to catch a...
The dramatic drop in violence in Iraq is due in large part to a secret program the U.S. military has used to kill terrorists, according to a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward.
Wherever you find people are cruising, you will always find a lot of fantasy painting. These run the range of metallic finishes that change color depending on the angle of vision to all kinds of...
This is content summary only...visit my website to read more...
The festivities leading up to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit begin to ramp up around this time every year, and you know the world's largest traffic jam of classic, custom and exotic vehicles is nigh when Chrysler debuts another limited edition version of its PT Cruiser. This year it's the limited edition Dream Cruiser Series 5 that will be available for purchase in the fall. The DCS 5
If you’re a Ford and truck enthusiast, you should definitely be at the 2008 Woodward Dream Cruise this weekend. Although most of the vehicles are cars from the 1940s and later, there will also be many owners of classic Ford trucks showing off their old vehicles. Following are some facts about this year’s Woodward Dream [...]
New Albany, Ind. (ThaLunatic Daily) -- Just yesterday, we posted a story on 5 year old Alex, who's teacher allegedly humiliated him in front of his entire class, by allowing each student to comment about what they didn't like about him. The teacher later asked the class to vote on whether Alex should stay in the class, telling the youth that no one liked him.Now, just a day later, a very simil
Today's first Mass reading recounts the circumstances of St. Peter's impromptu homily to the crowds that were assembled in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. That makes it, by my reckoning, the first public papal audience.In the fourth of the famous homilies that he preached on the Acts of the Apostles, St. John Chrysostom meditated on the power of the Holy Spirit as a transformative force in the Church, in the world, and -- specifically on Pentecost -- in the life and person of St. Peter. For Pentecost was the day on which Peter and the other Apostles became, in St. John Chrysostom's phrase, "spiritual men." "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them." Here you see his manly courage. For if they were astonished and amazed, was it not as wonderful that
Today's first Mass reading recounts the circumstances of St. Peter's impromptu homily to the crowds that were assembled in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. That makes it, by my reckoning, the first public papal audience.In the fourth of the famous homilies that he preached on the Acts of the Apostles, St. John Chrysostom meditated on the power of the Holy Spirit as a transformative force in the
For the first time since we planted the bushes three years ago, it looks like we are going to have a pomegranate crop. Pretty red-orange blossoms all over the place.I don't know exactly why the pomegranate has always had exotic associations for me. It might date back to the first time I saw The Ten Commandments, and heard a slightly over-the-top Anne Baxter seductively calling Charlton Heston's attention to the attractiveness of her own lips -- "red and moist, like a ripe pomegranate." I was only seven or eight, and had no idea what a pomegranate was, but I was pretty sure it was something good.Or maybe it was the Song of Solomon that did it: "I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates" [8:2]. Whatever else St. Jerome may have been thinking as he translated a line
For the first time since we planted the bushes three years ago, it looks like we are going to have a pomegranate crop. Pretty red-orange blossoms all over the place.I don't know exactly why the pomegranate has always had exotic associations for me. It might date back to the first time I saw The Ten Commandments, and heard a slightly over-the-top Anne Baxter seductively calling Charlton Heston's at
Ben Stein's documentary Expelled – which, for the record, I did not like very much – has provoked what can best be described as a fevered response from John Derbyshire, a conservative author and columnist for National Review magazine. In a series of posts at National Review's staff blog “The Corner,” Derbyshire has linked Stein and his movie to forces that are working, even as we speak, toward the dismantling of Western civilization. I'm not kidding. Derbyshire, who can be an engaging commentator on subjects as diverse as mathematics, Chinese history, and opera, has concluded that Expelled marks one sally in an “anti-science crusade.” Seems like I've heard those words before. They are reminiscent of the pro-abortion polemics in which George Bush's opposition to Federal fundin
Ben Stein's documentary Expelled – which, for the record, I did not like very much – has provoked what can best be described as a fevered response from John Derbyshire, a conservative author and columnist for National Review magazine. In a series of posts at National Review's staff blog “The Corner,” Derbyshire has linked Stein and his movie to forces that are working, even as we speak, to
A behind the scenes look at the process behind the creation of Lucy Woodward's second album 'Lucy Woodward... is Hot and Bothered!' has been posted online. The New York singer songwriter released the project, which sees a mixture of classical, soul a
Last week, when Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Rudy Giuliani came forward and received communion (not from His Holiness but from another priest). And so the fight starts again.As I understand it, a priest may justifiably deny the sacrament in a case when administering it would cause scandal -- the calling into disrepute of the Church or one of its precepts, the fostering of the idea that sin is not sin. If a priest, per absurdum, were to observe a person in the communion line turn and kill the person behind him and then present himself to receive the sacrament, that priest would be free to -- indeed, I think, would be obliged to -- refuse to administer the sacrament to him. Not only would the priest in that case know that the killer was in a state of
Last week, when Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Rudy Giuliani came forward and received communion (not from His Holiness but from another priest). And so the fight starts again.As I understand it, a priest may justifiably deny the sacrament in a case when administering it would cause scandal -- the calling into disrepute of the Church or one of its precepts, t
In the April 14 online edition of Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens turns his notoriously wide-ranging and (usually) literate intellect to the task of reviewing a new biography of Sir Isaac Newton. The review is worth reading for more than one reason, but the thing that caught me most by surprise -- aside from his incomprehensible admiration for Carl Sagan -- was Hitchens's decision to refer to the Creator of the universe as "god." Small g. Not once, but twice. As thus:Paley’s book Natural Theology, arguing that all of “creation” argued for the evidence of a divine designer, became the key text for those who saw the hand of god in the marvels of nature.Hitchens's war against the Almighty thus degenerates from the philosophical to the typographical. Sure, he has cursed and ridiculed G
In the April 14 online edition of Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens turns his notoriously wide-ranging and (usually) literate intellect to the task of reviewing a new biography of Sir Isaac Newton. The review is worth reading for more than one reason, but the thing that caught me most by surprise -- aside from his incomprehensible admiration for Carl Sagan -- was Hitchens's decision to refer to th
In an earlier post on the subject of evolution -- a subject that I am quickly coming to regard alternately as annoying and mind-numbingly tedious -- I said this:I believe that increasingly complex forms of life have developed slowly and incrementally through genetic mutations over hundreds of millions of years, and that that development includes human beings. I do, however, have my doubts – as do many reputable biologists, I believe – about the adequacy of Darwin's theories to explain what we humans regard as the upward direction of that evolutionary development. In short, I accept evolution as a reasonable, indeed a likely, explanation of biological diversity on this planet; I do not have any idea – nor do I think anybody else does – as to how evolution “works.”I'll stick with
In an earlier post on the subject of evolution -- a subject that I am quickly coming to regard alternately as annoying and mind-numbingly tedious -- I said this:I believe that increasingly complex forms of life have developed slowly and incrementally through genetic mutations over hundreds of millions of years, and that that development includes human beings. I do, however, have my doubts – as d
As reported here -- well, okay, along with hundreds of other places -- a few months ago, the sainthood cause of John Henry Cardinal Newman advances apace. His beatification will be solemnized later this year, and a second miracle required to validate his ultimate canonization is in the final stages of its investigation.Reading Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua when I was a college freshman started me on the path to my own conversion. I have had a kind of informal devotion to him ever since. It's nice to know that that devotion can now be a bit more formal.The Sign of the Cross Whene'er across this sinful flesh of mine I draw the Holy Sign,All good thoughts stir within me, and renew Their slumbering strength divine;Till there springs up a courage high and true To suffer and to do.And who shal
As reported here -- well, okay, along with hundreds of other places -- a few months ago, the sainthood cause of John Henry Cardinal Newman advances apace. His beatification will be solemnized later this year, and a second miracle required to validate his ultimate canonization is in the final stages of its investigation.Reading Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua when I was a college freshman started me
The season has begun in earnest, with the return of the Texas Rangers for their home opener today. It occurred to me as I sat in the stands eating jumbo dogs, snapping pictures, and watching the Rangers lose to the Baltimore Orioles 8-1, that baseball is not only the most American of all games:it's also the most Catholic -- because it immerses human beings in a world where action:and contemplation:combine perfectly to reassure us that life is both fun and meaningful.Now if only the Rangers could put together a reliable starting rotation....
The season has begun in earnest, with the return of the Texas Rangers for their home opener today. It occurred to me as I sat in the stands eating jumbo dogs, snapping pictures, and watching the Rangers lose to the Baltimore Orioles 8-1, that baseball is not only the most American of all games:it's also the most Catholic -- because it immerses human beings in a world where action:and contemplation
It is easy to maintain a healthy and glowing skin by the use of Dry Scent Spray. It is a way to hydrate your skin which becomes dry during winters. Most women use it extensively because it is safe to apply on skin.
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Ave Maria Gratia PlenaWas this His coming! I had hoped to seeA scene of wondrous glory, as was toldOf some great God who in a rain of goldBroke open bars and fell on Danaë:Or a dread vision as when SemeleSickening for love and unappeased desirePrayed to see God's clear body, and the fireCaught her brown limbs and slew her utterly:With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,And now with wondering eyes and heart I standBefore this supreme mystery of Love:Some kneeling girl with passionless pale face,An angel with a lily in his hand,And over both the white wings of a Dove.--Oscar WildeThis early poem of Wilde's expresses quite forcefully one of the most astounding things about Christianity -- the fact that, in the bare outline of its central truths, it is so very ordinary. Those classical
Ave Maria Gratia PlenaWas this His coming! I had hoped to seeA scene of wondrous glory, as was toldOf some great God who in a rain of goldBroke open bars and fell on Danaë:Or a dread vision as when SemeleSickening for love and unappeased desirePrayed to see God's clear body, and the fireCaught her brown limbs and slew her utterly:With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,And now with wonderi
Peter Abraham is reporting that the Yankees have released Chris Woodward. This is what he gets for hitting .393, and outplaying both Ransom and Betemit. I'm very disappointed.
Every so often, the secular world discovers (or rediscovers) what it is that Christianity actually teaches, and then there follows a period of either pleased or disgusted astonishment as the realization sinks in. Something of the kind apparently is going on right now with respect to the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body (carnis resurrectio, the resurrection of the flesh, as the Apostles' Creed forthrightly puts it). The Slate article I linked to last week was an example of the interest the topic is generating. And then an Associated Press story this Easter weekend highlighted some recent books on the topic -- books that document the history of the Christian doctrine of the bodily resurrection of the dead and arrive at the unavoidable conclusion that that doctrine involves
Every so often, the secular world discovers (or rediscovers) what it is that Christianity actually teaches, and then there follows a period of either pleased or disgusted astonishment as the realization sinks in. Something of the kind apparently is going on right now with respect to the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body (carnis resurrectio, the resurrection of the flesh, as the Ap
I don't often think of the left-wing online journal Slate.com as a source of theological insight. But they have an article up for Easter week, written by Larry Hurtado of the University of Edinburgh School of Divinity, that is as sound a brief explanation as I have ever seen of what the Church understands itself to be doing when it professes belief in the "resurrection of the body."A sample: "The [early Christians'] hope of resurrection reflected a strongly holistic view of the person as requiring some sort of body to be complete. With ancient Jews, early Christians saw resurrection as an act of God, a divine gift of radically new life, not an expression of some inherent immortality of the soul. That is, the dead don't rise by themselves; they are raised by God and will experience resurrec
These prayers, especially as they are structured in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite -- the Mass of Bl. John XXIII -- have received considerable attention recently, particularly the prayer for the Jews. The older form of the Mass affords Catholics on Good Friday the opportunity to pray both for the "conversion of the Jews" and the "conversion of non-Christians." The ordinary form of the Roman rite, the Mass of Paul VI, is even more "itemized": a "prayer for the Jewish people," a "prayer for those who do not believe in Christ," and a "prayer for those who do not believe in God." That takes care of pretty much everybody, doesn't it?In the new Mass -- the Mass that most of us will hear on Good Friday -- the prayer for those who do not believe in God at all is particularly interesting
Today is "Spy Wednesday," the liturgical commemoration of that moment from which Judas "sought an opportunity to betray" Jesus. The Gospel for today begins with Matthew 26:14 -- "Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests...."Judas' motive in betraying Jesus is one of the perennial mysteries of biblical exegesis. Some have suggested that Judas was a frustrated "progressive" who, realizing that Jesus' messianic role was purely spiritual and not that of a political liberator, handed him over in a moment of vengeful disappointment. Others, basing their theory on John's passing comment (John 12:6) that Judas kept the common purse of the disciples and was apparently embezzling from it, have theorized that Judas was prompted to his betrayal purely to enrich
The DonkeyG. K. ChestertonWhen fishes flew and forests walkedAnd figs grew upon thorn,Some moment when the moon was bloodThen surely I was born.With monstrous head and sickening cryAnd ears like errant wings,The devil's walking parodyOn all four-footed things.The tattered outlaw of the earth,Of ancient crooked will;Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,I keep my secret still.Fools! For I also had my hour;One far fierce hour and sweet:There was a shout about my ears,And palms before my feet.
Eliot Spitzer is the last subject I'm interested in dwelling on here, but I do continue to be astonished at the intellectual and moral sludge the story seems to be churning up from the bottom of the public opinion pond. Two examples oozed to the surface recently in the pages of the Washington Post (free registration required).Columnist Eugene Robinson is bewildered as to "why a woman like Silda Wall Spitzer would subject herself to such searing public scrutiny -- and, by her presence, make what could only be seen as a statement of unconditional support -- at a time when a part of her must have wanted to wring her husband's neck."Mr. Robinson apparently thinks that unconditional support is an overrated marital virtue. Or maybe it's only overrated for a woman like Mrs. Spitzer, a wife who (
I have been hoping that someone, somewhere amid all the punditry surrounding l'affaire Spitzer, would make this point. And maybe someone has, but I missed it. So I will make it myself, perhaps superfluously.Eliot Spitzer, we are being told by commentators both left and right, is a hypocrite. But among all the things he may be guilty of, is hypocrisy really one of them? Hypocrisy (just to define our terms, as Socrates advised) is "a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion." It's easy to remember this technical definition (and the technical part is important) if one bears in mind that hypokrinesthai is the Greek word for "to act on a stage." Pretense is the essence of hypocrisy -- playing the ro
Et ego Papam Benedictum amo. Magnopere.Greeting some visiting Swedish Latin students and their teacher at his Wednesday audience, the Holy Father spoke to them in a language they could understand. Father Z has the scoop.(You don't really need a translation, do you?)
March 6 is a big day here in Texas. On this date in 1836, the defenders of the Alamo (including legendary figures Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie) were overwhelmed and killed by the forces of the Mexican leader Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. In defeat, these heroes had bought valuable time for Sam Houston to assemble the army that defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21 and won independence for Texas.The commander of the forces at the Alamo, William Travis, is one of those historical figures who managed to crown a fairly disreputable life with one defining act of heroic nobility. The letter written from his desperate position in the besieged fort is justly famous. I defy anyone to stand in the Alamo today, read the words that Col. Travis addressed to "the people of Texas an
Catholics, we are told, should be deeply offended by the preaching of one John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, who alleges that Roman Catholicism is a "false cult system" associated, in some semi-literate hermeneutic sense, with the "great harlot who is seated upon many waters" in chapter 17 of the Revelation of St. John.Sorry, but I'm not offended.Let me back up a bit here, for the benefit of those readers of Thursday Night Gumbo who have been living in a cave the last few days. (And no, that's not all readers of Thursday Night Gumbo....).The Rev. Mr. Hagee has endorsed the presidential candidacy of John McCain, thereby enhancing his own public profile a lot more than he could ever have enhanced Mr. McCain's. And because the Rev. Mr. Hagee has expressed in strong (if b
After yesterday's Regnans in Excelsis post, I don't really mean to dwell on the cruel, persecutorial reign of Elizabeth I. There have, after all, been cruel and persecutorial Catholic monarchs too. But by coincidence, tomorrow marks the anniversary of the martyrdom (and original feast day) of a very brave and interesting woman -- Anne Line. Hanged in 1601 for harboring a Catholic priest in her house -- a capital offense at that time -- she was beatified in 1929 and canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Their feast day is now observed on October 25.You can read about St. Anne Line here.And here is a moving detail from the account of her execution, which makes mention also of Bl. Mark Barkworth, a Catholic priest who was martyred on the same day.At the scaffold
Have you noticed the magic verbal formula with which secularists now believe they can attack religion without appearing to be...well, you know...anti-religion?It's this: Simply label the people whose beliefs you find offensive or inconvenient fundamentalists. Nobody likes fundamentalists. They're those people who fly planes into skyscrapers, who won't let black and white college students date each other, who believe that the earth was created in October 4004 B.C., who go off into the jungle and drink the Kool-Aid. You know -- people like that.Oh, and Catholics too, of course.In the United Kingdom, a committee of Parliament has undertaken "to investigate evidence that the Roman Catholic Church is pursuing a more fundamentalist approach toward religion in its schools." Which, naturally, woul
Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.First spring training game: February 27 vs. Kansas CityHome Opener: April 8 vs. Baltimore
Four hundred thirty-eight years ago today -- February 25, 1570 -- Pope St. Pius V acknowledged the loss of England to Protestantism by excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I. The religious identity of the English nation had been unsettled for some time, as first a Protestant (Edward VI), then a Catholic (Mary I), then another Protestant (Elizabeth I) -- all children of Henry VIII -- succeeded to the throne.Edward was a sickly little boy who was king for six years and then died at the age of fifteen in 1553. His half-sister Mary, who had been raised Catholic by her mother Queen Catherine of Aragon, restored England to the Catholic faith but died childless after five years as queen, in 1558. Mary's half-sister Elizabeth then became queen and reestablished Henry's Protestant Church of England as t
He gets off to a good start, at any rate. In his most recent contribution to the "On Faith" page of the Washington Post (free registration required), Deepak Chopra says that "in almost every respect the hunt for the real Jesus is misguided." Especially as it concerns the search for the "historical Jesus," which Dr. Chopra rightly characterizes as having been "a growth industry and obsession for several decades now," the diagnosis of misguidedness is entirely correct. Take a good hard look at the conclusions of the Jesus Seminar and you will be forced to agree with Luke Timothy Johnson: Once you've succeeded in finding the "historical Jesus," exactly what have you got? An object of intellectually respectable scholarly interest? Hardly. An object of faith? Absolutely not. No one believes i
Vehige and I are currently supposed to blogging on Fr. John McCloskey's Good News, Bad News, a recent book about the responsibility of all Catholics to evangelize a non-Christian (post-Christian) world. Somehow, Lent hasn't seemed to me the most propitious time to be discussing evangelization. Spreading the Gospel, after all, is a very outward-directed spiritual enterprise, while the penitential exercises of Lent are rather more inward-directed. It's never a bad idea to get one's own house in order before thinking about helping other people with theirs.So I'm holding off on the McCloskey book until after Easter. When Vehige and I do take up the subject again, I may want to include in the conversation another book on the same general topic -- The Realm: An Unfashionable Essay on the Convers
It's Evolution Sunday! Today marks the third such observance, commemorated on the closest Sunday to Charles Darwin's birthday (February 12). If you'd like to join in the worship, you can find a participating church, synagogue, or spirituality center here.After only three years, Evolution Sunday has actually evolved into Evolution Weekend -- one of those random and purposeless mutations Darwin told us about.
I am roughly neutral on the whole Summorum Pontificum issue. Unlike some Catholics I know, I am as comfortable with all 2000 years of Catholicism as I am with developments since 1965. In some ways, I consider the Mass of Paul VI an improvement over the Mass of Bl. John XXIII. On the other hand, there are features of the new Mass (and more particularly the English translation of it) that cannot become obscure footnotes in liturgical history soon enough for me. And if I had my preference, the entire Western Church would celebrate a single form of the liturgy together. (Liturgical uniformity, after all, was Pope St. Pius V's reason for promulgating the Tridentine missal in the first place, whether traditionalists who now clamor for diversity are comfortable with that fact or not.)But if anyth
In previous years, I have made a practice of reading St. John Fisher's Exposition of the Seven Penitential Psalms. Anne Gardiner's modern-English edition is accessible and inspiring -- especially when read in the light of the author's own life story.This year, I'm reading Pope Benedict's Journey to Easter, which he wrote when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. I'm also re-reading Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved, by Hans Urs von Balthasar, which might seem like a strange choice for Lent. Critics of that controversial book would say that its hints of universalism undermine the importance of meditating on the Four Last Things: Why worry about hell if you don't believe anybody is going there? I won't comment here on von Balthasar's soteriology. Maybe another day, when I can get Vehige to help
The missal offers the priest a choice of two liturgical texts as he distributes the ashes:Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.orRemember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return.I kind of hope my priest chooses the second admonition tomorrow. He pretty regularly exhorts us to turn away from sin, but it's good to be reminded, at least once a year, exactly why it's so important to turn away from sin.Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.Vehige and I wish you all a spiritually nourishing Lent.
I commented in an earlier post that St. John Bosco was not above (or beneath) a bit of selfless self-promotion for the sake of spreading the Gospel. The same could be said of another great Catholic priest who happens to be in the news this weekend. In the mid-1950s I was (just barely) old enough to watch then-Bishop Sheen's series Life Is Worth Living. As might be expected of Catholicism's first real tv "star," Bishop Sheen knew the value of showmanship. The flowing cape, the mesmeric eyes, the lilting cadences of the voice, the masterly sense of oratorical proportion that enabled him time after time, week after week, to finish the program right on cue with a flourish of his arms and a climactic "God love you!" -- the whole performance held me spellbound. But the more culturally significa
Here's a hagiographical trivia question for you. What special skill did St. John Bosco and St. Philip Neri have in common? (Answer in a couple of days.)I was looking for a portrait of Don Bosco to post in observance of his feast day (January 31), and was surprised at the number of different pictures of him that can be found on the internet. He has to be the most photographed Catholic of the nineteenth century! According to Henri Gheon in Secrets of the Saints, Don Bosco loved sitting for photographers and their new-fangled contraptions, and was more than willing to distribute photographs of himself to the multitudes who clamored for them -- all in the service of God:"The devil makes a splash? We shall make one too! The devil is up to date? So are we!"Nothing wrong with a little PR.Oh God,
January 28 is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. He's a favorite of this blog, as perhaps you can tell from the frequency with which Vehige and I both quote him in an attempt to give our own opinions some intellectual heft.He can be dense, and is in fact famous for it. But then sometimes he can be stunningly and invigoratingly simple:Three things are necessary to man for salvation: namely, a knowledge of what must be believed, a knowledge of what must be desired, and a knowledge of what must be done. [Tria sunt homini necessaria ad salutem: scilicet scientia credendorum, scientia desiderandorum, et scientia operandorum.] --Two Precepts of CharityLately I have been reading, re-reading, reading about, and thinking about St. Thomas's treatment of the philosophical problems inherent in a synthe
The story of Planned Parenthood's unseemly "blessing ceremony" at one of its abortion clinics has by now evoked many justifiable expressions of outrage. But among the prayers that were offered up for the surreal occasion was one that struck me as singularly appropriate and pro-life in tone (even though that's probably not what someone named Abby Norton-Levering had in mind when she spoke it). I think it would make a great intercessionary prayer for those who demonstrate, pray, and offer sidewalk counseling at these grisly places of business, and in fact for all of us who would like to see the killing stop. And we can thank Planned Parenthood for writing it for us. Here it is."We pray that you will make this a place of safety and give a sense of sanctuary."For everyone inside. Amen.
Sometimes I'm grateful that I only have to confess the sins I commit, not the sins I'm tempted to commit. Temptation is in some ways the most delicate of all topics, since I think it's fair to say that most people have at one time or another been tempted to commit sins they have never actually committed and would rather not mention to anyone, even their confessor.In the whole history of temptation, it's possible that no one has ever been tempted as continuously and as cruelly as today's saint, Anthony of the Desert. His temptations have become the stuff of legend, of literature, and of the graphic arts. St. Athanasius chronicled them, Flaubert immortalized them in an almost uncategorizable work of literature, and several great painters have depicted them visually. My favorite is Sal
The embarrassing behavior of 67 faculty members at Rome's La Sapienza university (the name of which, for you fans of irony, means "wisdom" in Italian) reminds me of a passage from Chesterton. (But then, almost everything does.)The educators in question have identified Pope Benedict XVI as an enemy of science. His planned visit to the university, it turns out, was -- in the words of one rather excitable physics professor -- "an incredible violation of the university's autonomy," an attempt to use "the Enlightenment's God of Reason as a Trojan horse to enter the citadel of scientific knowledge."Well, turns out the citadel is secure. Benedict cancelled his visit, and the professors' threat of a "No Popery" riot has saved science from the predations of the Whore of Babylon. Score one for acade
Word came yesterday that John Henry Cardinal Newman -- the celebrated Catholic preacher, historian, theologian, essayist, poet, and convert -- will soon be beatified. That's great news for the Church, and particularly good news for those of us who admire Cardinal Newman and whose lives as Catholics have been inspired and strengthened by his example.Here's a well-known passage, part of his famous definition of a gentleman found in The Idea of a University:If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconcei
When I saw this headline (free subscription required), I wondered how far into the story I would get before bumping up against the modern world's problem with happiness. As it turns out, I had to read almost halfway down before I got to this:There is a minimum amount of pleasure, in other words, that must be achieved before people derive any satisfaction at all. Different people have different thresholds, but subdividing your pleasures below that threshold will result in less happiness, not more.There you have it. Pleasure and happiness being used interchangeably or, if not quite interchangeably, then as a matched cause-and-effect pair. Happiness consists in the maximization of pleasure. Glance through the Washington Post story and see how the sources of happiness are identified -- a good
The poem I posted yesterday was written by a world-famous atheist. (World-famous atheists aren't what they used to be, are they?)
Today's is by a world-famous Christian -- ultimately a world-famous Catholic but, at the time he wrote this, a moderately famous Anglican.
A Christmas Carol
by G. K. Chesterton
The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary
Off to midnight Mass, which always makes me think of this -- one of my two favorite Christmas poems. (I'll post my other favorite tomorrow.)
The Oxen
by Thomas Hardy
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did
Map courtesy of Walt Lange (Jesuit HS Website)More newspaper articles as we head into Saturday's State Meet•The final stretch (San Mateo County athletes) NEW•Skyline looks to ace its final test STATE CROSS COUNTRY NEW•Surprising Eagles head to Fresno (Redwood Christian) NEW•Cross country road trip (Erik Olson/Courtney Madson Novato)•Bears sustain running success under Nesheim (Mt. Shasta)•Sprinter now good in the long run (Samantha Kearney Arroyo)•ALL-TERRAIN TYRE (Tyre Johnson, Palma)•Trojans ready for state meet (Oak Ridge HS)•Raymond runs strong for Huskies (Beth Raymond, Washington)•Go, Diego, go (Diego Estrada, Alisal)
The claim being made here seems to involve the "high" Renaissance only, rather than the early Renaissance as well. And as we all know, the greatest of the Italian Renaissance painters -- early or late -- was Giotto. (Just ask Miss Jean Brodie.)
In any event, James Panero's opinions are never to be taken lightly, and the linked material in the post at the New Criterion blog is well worth a look.
I continue to try and bring the wisdom of the Angelic Doctor to bear on the World Series, and I think I may have an insight to offer. The Rockies' hitting last night illustrated the difference between potency and act.
As for tonight's game...
Objection 1. It seems that the superiority of the Boston Red Sox is self-evident.
On the contrary....
Ford Motor Company helped welcome more than 1.5 million car and truck lovers to the 2007 Woodward Dream Cruise with two displays that served as bookends to the event billed as the “The world’s largest one-day celebration of car culture.” With its themed displays, “Cruisin’ Legends” in Birmingham, Michigan and “Mustang Alley” down Detroit’s famed Woodward Avenue in Ferndale, Ford mixed old and new attractions to entertain any Ford enthusiast.
On the north end of Woodward, in Birmingham’s Shain Park, onlookers were treated to a variety of activities and displays designed to show off the new Ford cars and trucks, which were surrounded by more than 100 vintage Ford vehicles displayed by various car clubs.
An inquisitive buzz was heard around the Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 land speed racer, which only three days earlier had broken the land-speed mark at the Bonneville Salt Flats with a clocked speed of 207.297 miles per hour. Soon after the reco
Efficacious grace ... predestination ... scientia media (okay, we haven't gotten to that one yet but we will, believe me). I think it's time to discuss a really important question: Why, when the Colorado Rockies have already proven that they can take two out of three from the Red Sox and beat Josh Beckett, are they still underdogs in the World Series? Is there a Thomist position on that one???
Technically, Vehige and I are supposed to have been blogging the last couple of months on the Pope's book Jesus of Nazareth. It has proved a difficult work to blog about -- not because it is a difficult work in and of itself, but in fact for the opposite reason. I have read it all, and on almost every page I have said to myself, "Yes, that's true" or "Yes, that's well put." And that is about as
Reports of a miraculous cure attributable to the intercession of John Henry Cardinal Newman have prompted speculation that he could be beatified sometime next year.
I've always considered Cardinal Newman's prose a miracle in itself, but I guess that's not the kind that counts.
It was reading Thomas Merton's The Waters of Siloe and The Sign of Jonas that helped me understand the place of monasticism in the Catholic Church and its validity as a Christian way of life. Growing up Protestant in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1950s and 1960s, I had no way of knowing that Merton was living out his monastic vocation barely sixty miles away at the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani. But
Gerald has used that word. And it's hard, frankly, to believe that he didn't do it on purpose. By the way, his photo of the stained-glass window in question (left) is much more detailed than the one I posted. Seems to me that it looks even worse close up.
Writing in The Tidings, the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper, Fr. Richard McBrien explicates a recent document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) providing "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church." You may recall that that document, released last June, caused a stir among non-Catholic groups (and among certain kinds of Catholics as well) because it reaffirmed and clarified the consistent Catholic teaching that eastern Christian churches not fully in communion with the Catholic Church, and those ecclesial communities that arose as a result of the Protestant Reformation, suffer from "defects" but "are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact, the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church."It was, of course, the word "defects" that
As you've seen by now, my erstwhile blogging partner is off on a leave of absence for the rest of October. I will try to mind the store as best I can.Oh, and while Vehige is gone, I think we should all take advantage of the opportunity to talk about him behind his back.
Having railed from time to time about the absurdities that result when scientists posit a materialist philosophy solely on the basis of scientific inquiry, I feel honor-bound to say something about the corresponding problems inherent in using science to prove supernaturalism. A new book, judging from this review, attempts just such a proof. Mario Beauregard, a University of Montreal neuroscientist, and journalist Denyse O'Leary argue in The Spiritual Brain that the activity of the human mind -- thought, in other words (actually, that's just one word, isn't it) -- cannot be explained fully in terms of physiological functions. I believe that that is true. But I do not believe that science can demonstrate such a truth. And I am certain that scientific materialists will be rushing to point that fact out if this book generates any degree of public interest at all. The scientific materialists will be right, and their rightness -- on this one point -- will be seen by many as a vindication
If you're an American home schooler, it's not especially hard to arrange American history field trips. Nor is arranging Texas history field trips too much of a chore for those of use blessed enough to live in Texas. But how do you make classical history "real" -- concrete to the senses -- for elementary and high school students if you don't happen to live in a place that was once part of the Roman Empire? The problem will be a persistent one for any home schooling parents who -- like me -- use the Latin Centered Curriculum. But it is bound to be a challenge, at some point, for other home schoolers as well.You can collect Roman coins -- a surprisingly affordable and rewarding hobby, especially if you're willing to buy them dirty and unidentified, and scrub away until you see something you recognize. Here's one, for example, that brought a bit of Roman civic mythology to graphic life for my daughters -- Romulus, Remus, and the she-wolf, minted between 330-346 AD.An even better resou
Vehige's trip down Memory Lane got me feeling a bit nostalgic myself. And since I'm older than Vehige, when I start down Memory Lane I need to pack a lunch.Anyway, I was prompted by that charming picture of St. Theodore's in Vehige's post to see whether I could find any pictures of my first Catholic parish. I entered the Church while I was in graduate school in Philadelphia. I was baptised and attended Mass at St. James Catholic Church on Chestnut Street (now St. Agatha-St. James, in this era of inner-city parish consolidation). To my pleasant surprise, the old church has undergone a respectful and intelligent restoration and looks positively resplendent. That's it above. And the website offers a very well-done virtual tour.After my conversion, when I would go home to Louisville for the summers, I attended a Dominican church, St. Louis Bertrand. It is there that I still go to Mass with my wife and children when we visit my Kentucky relatives, as we will next month. (Picture on the
Wow. I ask a question; I get some really interesting answers. Blogging is fun.The thoughtful and knowledgeable comments to my previous post about the "degenerate art" controversy offer some helpful background that I didn't go into. You should read them. (Go here and click "Comments" at the bottom.) I agree that any evaluation of Cardinal Meisner's statement about modern religious art certainly must take into account the historical connotations evoked by the term entartete Kunst ("degenerate art"). And there's clear evidence in the news today that Cardinal Meisner himself wishes he had chosen a different word -- although what different word might be available in Germany nowadays to express precisely the Cardinal's quite legitimate opinion is a puzzling question in and of itself.In response to the comments, I'll toss out a few additional observations.I can think of three legitimate (as opposed to ideologically opportunistic) reasons for objecting to what Cardinal Meisner said specif
According to news reports out of Cologne, "a German cardinal has sparked outrage by warning that modern culture is at risk of descending into 'degeneracy,' a term which is taboo [in Germany, apparently] due to its close connection to the Nazis."Well, I would agree that the term degeneracy does indeed have a close connection to the Nazis -- Nazism itself being a form of ideological degeneracy. But to make a perfectly useful word -- and with it the idea that it uniquely expresses -- "taboo"? (Would I be in trouble in Germany for saying what I just did about Nazism?) Doesn't the very idea of "taboo" words in 21st-century Western civilization raise some important and troubling questions?Apparently not in the mind of one Michael Vesper, "former minister of culture" for North Rhine-Westphalia, who is quoted in dramatically high dudgeon as saying, "I am shocked that the term 'degenerate' is still used, I thought that was history in Germany." Herr Vesper goes on to assure anyone who mig
I believe that it's possible -- though not easy -- to predicate a system of morality on atheism. Such an undertaking requires, first, a re-semanticizing of the word morality, which for most people implies considerations of ultimate value, but obviously cannot do so for an atheist. And it calibrates its value system relatively low in comparison to that of Christianity, although I suppose that a good atheist would respond that there is no real comparison to be made between hard facts and a fairy tale. Still, it remains true that the good to be sought in an atheist's moral act cannot be much more than the preservation or maximization of physical, intellectual, or emotional pleasure -- on the pragmatic basis that most people throughout human history seem to have preferred pleasure to pain.The practical problems faced by the atheist who wants to develop a system of morality along these lines are chiefly two: (1) The moral vision it offers the human race is not particularly inspiring, and
