Women of the Church – “Some of the lesser known, less venerated Catholic women of the past who contributed in important ways to the history of the Church and of their times more broadly include rather ordinary women who have not traditionally been acknowledged in our history books.” The Remarkable Legacies of Extraordinary Women (First Things)
Lenten Penance, Easter Joy – “We are whirled into worldliness, even as the soul knows that its one necessary task is devotion, that is, to listen to “’the Word within / The world.’” The Poetry of Death and Resurrection (Modern Age)
Modern Saint – “Madeleine Delbrel is a truly modern saint. The sanctity of transformed unbelief.” Madeleine Delbrel: A true saint for our times. An interview with Thomas Jacobi and Colleen Dulle (Gaudium et Spes 22)
Banishing Christianity – “For all his campaign ads about passing historic legislation, President Joe Biden’s most impactful legacy might be his alteration of America’s spiritual life.” Biden Banishes Christian Images, Celebrates Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter (Washington Stand)
The Apostle and Unique Masculine Virtues – “Young priests now come into priestly formation and ministry from a society that often lacks awareness or acceptance of authentic masculinity, and it is becoming more common that priests’ views of masculinity are skewed because of these experiences.” Saint Paul, Masculinity, and Priestly Identity (Homiletic & Pastoral Review)
Ideological Control – “An emeritus professor of law, Barnhizer has written a no-holds-barred exposé of the tragic fall of our institutions of higher education.” How We’ve Gone from Institutions of Higher Education to Conformity Colleges (The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal)
Fr. Kapaun Statue – “A Catholic priest from the Diocese of Wichita who served as an Army chaplain in World War II and the Korean war, known for risking his life to minister to troops on the front lines, will soon have a permanent statue in his honor at the state Capitol.” Catholic Army chaplain, Servant of God, to get statue at Kansas Capitol (Crux)
Drift, Neglect, and Excess – “On April 24, 1985, President Ronald Reagan broadcast a live address to the nation on a topic he believed to be of the utmost importance: the need to save future generations from the consequences of excessive government overspending. ” The Generations We Piled with Debt Are Here—and Rightly Disturbed (The American Conservative)
The Middle Ground – “While the United States has taken center-stage in the culture wars, the challenge for Francis is a global one.” Pope Francis’ Culture Wars Divide Catholic Church (Newsweek)
Living Freely in the Age of the Machine – “It’s very interesting in England to see that Christianity is regularly treated as this oppressive patriarchal religion, whereas a stronger, more patriarchal, more traditional religion like Islam is regularly kind of soft-soaped.” Why an Eco-warrior Left the Movement—and Became a Christian (The Free Press)
‘I am the Life’ – “And one fact which sticks out like a spike as huge as the Matterhorn is the fact that the Christianity which created Christendom did definitely declare that its religious founder, unlike the other religious founders, had risen materially from the dead.” Resurrection (G.K.’s Weekly)
Staying Strong – “[P]erhaps we have not reckoned that life, especially in its most important aspects, is characterized by organic growth. ‘No one is suddenly made perfect.’” Making the Long Haul, like a Tree (Life Craft)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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@ Living Freely in the Age of the Machine
Flummoxed with the ethical disparity of the age, Green Englishman Kingsnorth leaves the ecological field of battle and retreats to pastoral Ireland and chicken farming. Yet not without a worthy purpose in discovering a better path in Orthodox Christianity.
Kingsnorth realized his noble cause required a noble cultural transition from the Age of the Machine to a simpler, peaceful, more pastoral world collective mindset. That, sadly, is not about to happen. Although, even if the world [that is humanity] were to suddenly convert would it be feasible at this stage? Could we all suddenly drop our jackhammers and teleprompters and turn to the land? That would require monumental irresponsibility. Fundamentally sinful. Realistically, such a great transformation would require an initial spiritual worldwide transformation. V II has that focus as its agenda; the Apostle Paul also spoke of that as God’s will. However, what we hope for is one thing, what’s transpired is another. Nonetheless that worthy end must be envisioned as a possibility to whatever extent it may be realized.
Insofar as Catholicism’s outlook, is the hyperbolic promotion of a Green world transformation an ethically valid response to our world’s exigencies as well as our commitment to Christ and a moral life?
In the 1930s, the Dustbowl afflicted parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico….If farmers there had suddenly shifted to crop rotation and such, would soil exhaustion and windstorms have been averted? And, what if migration to California was not possible, or if there was no California? The end state of Manifest Destiny?
Hypothetically (?), globally, or even in in parts of the globe (the sub-Sahara, Sudan, the death of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef) if we earthlings have overshot some kind of complex carrying capacity, or local niche capacities…what then should the perennial Catholic Church be saying?
As you say, Vatican II proposed real engagement with modernity (aggiornamento)–based on irreducible sources: Scripture and Tradition, and especially the singular event of the historical Incarnation, Himself (ressourcement). What, more than the amnesiac, eclipsing, and gathering-together of “synodality,” or, of course, word-game graffiti such as Feducia Supplicans?
What’s the difference between the Truth of Revelation–and inseparable and intrinsic good over intrinsic evil–versus superficial “harmonization” of polarities?
Or, if not the Luddite option, then what would the transition look like, morally? That is, for the benefit of future generations? And, like a reduced national debt (now $34 Trillion!), what would the economy for reducing our ecological overspending look like?
A justice focused, reasoned approach is better than the exaggerated, culturally, economically damaging effort that is presently pursued. That would require a conversion of minds and hearts, and intelligence. And that is achieved with patient measure. As you allude it’s unknown how it may be achieved, although that can be answered with an holistic approach to restoring God’s creation.
From the Newsweek article on Bergoglio:
“From there, it became increasingly clear that Francis was leading the church in a more progressive direction.”
He is leading himself in a more progressive, i.e., heretical, direction. No one, especially the young, is following.
A justice focused, reasoned approach is better than the exaggerated, culturally, economically damaging effort that is presently pursued. That would require a conversion of minds and hearts, and intelligence. And that is achieved with patient measure. As you allude it’s unknown how it may be achieved, although that can be answered with an holistic approach to restoring God’s creation.
There are a lot of interesting news items everyone is poking through on April 3rd but I would like to ask if anyone knows anything new about the very recent blasphemous chrism mass in Superior, Wisconsin. “Archbishop Vigano” heard about it and broke the story on X. I found the video online and sure enough there was a pagan shaman doing his ritual with four female assistants. At one point he invoked the “Earth Mother”. If I had the misfortune to have been there I would have been out the door and let the devil take the laggards. I don’t think the traditional media outside Wisconsin touched the story and the tech media dropped it quickly. Covering the bishop’s pious posterior perhaps? The last thing I saw was the bishop was out of town and no questions were being answered. Anybody know anything more?
@ Ideological Control
“Progressives no longer feel the need to offer evidence for their claims. They know that fellow academics will automatically nod in approval, citing their papers in ‘scholarly’ journals and spreading their ideas on social media. Dissent is heresy, an act to be punished” (Columnist Leef on Barnhizer).
Professor of law Barnhizer’s book details the calamity in our midst, the increasing slide into the bottomless pit. Our five major social institutions, family, religion, government, education, economy were rudely awakened now unpleasantly deranged. No longer recognized as independent or quasi independent pillars of society. All victims of capricious subordination to woke academics and knaves. Our justice department, now an enforcement branch of the executive, itself ruled by a dangerous ideology rather than a morally and intellectually competent person.