Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Here Cathoholics had waited nine months for the new sheriff in town to put up the wanted poster, or maybe the "No Guns Allowed" signs, or something. Anything. What we got was an insightful, clear, and even moving exposition on Divine love. All to the good, of course; we heartily endorse Divine love. But now what?... What if he wrote Deus Caritas Est, not to pad the footnotes of a barrage of Notices from the CDF he's been preparing for two decades, but to teach the Church about Divine Love? - Tom of Disputations

I thought that iMonk essay was extra good, too. When I understood that I was part of a physical, visible and invisible church, then I also became physical and visible, if that makes sense. I finally realized that my littlest sin affects the entire Body of Christ, once I realized that the Body of Christ was real, now, in real time. Three guesses what I'm praying for regarding iMonk.... -Therese Z on Julie of Happy Catholic's blog

Isn't it odd, I thought the other day. Ironic, let's say. For the past three decades or so, "God is Love" has been shorthand for "Eviscerated catechesis," to the point at which many years ago when I first showed up to teach at Santa Fe in Lakeland, the students joked about my predecessor - a coach who moved on to try his hand at a career in sports agency - saying that for four years, the answer to every question on every test came down to "God is love." Well, the reality is - it actually does. Maybe Benedict will give us the gift of reclaiming the full meaning of what that phrase really means. - Amy Welborn

"Nobody in this story, and no outfit or corporation, thank God, is based upon an actual person or outfit in the real world but I can tell you this, as my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard." - John Le Carre.... I would add the observation that this tortured sentence contradicts itself on its own terms. First, it disclaims ("thank God") that the film's story has any connection to known reality and then ends by saying that had the author written what the author had actually observed it would have horrified us even more than this fictional account. - Ham o' Bone

Your comment about "God is love" being shorthand catechesis reminded me of something really profound said by the great Anglo-Catholic poet W.H. Auden. In the context of saying that the sacrament and the rituals were for him the truly life-changing aspects of the mass, he pointed out that most of the sermons he ever heard boiled down to sort of warmed over "you must love your neighbor" which, he noted, he already knew. - Commenter responding to Amy's post

Writing the book was by far the hardest project I've ever done. I'm so glad it's over. I used some Dawn Patrol material to get some of the chapters started, but 90% of it is new. Even the Dawn Patrol bits are heavily rewritten. I thought I was pretty sharp at the time I wrote those old entries—now I see that the difference between blog-quality writing and book-quality writing is vast. - Dawn Eden

Christ the King is designated as a charismatic parish, because it was founded for members of a community of participants in the charismatic renewal. As such, there are a number of special features to its liturgy, which is otherwise perhaps the most strictly observant of the Novus Ordo rubrics in the diocese...We also have ten men preparing for the priesthood: four graduate seminarians and two college seminarians for our own diocese, two for a neighboring diocese, and two for religious orders...We really are a community. Not because we have a modernistic sign advertising “The Catholic Community of Christ the King” out front—we are just Christ the King Catholic Church—or because of sentimental prating about “our parish family,” but because we really are one. People from the parish have living, supportive relationships with other members of the parish on the basis of our common Catholic faith...It is possible that a new bishop, advised by a typical batch of curial liberals, will destroy the particular character of Christ the King, I am praying that we can survive this crisis. If anyone is reading this, please pray for us. - Henry of "A Plumbline in the Wind"

[Catholic philosopher] Russ [Hittinger] insists that that our rather mediocre situation is not explained solely by the “politically correct mien” of the academy.. “But here is a hint—the decline of religious life: secular priesthood and those under evangelical vows. Whoever has the intellect, imagination, and patience to think this one through will reach the vicinity of the problem. And it might prove a lot more interesting, cutting in different ways (in cause and effect) than what you first thought.” - Joseph Bottum quoting Russ Hittinger's speculations on why Catholic influence in academia has waned

Serving the poor is a good thing, but so far as I know, no Catholic was ever martyred for feeding the hungry. - Jeff of "Hallowed Ground"

In explaining his views on love and sex in the encyclical, the Pope quotes from biblical writings, encyclicals written by his predecessors and the works of philosophers such as the 17th century French thinker René Descartes...Italian newspapers reported the encyclical as saying that even in "more just societies" Christians should do charitable works, not just for the benefit of others but for their own good. - newspaper report on the papal encyclical