Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

I keep coming back to my experiences standing in front of classrooms full of adolescents, all day, every day, for nine years. What did they need? What were they hungry and thirsty for? A strong dose of doctrine? "Catholic identity?" No - that is the fruit, the next stop along the road, or even simply a more formal articulation of the fundamental need. It all comes back to Christ. Some would like to pose a disconnect - for example, during the past forty years, the suggested disconnect has been that if you have "love" you don't need "Church" and all of its articulations and ritual. Benedict makes clear that the love of God is embodied in the Church, because the Church is the Body of Christ and Christ is the Way, is God's love enfleshed. Every step of the way he reminds us that we can't separate ourselves and our faith from the Church. - Amy Welborn

There is not a single nation or culture on the face of planet earth that voluntarily converted to Islam. Is it possible that the heritage of forced conversions has infected Islamic culture not with the zeal of true faith but with a psychological coping mechanism of self-justifying fanaticism? Not that this is conscious, but that there is a subconscious structure of distorted fanaticism based on a cultural remembrance of the initial forced conversion. If an entire culture is conquered and forced to adopt a religion it in no way believes, could the new believers create a mindset conducive to the kind of murderous fanaticism we see today? If the individual forced convert reacts in the ways [Eric] Hoffer describes, what would an entire culture do in the same situation? Quite frankly, this does make the Muslim world a lot more understandable than a strictly logical analyses does. - Lee Ann Morawski

The issue of theodicy comes up again and again: Where was God when the Jews were being murdered at Auschwitz? I am reminded of an evening many years ago, when I went to see the film of Sophie's Choice. As I walked home, I pondered this question and asked myself, "How could God permit such a thing as Auschwitz?" I felt the reply, "In the same way He permits the little Auschwitz in your heart." If men can turn their backs on God, and little sins are possible, then great sins are possible. And the answer to all of them is the same Cross of Christ. - Henry Dieterich of "A Plumbline in the Wind"

For years I thought art class and music classes were a waste of time. Maybe this was because they were regulated to once a week, Friday afternoon, and only were required in elementary school. How I now lament this folly, both in my own thought and in the school system I attended. God is most visible to us (or at least to some of us) in nature and in the arts. The true purpose of art is to help reveal God to man. - Jim Curley of "Bethune Catholic"

Some people are never happy unless they're causing trouble. The sort my wife calls "a disturber". I read the most wonderful description of "disturbers" the other day: "she rolls like a pinless grenade through the rooms of other people's lives". Isn't that wonderful? - John of "The Inn at the End of the World"

The gender gap is not a distinctly American one but it is a Christian one, according to Murrow. The theology and practices of Judaism, Buddhism and Islam offer "uniquely masculine" experiences for men, he said. "Every Muslim man knows that he is locked in a great battle between good and evil, and although that was a prevalent teaching in Christianity until about 100 years ago, today it's primarily about having a relationship with a man who loves you unconditionally," Murrow said. "And if that's the punch line of the Gospel, then you're going to have a lot more women than men taking you up on your offer because women are interested in a personal relationship with a man who loves you unconditionally. Men, generally, are not." - WaPo story asking where the men are in churches

It seems to me that illegal immigration is a form of trespass. Trespassing can be minor, temporary, and incidental; or it can be ongoing, significant, and grave. Trespassing is something we may do licitly (even if not legally) when we are in immediate grave need. It is not something we may ever do licitly for the rest of our lives though. It is not something we may ever do merely to improve our station in life, even if our station in life is extremely modest. As soon as our grave need - that is, our literal starvation, etc - has been met, we must stop trespassing, and if possible make amends for it, or at least go back to the proper legal process. Whatever the merits (or detriments) of amnesty as a practical matter, it seems to me that it represents a basic distortion of the moral law....[It] doesn't represent mercy to the lawbreaker, it represents a dispensation to break the law. Granting an amnesty would do violence to the common good. Those who have made sacrifices to keep the law should be granted at least no lower a priority than those who have not done so. Any other path is a basic violation of justice. - Zippy of Zippy Catholic

The agrarian experience, even if only experienced short term can teach you something of salvation-that you work out your salvation with God one day at a time just as you live your life one day at a time. The long term vision of Heaven is worked on a daily basis, not quarterly etc. It is hard to put in words exactly what I mean: I will try again before this topic is over. Let's put it this way, simple traditional lifestyles are not very forgiving. If you don't work one day, you may just not eat. Yet at the same time, the rhythms of the seasons regulate your work, leisure, waking, sleeping.....Am reminded once again of the saying (paraphrasing) of Belloc: "It takes six months to turn a farmer into a city-boy; it takes 3 generations to turn a city boy into a farmer." - Jim of "Bethune Catholic"

If you have the misfortune to listen to NPR or read the New York Times, you'll hear wide-eyed self-important catechesis in the liberal's religion: politics. They report on the things that matter to them most - the travels of the president, political wrangling in congress, long analyses of legislation, all directed these past years at removing this heretic (Bush) who has assumed their papacy (White House). - Bill of "Summa Minutiae"

This guy became a Catholic because of Rosemary's Baby and Hammer Horror Films (you have to read it), and although he still seems to be in the familiar "I approve of Catholicism because of its pretty decorations & earthy acceptance of human frailty which implies I can still do whatever" phase, there's always hope for someone like that. At least he's in the door. - Kathy Shaidle of "Relapsed Catholic"

Who do you pray to if you have lost your St. Anthony of Padua statue? - Curt Jester