Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

The popes of our era have earnestly exhorted the recitation of the rosary. They have taught authoritatively that the Rosary always leads us to the Lord, through Mary. Pope Pius XII called the Rosary a, "compendium of the Gospels," and urged the faithful to turn in confidence to the Virgin Mother of God. John XXIII said that the rosary is a wonderful meditation and that in saying it we: "Weave a garland of Ave Maria's, Pater Noster's, and Gloria Patri's." Paul VI called the Rosary a Gospel Prayer, and as such, it is an unceasing praise of Jesus Christ. Pope John Paul I, in his charming way, said that the recitation of the Hail Mary's of the rosary: "sweetens the soul like a song". All know of the devotion that Pope John Paul II had for the Rosary. When I studied in Rome, I was one of a small group of priests one day that concelebrated Mass with Pope John Paul in his private chapel. After Mass, he pressed into the hand of each priest a rosary. When he came to me he said: "Father, pray this rosary every day!" And I do! - Fr. Rego

The Scandal revealed a deep rotting disease within American Catholicism that has only begun to be recognized, let alone treated. [Dreher] saw it up close and personal as a journalist covering the story for years. As much as I am loathe to quote him, Nietzsche's insight cannot be denied: "And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." - Dale of "Dyspeptic Mutterings"

Mr. Dreher says he was afraid that he would not be able to give his children faith if they were in the Catholic church. But I submit that unless he gives his children logical, intellectual reasoning for what they are to believe as Christians and backs that up in the home living an authentic faith, they'll leave anyway whether they are Catholic, Orthodox or apparently Amish. For those reasons, although I understand his reasoning, I find his argumentation to be less than compelling. - Elena of "My Domestic Church"

It would be fair to say that I can empathize with Dreher more than most committed, orthodox Catholics: as a college student I once found myself in a position pretty close to his, and almost did what he has done. I had been sexually abused by a priest as a high school student and was quite generally fed up with the "progressive" Catholic theology and liturgy which was then the norm in New York, at least for students. Since I've told the story of my flirtation with Orthodoxy elsewhere, however, I shall leave out the details here. Suffice it to say that I remained Catholic because, unlike Dreher, I could not get around the pope. - Mike of "Sacramentum Vitae"

I have thought at times about what would have happened if the Tridentine rite had never been replaced in the first place? I have a feeling that we would still have been treated to Clown and Polka Masses, only Ad Orientum and in Latin. - Jeff Miller

Tridentine. That's the sugarless Mass? - Terrence Berres

Humor stems from a sense of displacement, it is, in a sense, an ultimately Christian virtue. Humor often results from the juxtaposition of impossible events, from the use of a word in two or more ways, from the sudden and unexpected. These are the deep seams of humor, the understanding that things are not as they seem, that we are not what we seem, and that ultimately we are not really where we belong. Humor then, a Christian virtue stemming from the recognition of the anomalies resulting from our pilgrim status, is one essential for readable fiction. - Steven of "Flos Carmeli"

This fellow was telling me that his friend, the pastor [of a Protestant megachurch], was about to collapse under the pressure of running the megachurch, the specific pressure of The New - of having to constantly create programs to attract folks, to keep them coming, to keep them "on fire," and the pressure of the necessity of him being onstage all the time, of being the central figure on whom all this rested. I believe in his own conversion story, Jeff Cavins speaks along the same line - how exhausting it was as a person engaged in ministry in the Protestant evangelical churches to always be having to think of the Next Big Thing lest people drive down the street to the next Church of the New. - Amy of "Open Book"

The classic text here is St. Augustine’s The City of God, and book XIX should be regularly reread by any Christian pondering ultimates and preultimates in relation to any political order. The larger truths engaged are not limited to Christians. In the forthcoming November issue of First Things, I explain why a writer in Time is quite wrong to be worried by the fact that so many Christians in America say they are Christians first and Americans second. The right ordering of their loves and loyalties is what makes them, contra the proponents of the naked public square, better Americans. - Richard Neuhaus

When liberals like Jon Stewart or Bill Maher criticize a political party, the abstract level of their critique depends on what party they are criticizing. So that, when they speak out against Republicans, they speak out against GOP policy - what the party stands for. When they speak out against Democrats, they tend to denounce Democrats for going along with Republicans or, as they see it, acting like Republicans. Either way, the net result is a slam on Republicans. This is not an "independent" view. - Ham o' Bone of soceng.blogspot.com

You can read biographies of all those to be canonized on Sunday here - and it's worth doing. The lives of these men and women show so clearly that the life of holiness - of a saint - is anything but quiet, conformist passivity - the stereotype of one deeply committed to God. We know the stereotype is a lie, but sometimes even we need reminding, don't we? We forget that the goal of spiritual growth, as our culture defines it that even creeps into our churches - that it's all about finding a space where I'm feeling comfortable and accepted and okay and am basically getting along with the world - is just a lie. At least for Christians. - Amy Welborn