Spanning the Globe to Bring You the Constant Variety of Posts

It is quite likely that a person reading the encyclical will find himself challenged at various points, no matter what his native political instincts are. This is part of the pope's intention. He wants to challenge everybody and shake them out of the uncritical political orbits that people find themselves sliding into. One should therefore avoid two mistakes in reading the document: (a) One should not casually dismiss things that seem to conflict with one's previous views; this is the Vicar of Christ talking, and we need to take what he says seriously. (b) One should not simply seize on things that seem to confirm one's prior views and absolutize them...there are points in the encyclical where, at least in general terms, the pope seems to go beyond his stated intention not to offer technical solutions and to make proposals that at least point in the direction of particular solutions. There is a blurry line here between theory and application, and pastoral concern for human well-being will always present churchmen with a temptation to cross that blurry line and at least recommend particular applications that seem right to them... When that happens we need to take seriously what they say, particularly in the case of the pope, the Vicar of Christ. At the same time, we must not put greater weight on what they say than what they themselves do, and thus we must remember that they are not teaching infallibly. In releasing the new encyclical, Benedict XVI does not even remotely come close to using the kind of language that popes use when signalling that they are speaking infallibly. - Jimmy Akin

"Counter Reformation" would be a great name for a kitchen remodeling business.- Tom of Disputations tweet

The trouble with the Catholic Left is that it often presents as morally binding certain political proposals which, from Rome's standpoint, are really matters of opinion, and presents as matters of opinion certain political proposals which, again from Rome's standpoint, are morally binding. So not only is the Catholic Right's general sense about Church social teaching theologically sounder than the Left's; said teaching is more easily reconciled with American "conservatism," or at least with some strains thereof, then with American "liberalism." - Micheal of "What's Wrong With the World"

[William F. Buckley] once remarked to me, in reference to the second-term plunge in popularity of the George W. Bush administration, that it is not enough for conservatives simply to be intelligent or sophisticated. They have to project these qualities, conspicuously and convincingly, in order to get past the visceral prejudices of elite opinion-makers, who generally regard conservative ideas as some combination of boobish, evil, backward, boring, dangerous, and simplistic. Overcoming these prejudices is, if not a prerequisite, at least a very helpful vehicle for receiving a fair hearing on the merits. - Anthony Dick on "the Corner" (applicable to Christians as well?)

One good thing about being an autodidact is that you sometimes discover something really good only after you're old enough to appreciate it. For example, Bach's chorales! - Bill of Summa Minutiae

He's everywhere. No, not Michael Jackson. Padre Pio. Yes, I knew he was popular. Yes, I knew Italians loved him. But I had no idea almost every church I would enter would hold an image of Padre Pio. I have to say, I do believe every one, without exception, has. And the little paneneria down the road where I've been buying dinner for us - yes, they have a pretty large picture of Padre Pio behind the counter...[Son Michael] was bouncing around in the waves, he started chanting, "Pa-Padre Pio! Pa-Padre Pio!" Then he added names to it "Mommy Padre Pio!" "Daddy Padre Pio!" "Joseph Padre Pio!" and so on. We asked him why. "Why do you keep singing his name?" "Because it's a funny name!" he shouted. So sorry about that. No charming precocious spiritual insight here. But maybe, in some way, as he tosses all of our names up into heavens from God's beautiful bright blue sea - a prayer, nonetheless - through Padre Pio to God, who truly is everywhere. - Amy Welborn

There are only four outdoor phone booths left in Manhattan...If you happen to pass by, I seriously advise you to stop in one of these booths while they’re still around. Note that someone still cares enough to keep the overhead light in proper working order. Close the door (be amazed that they even have doors), and you’ll find yourself in a veritable fishbowl plunked down in the center of Manhattan. The walls actually keep out a good amount of sound, and it’s surreal to look out at the world around you with something you don’t usually get on a busy Manhattan avenue: personal space. It’s funny to think how the idea of an enclosed space to have a phone conversation now seems like an incredible luxury. - Scouting New York blog

Some of my Protestant friends at work have the tendency to say about nearly any topic, "I just prayed about it, and God told me that I should do X." I'm never sure whether this basically comes down to saying, "I prayed about it for a while and I thought that X might be a good idea," or if they've got a direct line to the Almighty that I'm missing. God and I, I often feel, are not on quite such confidential terms as some others seem to be. There's a bit in Terry Gilliam's movie Time Bandits where the time traveling dwarves tell Kevin that they work for the Supreme Being.

Kevin: You mean God?
Fidgit: Well, we don't know Him that well. We only work for Him.

I often feel rather the same way. God knows me much better than I know Him. And if our struggles through life are, from that perspective, rather more like the bumblings of the time bandits than Dante's sedate wanderings in the gloomy wood -- well, I wouldn't be surprised. Which leaves one to wade through decision-making as best one can. - Darwin Catholic

During his homily at a Mass for vocation directors in Rome, the French prelate underscored how one’s vocation is always particular and personalized. In being called to the priesthood, men who have this vocation are called by the Lord “to be ourselves, as the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. God’s plan cannot be fulfilled except through sacrifice,” the archbishop said. “Thus sacrifice becomes an intersection between the human and the divine,” he added. “Sacrifice is the particular means by which we offer to the Lord our personal freedom and we receive in turn all of God’s strength. It was not by chance that the Pope chose to begin the Year for Priests on the most sacrificial feast of all: that of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For this reason, we hope that this year the People of God can recover the joy of the priesthood.” - Catholic News Agency article

Doesn't Aristotle's requirement for a tragedy--that the protagonist come face to face with his true self--seem like an odd idea? In our own age, people devote a lot of money, time and energy to discovering and nurturing what they call their "true selves." Why should recognition of what one really is be a defining point of tragedy? What did the Ancients know about psychology that we don't? (Answer: A lot, actually.) One thing I was able to teach my girls was the idea that the protagonist finds himself to be at fault. The tragedy can't be something that just happened to him; some "fatal flaw" in his character had to have contributed greatly to his own demise. There is great pathos in seeing one's life in utter shambles and knowing that one is actually to blame. No wonder Oedipus blinded himself. I'm trying to think of a poetic punishment for myself, and what I envision is me setting fire to my library in a fit of madness and dying in the blaze. In other words, I am in a rut of my own making--which I'm morbidly imagining is a grave I have dug for myself--and now all I need is an appropriate way for my character to bow out of the drama. The only thing I have that the wiser Greeks didn't have is the hope of eucatastrophe--and I'm holding on to it with all I've got. - Sancta Sanctis

By definition, intercessors are sojourners in enemy territory...The enemy is powerless; he's hustling for time and leverage. He wants us to believe him enough so he can get away with a certain number of things during our lifetime. -Martha Balmer, in a talk on intercessory prayer via Exultet

It's about the indissolubility, about the cleaving . . . The love of married couples is the only thing that shows to the world the love of Christ for his Church. - Fr. Eric Weber, delivering a couples' meditation on the Feast of the Sacred Heart via Exultet

We tend to define what's possible based on our present experience. That doesn't apply where the Holy Spirit is involved. -Fr. Ed Fride via Exultet

I've Got Those Post-Pentecostal Pre-Parousia Blues. - Exultet, recalling an old song

I have a wonderful image of the Blessed Virgin that I turn to in times of great trial. A very pre-Raphaelite, Blessed Damozel kind of image that engages the heart, the mine, and the eyes and sort of wards off other images because of its transcendent beauty and purity. I carry it with me on my iPod and on my PDA lest I find myself without it. I almost never look at it, but it is a comfort knowing that it is available. Tell me Icons serve no good purpose! - Steven of Flos Carmeli