Catholic Stuff
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I sometimes feel that I'm a bit of an impostor in the former-Anglican culture of the Ordinariate, in which people often refer to "our Anglican [or Episcopalian] heritage," "the hymns and prayers we grew up with," and so forth. But I didn't grow up in Anglicanism, although a certain amount of it had been carried…
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Well, I finally saw Manchester By the Sea. It was as good as everyone has said, and it deserved the honors it got. But I don't want to see it again: so much pain, and for me the artistry, as good as it is, is not enough to make me want to experience it again. Addendum,…
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One of the books I've been reading as background for the book I'm writing is Theodore Roszak's The Making of a Counter-culture. Roszak may have been the one who coined that term. If he didn't, he certainly contributed to its widespread use. The book came out in 1969 and I recall reading it at the…
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My specifically Lenten reading this year is Frank Sheed's Theology for Beginners. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, because I know several people who read this blog have advanced degrees in theology or have just in general read a great deal more of it than I have. I've picked up bits and pieces over the…
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It was not long after Pope Francis was elected that I remarked to my wife that he seemed like someone who would be a wonderful parish priest, but I wasn't so sure that he would be good at running the Church. I've said it several times since, and it looks like there was something in it.…
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It has only recently sunk in to me that the destruction of English Catholic churches, monasteries, and works of art in the Protestant revolution under Henry VIII et.al. is pretty comparable to what has recently appalled the civilized world when done by Muslim fanatics to Buddhist and other artifacts in the Middle East. Here's an…
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I've been following it in a half-hearted sort of way, and this article in the Catholic Herald strikes me as an excellent assessment of the situation. Personally I do not take a position on the matter, other than that the whole thing is depressing. I haven't read AL and don't plan to, as it doesn't affect…
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Still reading The Seven Storey Mountain, and liking it a lot. This passage struck me. Merton is making a Holy Week retreat at Gethsemani, prior to entering the Trappist order. Observing the other guests, he notes these: …and there were three or four pious men who turned out to be friends and benefactors of the monastery–quiet,…
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The soul of man, left to its own natural level, is a potentially lucid crystal left in darkness. It is perfect in its own nature, but it lacks something that it can only receive from outside and above itself. But when the light shines in it, it becomes in a manner transformed into light and…
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The old Gaelic poem (in English) about "Christ in the stranger's guise" set to music (and presented with appropriate imagery). (Hat tip to Neo-neocon.)
Light On Dark Water 