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The most lasting impact of the recent nationally televised interview Rick Warren did with Senators Barack Obama and John McCain may not have to do with the two presidential candidates. It may be its effect on, and the impression people have of, evangelical Christianity. Rick Warren, already in the . . . . Continue Reading »

More on Excommunication

Yesterday I wrote on the excommunication scene in the movie Beckett . Last night while looking up the exact definition of anathema , I found the actual text of the old rite of anathematization, the gravest form of excommunication: “Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Dignity and Vocation of Women

The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at his moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, . . . . Continue Reading »

Armchair Historians, Rejoice!

It looks as though amateurs such as myself will soon have an easier time accessing one of the most interesting collections of documents from the Second Temple period: The Dead Sea Scrolls. As the New York Times reports : JERUSALEM — In a crowded laboratory painted in gray and cooled like a . . . . Continue Reading »

Mainline Decline in a Sentence

An aside on religion in contemporary society from David Lebedoff’s The Same Man: George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh in Love and War : “The mainstream churches are losing members and often seem devoted to causes more worthy than holy.” That sums it up well. . . . . Continue Reading »

Dante for the Day

Nathaniel’s nice reflection on Thomas Becket this morning put me in a medieval mood. While Dante also had plenty to say about those who are anathema , the following poem is decidedly more romantic: Love and the gentle heart are one thing, just as the poet says in his verse, each from the . . . . Continue Reading »

Lessons from Thomas Becket

Last night I watched Becket , the 1964 film with Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole about the relationship between Thomas Becket and Henry II—the famous friendship that ended in assassination. The performances were superb, and the script was surprisingly rich. But the portrayal of Becket . . . . Continue Reading »

The “Beauty of Holiness”?

OK, I understand the desire to make the consecrated life look attractive, but a religious sisters’ beauty pageant is going too far. There couldn’t be much harm in, say, profiling young and joyful nuns, but surely a beauty contest , no matter how modest and unobjectionable the operative . . . . Continue Reading »

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