Last week’s column on the HHS mandate brought a rash of email from the usual suspects—men and women who feel passionately inclined to inform me that the church is “mysogynistic, women-hating, gay-hating, authoritarian, fetus-idolizing…” well, you get the drift. People who could not begin to accurately articulate the church’s position on most matters are quite sure that her counter-cultural stances are grounded on nothing more than hate. . . . Continue Reading »
Yesterday was the Diamond Anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand Christians in these countries and throughout the Commonwealth thanked God for her sixty years of service, remembering St. Paul’s admonition to pray “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and godly lives in all quietness and holiness.” . . . Continue Reading »
In a previous article, I offered as a possible slogan for hospice, “A good life deserves a good death.” But what is a good death, exactly, and what would have to happen to make it that way? My first wife, Carol, died of a particularly virulent form of stomach cancer. By the time the first symptoms appeared it was too late to save her life. Both her surgeon and her oncologist were deeply religious Christians and compassionate human beings who spoke openly and honestly about Carol’s condition and prognosis. . . . Continue Reading »
In recent years, much work has been done to restore the traditional principles of church design; one principle, however, is still often overlooked: siting. St. Germanus is brief and clear on the subject, as always. In the final section of Ecclesiastical History and Mystical Contemplation, which deals directly with architectural matters, he says . . . Continue Reading »
The greatest commandment, Jesus tells us, is: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Well, of course. But a commandment? I tend to empathize with the Danish Philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, who writes, in Works of Love . . . Continue Reading »
In my last column, I reviewed What a Young Wife Ought to Know (1901) by Emma Drake. It was part of a “sex and self” series that focused on what a young woman should do to establish a successful Victorian-like home at the turn of the last American century and one of two books my wife plucked off the shelf at a used book store. She spent eight dollars for the pair. I may have mumbled about more antiquarian books coming into the house but that ended right after I found a copy of Young Wife selling on eBay for thirty-eight dollars. . . . Continue Reading »
On the Solemnity of the Epiphany, I heard a sermon—a rather well-delivered one at that—about the Magi as religious “seekers.” The same note, I’ll wager, was struck from pulpits and ambos across the country, perhaps across the world. But isn’t there something a bit askew here? Isn’t the point of Matthew’s tale of the “wise men from the East” (Matthew 2:1) that they were finders, not just seekers? . . . Continue Reading »
Recently we have learned that under Obamacare—that is, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—employer insurance plans must provide free non-medical contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization for their employees. Free is as affordable as it gets; for an accountability-spurning culture, it’s just the right price, indeed. . . . Continue Reading »
The new film Young Adult, the latest from the writer/director team of Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody of Juno fame, features Charlize Theron as Mavis Gary, a writer of young adult fiction living in the Twin Cities who returns to the small town of Mercury, MN to relive her glory days as a high school prom queen and to reclaim her former beau, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Although it is not without its funny moments, Young Adult is hardly a pleasant film. Yet it is a compelling and instructive one . . . Continue Reading »
It is common these days to read the Bible as an anti-imperial epic, the story of God and Israel, then (for Christians) God and Jesus, against empire. “Come out, come out from Babylon, my people!” is the theme. It’s a hard sell for all sorts of reasons. Jeremiah urges the people of Judah to enter not exit Babylon (Jeremiah 27, 29). Isaiah invests Cyrus the Persian conqueror with Davidic titles—he is the Lord’s “servant” and “shepherd” and “anointed one” (Isaiah 44-45). . . . Continue Reading »
