Mark Your Calendar: UPDATED

From the Church Music Association of America: Gregorian Chant at the National Shrine, Washington, DC, September 25-26, 2009.Chant is good. I imagine this pilgrimage will be all right, too, though it’s hard to consider it perfect when it hasn’t even happened yet.[Rating: 97 out of . . . . Continue Reading »

Defeat for Assisted Suicide in the UK

The House of Lords has turned back the attempt of assisted suicide advocates to hijack an anti-suicide bill to specifically legalize suicide tourism. Baroness Campbell summarized the case for the opposition. From the story:Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, who has spinal muscular atrophy, said: . . . . Continue Reading »

Porcher Localism, Part II

So my friend Carl Scott sent me an email asking if he could contribute a reflection on the Porcher-Pomo debate that is a bit long for a normal comment on the thread below. I usually wouldn’t do this but it’s so good—especially when it criticizes ME—that . . . . Continue Reading »

First Thoughts on Caritas in Veritate, #5

In Chapter 1, paragraphs 10 through 20, Benedict takes up Paul VI’s forty-year-old encyclical letter, Populorum Progressio . George Weigel notes the long hunger among some more left-leaning Catholics to revive Paul VI’s work and pit it against the economics implied in John Paul II’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, speaking of that guy…

I’ve been good for very little lately, distracted by an upper-respiratory-tract virus that conjures new symptoms with which to persecute me every day. This afternoon I found myself turning on the TV around the time that the memorial event for Michael Jackson was getting underway. I . . . . Continue Reading »

Re: Predictions

It’s not that the media is ignoring the story , Jody, its just that there are so many more important subjects to report on. For example, according to Google the number of news stories posted between yesterday and today on Pope Benedict almost reaches two hundred (see chart below) while . . . . Continue Reading »

Predictions

Hmm. Looks like I was wrong in my prediction that the American media would ignore the new encyclical in favor of stories about President Obama’s visit with the pope. Turns out the media isn’t even waiting for the president’s trip to Rome in order to ignore the encyclical. Here’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert George on Fatherhood and Families

The website of Fathers for Good—an initiative for men by the Knights of Columbus—has posted a video of Princeton professor Robert George discussing fatherhood, marriage, and family life. Professor George also has a new article, “What Marriage Is—And What It Isn’t”, . . . . Continue Reading »