Comments on Adrienne von Speyr often rely on reading a couple of her books and von Balthasar’s partial biographies. His accounts—which are neither objective nor unbiased—are hagiographical, clearly written for a future possibility of canonization, an idea that von Speyr found laughable. Von Balthasar emphasizes her role in co-founding the lay Community of St. John and providing daily meditations for “her daughters.” But one cannot end there for any coherent understanding of von Speyr’s life. . . . Continue Reading»
The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a Christian-owned photography business couldn’t refuse to photograph a homosexual wedding. In his concurring statement, Justice Richard Bosson gives a new twist to Mill’s classic liberal distinction of between what is “private” and “public” based on harm, and instead distinguishes between what one may believe in one’s “private” life and what one must do in the market. . . . Continue Reading»
In the middle centuries of the first millennium, the Bishop of Rome celebrated the Eucharist with his people during Lent in a striking way. Each day, the pope would lead a procession of Roman clergy and laity from one church (the collecta, or gathering point) to another, the statio or “station” of that day. There, over the relics of one of the Roman Church’s martyrs, Mass was celebrated and a communal meal that broke the daylong Lenten fast followed. Over time, this annual tradition was formalized into the Roman station church pilgrimage . . . Continue Reading»
The bishops in the United States have worked very hard to make the Catholic Church the safest institution for children in the entire country. They have systematically rooted out sexual predators, suspending them from the exercise of priestly ministry. Their determination in this regard has been steadfast and their intentions should be warmly and universally applauded. . . . Continue Reading»
October was not a month of especial cooperation in the global Eastern Orthodox communion. Protesting the appointment in March of an archbishop for Qatar by the Church of Jerusalem, the Church of Antioch withdrew its participation from “all the Assemblies of Canonical Orthodox Bishops abroad.” The Antiochian Patriarchate claims sole authority over the small Gulf state though at present it has no parishes of its own there. The assemblies affected by this decision include the canonical episcopal council in North America, which counts several Antiochian bishops among its officers. . . . Continue Reading»
Amid occasional stories of success (a personal friend who had previously been unable to afford health insurance can now afford a subsidized plan in California) the disastrous launch of the Affordable Care Act has revealed itself to be life-upending disaster for millions who are discovering that—thanks to the narrowest, and thus most easily negated of “Grandfathering” provisions—policy holders who liked their insurance cannot keep their insurance. If they like their doctors and hospitals, they cannot keep their doctors and hospitals, either. . . . Continue Reading»
Benjamin Disraeli was one of the main architects of modern conservatism. He made it a successful political movement during the Victorian era. American conservatism is quite different from the English version. But we can learn from Disraeli’s success… . Continue Reading»
I do not possess the gift of healing, nor have I ever spoken in tongues—although when I was a high school student a charismatic Methodist friend of mine prayed that I would do so. Back then, in the 1960s, the charismatic renewal was still a new phenomenon in the mainline Protestant churches and virtually unheard of in the Southern Baptist Convention to which I belonged. Of course, the historic Pentecostal churches had been around since the Azusa Street revival of 1906, but the lines between them and other evangelical Christians were fairly hard and fast. . . . Continue Reading»
Among the many government shutdown stories that came over the wire in recent weeks was one about billionaire Houston philanthropists Laura and John Arnold, whose foundation gave $10 million to the National Head Start Association to keep the program for low-income children running after the shutdown forced it to close in six states… . Continue Reading»
The Washington Redskins football team is under great pressure to change its name to stop offending Native Americans. The ongoing coverage of that imbroglio got me to think about another commonly used epithet that demeans the most powerless among us, and yet remains in widespread use without attracting significant criticism… . Continue Reading»
