Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog

"Terrapin" recommended as a "compelling mystery novel" and an "exceedingly complex tale"

Mary McWay Seaman reviews T. M. Doran's novel, Terrapin: A Mystery  (Ignatius Press, 2012) for New Oxford Review:

A careful reading of this compelling mystery novel uncovers bounteous symbolism and multiple cryptic allusionssurrounding a long-hidden crime and several adolescent indiscretions. That said, readers should steel themselves early on against urges to overanalyze events in this exceedingly complex tale. The temptation to “find” themes quickly or to identify culprits is tricky as T.M. Doran’s intricate thriller, Terrapin, braids common strands from four men’s pasts to underscore the point that no one emerges wholly unscathed from the vicissitudes of youthful villainy. The long-dormant villainy in this case explodes unexpectedly into the four perpetrators’ lives during their sports-weekend reunion in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Aficionados of suspense fiction will appreciate the book’s surreal plot, its brisk pace, and its snappy repartee.

And:

Doran’s prose proclaims that mortals drag their childhoods with them through life’s long fight, and that each generation inhabits its own culture within the same country. Be that as it may, the novel’s unimaginable ending demonstrates that fraudulent intellectual and moral gymnastics in any culture are no match for the ongoing, unmitigated ramifications of malice on perpetrators and victims alike, ramifications that play forward in ways seen and unseen, whether or not they are ever acknowledged.

Read the entire review on the NOR website.

For more about the novel, or to purchases it, visit the Ignatus Press site, or go to  the Terrapin book site to view a trailer, read excerpts, download a free short story, and learn more about Doran and his writing.

Last September, CWR interviewed Doran about his writing:

CWR: Who are some of the authors and thinkers who have influenced you the most?

Doran: As to literature, Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O'Connor, J.R.R. Tolkien, and T.S. Eliot, writers and poets who wrote from a Catholic perspective rather than writing explicitly Catholic novels. I read a variety of writers: Jane Austen, Dostoevsky, Patrick O'Brian, Thornton Wilder, Oscar Wilde, Dickens, Richard Adams, and I have learned something about the craft of writing from every one of them. I enjoy mystery stories, especially the golden age puzzle-plot stories from the 1920s through the 1940s. Some of my favorite mystery authors are G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, J.D. Carr (the locked room master), Rex Stout, and the early Ellery Queen mysteries that featured pure "ratiocination". I enjoy P.D. James, who is still writing.

I have been an avid reader of history and biography for decades, which helped immensely when I was composing Toward the Gleam

Thinkers who have influenced me include Blessed John Paul II (especially "Faith and Reason" and "The Splendor of the Truth"), Edith Stein (her journey from phenomenology to the convent), Kurt Goedel (his ideas about time and space), G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis and Frank Sheed (their accessible apologetics), Blaise Pascal (reason in the light of faith), William F. Buckley (conservatism based on first principles and natural law), and Augustine and Aquinas (a little at a time). I have a four-volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy on my bookshelf, to which I refer quite often. I've always had a fascination with competing ideas.

Read the entire interview.

Ecumenism and Canon Law

Ecumenism and Canon Law | R. Michael Dunnigan | CWR

Thoughts on Cardinal DiNardo's recent decision to allow the Methodist ordination of a woman in the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, recently permitted the United Methodist Church to celebrate an ordination service at the Catholic Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston. This event has set in motion a wave of criticism on orthodox Catholic blogs and websites. The criticism generally has focused on the fact that the Catholic Church does not recognize the validity of Methodist ordinations, and the fact that the presiding Methodist bishop was a woman. The prevailing critiques also charge Cardinal Di Nardo with the sin of scandal. However, the commentary to date has included little discussion of the law of the Church.

A follower of the vigorous criticism directed against Cardinal DiNardo might be surprised to learn that the cardinal’s decision enjoys relatively strong support in canon law. I do not mean that the law commands the accommodation that Cardinal DiNardo made for the Methodists, but rather that it provides him with ample discretion to make such a decision. Although the primary purpose of churches and cathedrals is for Catholic worship, canon 1210 makes allowance for some other uses of sacred places as well.

What other uses are permissible? Such uses must be only occasional, and they must not be opposed to the holiness of the place (cf. can. 1210). An example of an activity that would be contrary to the holiness of a church would be a political rally. By contrast, a legitimate other activity that might occasionally be held in a church would be a historical lecture.

Does a Methodist liturgy qualify as a legitimate other use of the Catholic cathedral? Canon 1210 itself does not directly answer this question, but the breadth of its language seems to allow any occasional use that is not contrary to the sacredness of the place. Moreover, in the 1993 Ecumenical Directory, the Holy See says outright that it sometimes is permissible for a non-Catholic liturgy to take place in a Catholic church.

Many Catholics will be surprised to learn this.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

"Pacem in Terris" at 50

Pacem in Terris at 50 | J. J. Ziegler | CWR

Written in the midst of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War, John XXIII’s landmark encyclical contains important messages for our world today.

On April 11, 1963, The Beverly Hillbillies was the top television show in the United States, works by J. D. Salinger and John Steinbeck topped the fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists, and the lead headline in the New York Times was “Atom Submarine with 129 Lost in Depths 220 Miles Off Boston; Oil Slick Seen Near Site of Dive.” The Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine” was the nation’s most popular song; It Happened at the World’s Fair, starring Elvis Presley, was the most popular movie. And Blessed John XXIII issued Pacem in Terris (“Peace on Earth”), the first papal encyclical addressed not only to the Catholic faithful, but also to all men of good will.

“By addressing an encyclical on peace to all men of good will, John XXIII was not merely being good Pope John,” says Mary Ann Glendon, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. “He was insisting that the responsibility for setting conditions for peace does not just belong to the great and powerful of the world—it belongs to each and every one of us. That’s crystal clear in the closing paragraphs where he says, ‘There is an immense task incumbent on all men of good will’—the task ‘of bringing about true peace in the order established by God.’ It’s ‘an imperative of duty; a requirement of love.’”

Blessed John wrote his encyclical letter de pace omnium gentium in veritate, iustitia, caritate, libertate constituenda, according to the encyclical’s Latin title—“about establishing the peace of all nations in truth, justice, charity, liberty,” or as the phrase is more loosely rendered in the most popular English version, “on establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity, and liberty.” The official Latin version appears in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (beginning on page 257); the Vatican website’s Latin version contains additional notes and at least one Latin error that did not appear in the original. The official version contains five untitled sections with unnumbered paragraphs.

The Italian version contained section titles, subsections, and subsection titles where none exist in the official Latin text. The translator of the most popular English version, which originally appeared in the publication The Pope Speaks, incorporated these Italian additions, while the translator of another English version, found here, did not. This latter English translation has the advantage of adhering more closely to the Latin in the body of the encyclical; unfortunately, it does not retain the original division into five sections, thus making the encyclical appear less structured than it is really is.

Reaction and influence

Pacem in Terris is an extended reflection on the moral order. “The Creator of the world has imprinted in man’s heart an order which his conscience reveals to him and enjoins him to obey,” the pontiff wrote (no. 5), explaining:

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Star Trek: There and Back Again

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto star in a scene from the movie "Star Trek Into Darkness."

Star Trek: There and Back Again | Nick Olszyk | Catholic World Report

A Review of Star Trek Into Darkness

MPAA Rating, PG-13
USCCB Rating, A-III
Reel Rating: (3 Reels out of 5)

If you’re not in on the joke, Star Trek Into Darkness is a lot of fun. If you’re in on the joke, it’s even more. The film’s greatest strength lies in the fact that it’s essentially a flashy remake of a classic episode from the original series but with clever twists and turns that throws the story in a new and exciting direction. Yet even apart from its predecessors, this is a thrilling popcorn film designed to enthrall audiences with 3D special effects, witty dialogue, and poorly researched scientific explosions in space all with a cast of overly attractive actors. However, if you reach beneath the popcorn kernels at the bottom of the bucket, you will find that Into Darkness has remembered the central moral principles that made Gene Roddenberry’s original vision compelling: life is an objective good, love requires sacrifice, and the law was made for man, not man for the law.

The story begins in a volcano, which is always a good place to start. Spock is attempting to deactivate it from the inside to save a primate civilization without being seen by the natives. When the plan goes awry, Kirk and the Enterprise swoop in to save him, breaking their cover in spectacular fashion. This whole adventure is a direct violation Starfleet’s Prime Directive, the guiding principle of non-intervention. Kirk would never hesitate to break the rules to rescue a friend; Spock would have gladly died to preserve order. This moral dynamic is at the center of the Star Trek universe. For Kirk, life is a universal moral that supersedes artificial laws, even if this means discomfort to the larger group. For Spock, the “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

As the film progresses, these philosophies are tested beyond what either of them could have dreamed. An act of terrorism sends the Enterprise deep into Klingon space where they are commanded to disobey the law by executing remotely rather than capturing the fugitive John Harrison. Now motivated by personal revenge, Kirk is more than willing to comply, even firing one of his closest friends who dares to challenge the mission’s motives. The audience suspects that not everything is what it seems; the clever Star Trek fan will begin to pick up clues the moment Kirk is given exactly seventy-two secret torpedoes. When the fugitive is finally confronted and revealed, well…it’s difficult to describe, but let’s say it left a big grin on my face for the rest of the movie.

This Star Trek adventure is both new and old, forward thinking and nostalgic.

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Priests of the Domestic Church: A Father's Day Homily

 

Priests of the Domestic Church: A Father's Day Homily | Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers | Ignatius Insight 

In the days before global positioning systems, Mapquest, and Google Earth, men were stereotyped as reluctant to ask for directions. You know the scene: a couple is driving somewhere and, unable to find their destination, the wife turns to her husband and says, "Honey, maybe we should stop and ask for directions." The husband, dismayed that his wife would dare challenge his sense of direction, stubbornly says, "I know where I'm going!" This would go on and on until they eventually found the place or fell so far behind schedule that they would have no choice but to stop at the nearest gas station for directions. 

Thanks to modern technology, those days are gone forever! In this day and age it's virtually impossible to get lost. However, a GPS may be able to get you from Portland to Chicago; Mapquest may be able to get you to your favorite downtown restaurant; Google Earth may show you the best route from New York to Australia but no amount of technology in the world will get you from earth to heaven! 

What Jesus says in the Gospel is true of many men today: we are "troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd." [1] When a man would rather spend time looking at pornography or "hanging out with the fellas" than have any meaningful relationship with his wife and children, he is lost. When a man approaches dating as a conquest, where the primary goal is to "hit it and quit it," he is lost. When a man becomes wealthy at the expense of the poor, he is lost. When a man under the influence of drugs or alcohol beats his wife, passing on a legacy of violence and abuse to his children, he is lost. 

Just as Jesus called laborers into the field to reap an abundant harvest of souls, He calls husbands and fathers who are lost to use the navigational tools of prayer, forgiveness, and mercy to find our way back to our Father in heaven. Just as Jesus called men to the priesthood to serve His Bride the Church, the same Jesus calls men through baptism to be priests of the domestic church, the church of the home. A husband and father should exercise his priestly ministry through "the offering he makes of himself and his daily activities." [2] This offering should be united to Christ's offering in the Eucharist "for their work, prayers, and apostolic endeavors, their ordinary married and family life, their daily labor, their mental and physical relaxation, if carried on in the spirit--and even the hardships of life, if patiently borne--all of these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." [3] The main job of the priest is to offer sacrifice, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should lead fathers to intimate and personal relationship with God, uniting him so closely to Christ that the Eucharist becomes the very soul and center of his spiritual and family life. 

"Be a Dad!" by Fr. Larry Richards

 

"Be a Dad!" | Fr. Larry Richards | Adapted and excerpted from Be a Man! Becoming the Man God Created You to Be | Ignatius Insight 

You are going to die!

It doesn't matter how rich we are, or how popular we are, or how powerful we are: we are all going to "kick the bucket" one day. Isn't that a nice thought?

What we have to do is take some time to sit and meditate about taking our last breath. What do you want your wife to say about you? What do you want your kids to say about you? Once you've decided, "Okay, when I am taking my last breath this is what I want", you can start living your life with your end goal in mind. You will start living in such a way that when the day of your death happens, the people who know you will say what you want them to say.

Death is the ultimate thing that takes control out of our hands. Even if we commit suicide, we cannot control what happens after we die. Not one of us had control over our own birth and not one of us has control of what happens after we die.

I have been to a lot of deathbeds throughout my priesthood, so I know what it is going to be like when you are dying. While you are lying there, the thing that is going to be most important to you is your relationships—the people that you loved and the people that in return loved you.

Then why don't we live every day with that in mind? Make the decision to never let your wife or your kids go to bed or walk out the door without telling them first that you love them—life is just too short! It will change your family. It will change the world.

Sinners, Prophets, and the Business of Heaven

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, June 16, 2013 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:

2 Sm 12:7-10, 13
Ps 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11
Gal 2:16, 19-21
Lk 7:36—8:3 or 7:36-50

What did the most famous king in the Old Testament and a poor, anonymous woman in the Gospels have in common? They were both sinners. They were both in need of forgiveness. And they both knew it.

King David’s sin is as well-known as the woman’s sin in today’s Gospel reading is unknown. David, having witnessed the beauty of the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s loyal warriors, arranged to have Uriah put on the front lines of battle, where he was killed. It was the darkest moment of David’s often magnificent and noble life, and the king finally confessed to the prophet Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” In the Psalm written after Nathan had confronted him about his murderous actions, the repentant David wrote, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. … Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance” (Psa. 51:10, 14).

David’s life and sin were chronicled in great detail, by others and by himself. His remorse was expressed with poetic poignancy by his own pen. It is quite a contrast to the sinful woman who came to the house of the Pharisee where Jesus was invited to dine. Her name is not given, her sins are not described or listed, and if she uttered any words, they are not recorded. She may have been a prostitute; whatever the case, her sins were apparently public and well-known. 

These various facts and details are not of primary concern to Luke the Evangelist because he is intent on revealing Christ’s mercy, love, and power to forgive sins. “You perceive,” wrote St. Peter Chrysologus about this particular story, “that Christ came to the Pharisee’s table not to be filled with food for the body but to carry on the business of heaven while he was in the flesh.” 

A significant amount of this business of heaven was worked out within the earthly context of Jesus’ ongoing debates and confrontations with the Pharisees. The host, the Pharisee Simon, was concerned with judging—was Jesus a true prophet?—which is why Jesus asked him a question that required his judgment as a Pharisee, an interpreter of the Law. Simon, in judging rightly the answer to Jesus’ question, rendered judgment upon his own actions, or lack of actions. The problem was that Simon, like many of the Pharisees, was fixated on the letter of law, while failing to love the Giver of the law.

Put another way, Simon had asked Jesus into his home in order to judge Jesus, while the sinful woman sought out Jesus in order to kiss and anoint his feet. The Pharisee wished to stand face to face with the Incarnate Word in stubborn wariness; the woman desired only to worship at his feet in a silent act of vulnerable love. She did not have to give verbal expression to her sorrow and repentance for her actions spoke louder than words. Her sins, Jesus said, were forgiven “because she has shown great love” and because of her faith: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

We are not saved by faith alone but, as the Apostle Paul told the Galatians, who were being tempted to embrace a form of Pharisaism: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). Faith, James emphasized, is dead without works—and those works are animated by charity and oriented toward God and neighbor (James 2:8-18). 

“To err human,” wrote Alexander Pope, “to forgive divine.” That is the essential message of today’s readings, which unflinchingly point out man’s sinful ways while rejoicing in God’s merciful ways. All of us—famous kings and unnamed women and everyone between—are sinners, and Christ died for us so that we, as Paul writes, can be crucified with Christ and thus truly live by faith and love.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the June 13, 2010, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.) 

Appearances and interviews by Mother Dolores Hart, OSB, author of "The Ear of the Heart"

The Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows keeps garnering positive reviews as Mother Dolores Hart, OSB, continues to give print, radio, and television interviews. Here are some recent pieces about the book and Mother Hart.

• Mother Dolores was interviewed by Raymond Arroyo on the June 6th edition of EWTN's "The World Over" (the interview begins at about the 41:00 mark).

• "Mother Dolores Hart has a new book out" (June 7), by WJLA, ABC News’ Washington, D.C., affiliate.

• Sister Rose Pacatte’s “Sr. Rose at the Movies” blog on Patheos announced that "The Daughters of St. Paul in Culver City and Catholics in Media are sponsoring a book signing event with Mother Dolores Hart, OSB, on Saturday, June 29, 2013 at their bookstore, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd, 90230." Visit her blog for more details.

 • Nell Minow has an interview with Mother Dolores on her "Movie Mom" blog on Beliefnet. "The experience of living in a monastic community allows you to see that every single moment is all you’ve got.”

• The Christian Post included “The Ear of the Heart” on its Book Stop summer reading list, writing, "You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate how faith kept Hart from falling prey to the violence and alcohol addiction that plagued her home and led her to sacrifice future fame."

• The Anchoress, Elizabeth Scalia, posted her two-part Q-and-A with Mother Dolores, "All love relationships don't end at the altar!" and "A Chanting Coffin-Maker: Mother Dolores & the Gift of Agape".

•  Catholic News Service uploaded its video interview with Mother Dolores Hart to YouTube.

• Catholic News service posted a story, "For Mother Dolores Hart, it's time for her close-up -- again", on June 10th. Several Catholic newspapers ran the story, including Catholic Philly (Archdiocese of Philadelphia), The Catholic Sentinel (Archdiocese of Portland), The Tablet (Diocese of Brooklyn), The Dialog (Diocese of Wilmington), and The Catholic Sun (Diocese of Phoenix).

• "At Home With Jim and Joy” on EWTN Radio posted its interview with Mother Dolores Hart. The interview begins at approximately at 10:20.

• “The Bishop’s Radio Hour” on Immaculate Heart Radio posted its interview with Mother Dolores Hart. The interview begins at approximately 44:20.

• Business Wire reports that Mother Hart will be appearing at Elvis Week 2013 to be held at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn., the week of August 10-17. She will be one of the guests interviewed for "Conversations on Elvis", "one of the most popular Elvis Week events," which will be held on Wednesday, August 14, at 1:00 p.m. at the Elvis Week Main Stage. Following Conversations, Mother Dolores will be signing copies of her book, The Ear of the Heart.

Related articles

Mother Dolores Hart on discerning her vocation, leaving Hollywood, learning Latin, loving chant

Mother Dolores Hart, former Hollywood starlet, stopping here on book signing tour

Mother Dolores Hart book-signing event June 29, 2013 Culver City

The nun who kissed Elvis, Dolores Hart, finally decides to talk

The Nun who kissed Elvis: From Hollywood to holy vows

Fighting the Culture of Death, One Katie At a Time

Fighting the Culture of Death, One Katie At a Time | Michael Coren | CWR

As Belgium and other countries embrace euthanasia for children, Catholics must stand up for the most vulnerable among us.

Belgium is a troubled country on any number of levels. Its unity has been tenuous for decades, it is increasingly challenged by an Islamic immigrant community that rejects European virtues, and just like its neighbor, Holland, it is clumsily eager to embrace the latest in eugenics and social engineering. Only last month the Belgian Federal Parliament seriously considered legalizing euthanasia for children and it now appears it is “about to expand its controversial ‘right to die’ policies to include access to euthanasia for some gravely ill children.”

Don’t be shocked. I have debated “assisted suicide” zealots who believe that if depressed teenagers want to take their own lives—and, tragically, many teens travel that bumpy road of despair at some troubled point—they should be empowered by the state to do so. Poor old Belgium, once so faithful and brave.

I mention this because I have, I suppose, a particular insight into how terrifying euthanasia can be and into the vulnerability of those who it especially horrifies.

Let me introduce you to Katie, who is what society describes as “handicapped”. She was born several months premature and spent a long time in hospital. She came home accompanied by a nursing team, to a house wired for oxygen. It’s ironic, in that the same hospital advised Katie’s mother to abort her because there were likely, they said, to be “complications.”

I know all this because her mother is my sister, and Katie is my niece.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

G.K. Chesterton Book Collection Giveaway

Today is the 77th anniversary of the death of G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), and in honor of the great author, Brandon Vogt and Ignatius Press are going to give away five Chesterton classics and collections. From Brandon's site:

Thanks to the good folks at Ignatius Press, the primary publisher of Chesterton's works today, I'm devoting this week's giveaway to the life and legacy of G.K. Chesterton. One reader will receive FIVE books by and about the Apostle of Common Sense.

The books are:

Go to Brandon's site to find out how to participate and possibly win the five books.

China’s Modern Martyrs: From Mao to Now

China’s Modern Martyrs: From Mao to Now | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | Catholic World Report

The untold story of the Communist destruction of the Our Lady of Consolation Trappist Abbey at Yangjiaping in 1947

Part 1, Accusations

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” John 1:10

I have just returned from another year in China where I have witnessed the Church grow. I have seen churches struggle to accommodate the crowds who come for Holy Mass, and I have listened to countless stories of Christian suffering under China’s Communist rule. Over the years I have traveled with, worshipped with, and prayed with Chinese Catholics. Priests have risked their safety to meet me at secluded places, accompany me on peasant-filled busses to remote places of Catholic martyrdom, and send me surreptitious messages about the continued suppression, suffering, and humiliation that China’s Catholics endure every day.

I once sat across from a crippled underground bishop, his spine permanently stooped over from 20 years of torture in a Communist prison because he refused to denounce the pope. The bishop’s eyes beamed with joy, despite his distorted face, and he said over and over, “Thank you, Lord.” At such times, when I am with holy Chinese Catholics who have suffered tortures for their faith, I recall the famous line from St. Augustine: “God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.” This holy bishop, Hu Daguo (1920-2011), was divinely connected to the suffering Son for whom he too had suffered.

For nearly a decade I have preserved testimonies, handwritten accounts, and archival documents that outline how China’s Church has suffered under its Communist authorities, and in the following series I will highlight some of those stories, stories that will help Catholics better understand China’s modern martyrs, from Mao to now.

Looking ahead: His Excellency, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin 馬達欽主教

While most Westerners hear only of China’s “economic miracle” and its appalling persecution of Tibetan Buddhists, few news sources or university courses discuss the government’s consistent maltreatment and discrimination against Catholic Christians.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Why do some Catholic schools require students to read lousy, vulgar books?

by Carl E. Olson | CWR blog

A reader recently sent an e-mail which opened with this question: "Has St. Ignatius High School never heard of Ignatius Press?"

The institution in question is a Jesuit preparatory school in Cleveland, Ohio. I know very little about it (I'm told that tuition is around $11,000 a year), but I see that the school's website features the following quote:

"The purpose of our education is to give a young man the tools whereby he can answer the question What does God want from me?" -- Rev. Robert J. Welsh, S.J., '54

Very nice. But, having read the school's required summer reading list, I wonder, "Does God really want teenagers to be reading books filled with numerous vulgarities, sexually-explicit language and references, and perspectives that are amoral and hedonistic?"

For example, the novel, The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, which is required summer reading for "English I" and "Honors English I", contains the following passage, uttered by the book's central character, Junior, a teenage boy growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation (warning: sexual language):

I spend hours in the bathroom with a magazine that has one thousand pictures of naked movie stars:

    Naked woman + right hand = happy happy joy joy

Yep, that’s right, I admit that I masturbate.

I’m proud of it.

I’m good at it.

I’m ambidextrous.

If there were a Professional Masturbators League, I’d get drafted number one and make millions of dollars.

And maybe you’re thinking, “Well, you really shouldn’t be talking about masturbation in public.”

Well, tough, I’m going to talk about it because EVERYBODY does it. And EVERYBODY likes it.
And if God hadn’t wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs.

Yeah, yeah, I get it: this is real teen talk written to engage teens who live in the real world and who want tough, straight, honest fiction that takes on controversial and difficult topics. That's the usual line trotted out in defense of such overrated pieces of fiction. Junior also expresses his anger at God and Jesus (after the death of his grandmother's death) by doodling cartoons that are stupid at best and certainly offensive. There is also the dubious revelation that Indians, according to Junior, used to be supporters of gay marriage--until their open-mindedness was corrupted:

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

The Anticlerical Pope

Pope Francis greets Slovenia's Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek during a private audience at the Vatican June 13. (CNS photo/Maria Grazia Picciarella, pool)

The Anticlerical Pope | Russell Shaw | CWR blog

Is Pope Francis our first anticlerical pope? Technically speaking, he isn't--his two predecessors also were more or less critical of clericalism--but he is well on his way to being the most outspoken one.

Consider a widely circulated quote from a 2011 interview he gave while he was still Cardinal Bergoglio of Buenos Aires. In case you haven't seen it or have forgotten it, the key passage goes like this:

"As I have said before, there is a problem: the temptation to clericalism. We priests tend to clericalize the laity. We do not realize it, but it is as if we infect them with our own thing. And the laity--not all but many--ask us on their knees to clericalize them, because it is more comfortable to be an altar boy than the protagonist of a lay path….

"The layman is a layman and has to live as a layman with the strength of his baptism, which enables him to be a leaven of the love of God in society…not from his pulpit but from his everyday life. And the priest--let the priest carry the cross of the priest, since God gave him a broad enough shoulder for this."

These are strong, bracing words. But besides the words, Francis's manner and lifestyle--unpretentious, simple, direct--constitute a kind of living repudiation of certain clericalist conventions. (Lest there be any doubt--many other good priests also speak and live this way.)

The essence of clericalism in the sense in which Pope Francis (and I) use the word is a way of thinking that takes for granted that the clerical vocation and state in life are both superior to and normative for all other Christian vocations and states.

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

What’s Love Got To Do With it? Lessons in Love from William Shakespeare

What’s Love Got To Do With it? Lessons in Love from William Shakespeare | Joseph Pearce | CWR

The sobering lesson of Romeo and Juliet falls today on deaf modern ears

Oh what’s love got to do, got to do with it,
What’s love but a second-hand emotion;
What’s love got to do, got to do with it,
Who needs a heart
When a heart can be broken.

— Tina Turner

Love is a smoke rais’d with the fume of sighs;
Being purg’d, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;
Being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with loving tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet...
I have lost myself; I am not here:
This is not Romeo, he’s some other where.

— Romeo

… if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black …
Come, night; come, Romeo …
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

— Juliet

What is love? For Tina Turner it’s an emotion, second-hand and second-rate. For Romeo, it’s mere madness; something sweet and bitter on which we choke; something that makes us lose ourselves and our senses. For Juliet it’s a blindness that makes us prefer the darkness to the light.

For John Lennon, it’s all we need.... 

All we need is love, love, love is all we need; all we need is tawdry emotion and the bitter-sweet madness that makes us blind to everything except the darkness of the Night. If this is love, it can go to Hell. Indeed, if this is love it’s already going there.

But is this love?

For St. Paul, love is the greatest of all the virtues. For Christ, the two great commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor. On the deepest theological level, God is love. God and Love are One. It is ironic, therefore, that Jesus Christ and John Lennon are in apparent agreement. Love is all we need.

The problem is that John Lennon does not mean the same thing as Jesus Christ when he speaks of love. For Lennon and his legion of admirers, love is about doing our own thing; it’s about marching to our own drum. In other words, it’s ultimately self-centered. It’s about me and not the other. For Christ, love is about laying down our lives for our friends—and for our enemies. It’s ultimately selfless and self-sacrificial. It’s about the other and not me. In short, and to put the matter bluntly, the “love” that Lennon espouses is the very opposite of the love that Christ practices and preaches.

This primal difference between the two loves—one true, the other false—is at the heart of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Related articles

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told?

"It's awesome": Creative Minority Report praises new Joseph Pearce book

New: "Shakespeare on Love" on Joseph Pearce

New: "Popieluszko: Freedom is Within Us"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Popieluszko: Freedom is Within Us

• DVD | 149 minutes

The stirring, powerful true story of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, the courageous young priest martyr who became the chaplain and spiritual leader of the large trade union in Poland, Solidarity, in the 1980s. At 37 yrs. old, Fr. Popiełuszko was brutally murdered by Communist agents for his outspoken defense of his people, and proclaiming the teachings of the Church on human rights and the dignity of the human person.

An ordinary young priest in many ways, Fr. Jerzy had a dynamic personality, a deep prayer life, and a strong empathy for the persecution and sufferings of the workers and trade unionists, especially when Martial Law was declared in 1981. He was a beacon of hope in those dark days and his message of truth was devoured by the Polish people after 40 years of oppression. Thousands came from all over Poland to hear him speak and every month the crowds grew, bringing the Secret Police closer to his door.

He was harassed, threatened, and imprisoned, but he would not be silenced. His friends suggested that he leave Poland for his own safety but he replied "my place is with the people" and "I am ready for anything." On October 19, 1984, three Communist agents kidnapped Father Jerzy and he was viciously beaten, bound, and thrown into the Vistula River. A priest greatly revered by the Polish nation, over 700,000 attended his funeral, and a national shrine at his grave in front of his parish church in Warsaw is visited by a million people yearly. He was beatified in 2010.

Bonus Extras:

• 16 page Companion Collector's Booklet
• "Behind the Scenes" film on making of movie (30 minutes)
• "Victors Never Die"- Special documentary on Fr. Popieluszko (50 minutes)

Boy Scouts, “Bigotry” and the Catholic Culture Wars

Boy Scouts, “Bigotry” and the Catholic Culture Wars | Anne Hendershott | Catholic World Report

The progressive group, Catholic United, tries to smear a priest who cuts ties with the BSA

The decision by the Boy Scouts to include self-identified gay scout members has opened a new front in the Catholic culture wars as progressive Catholic organizations are denouncing the decision by a Bremerton, Washington, Catholic priest to cut parish ties with the Scouts following the release of their new policy. Calling the priest’s decision “bigoted” and “bullying,” James Salt, the leader of the progressive organization, Catholics United has organized an online petition asking Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain to “help bring healing to innocent kids and hurting souls who deserve better than bullying.”

On May 26^th, Fr. Derek Lappe, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, posted a letter addressed to his parishioners on the parish website which criticized the Boy Scout’s decision.  In his letter, Fr. Lappe advised parishioners of his intention to “part ways” with the Boy Scouts: “I do not feel it is possible for us to live out and to teach the authentic truth about human sexuality within the confines of the Boy Scout’s new policy.”  

In his letter, Fr. Lappe questioned the new Boy Scout policy, which he believes is based on the idea that same sex attraction is genetic and unchangeable. He stated:

For many years we have seen headlines that proclaim a genetic origin for homosexuality. Various groups in concert with a willing media have tried to convince people that being “gay” is a genetically defined trait, as if being sexually attracted to a person of the same sex is no different an expression of DNA than one’s height or the color of one’s skin. The reality however, is that there is nothing scientific or logical in such a position.

But, Fr. Lappe wrotes “The genesis of same-sex attraction is much more complicated.” He referred to Catholic Medical Association’s 2000 document, Homosexuality and Hope, and its many references to scholarly research studies supporting the opposing view that there may be sociological and psychological factors to same sex attraction. Concluding that the genesis of same sex attraction is “much more complicated” than those promoting a genetic origin for homosexuality, Fr. Lappe said that his parish would no longer participate in  “offering a program of ratifying a label of gay which the young man has placed on himself and which so many elements of society also are happy to place on him.”
 
Fr. Lappe was accurately portraying Catholic teachings on homosexuality. But, in an angry statement posted on the Catholics United website on May 31st by James Salt, their Executive Director, the Catholic Church was attacked as a “harbor for bigotry and shaming.”

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Pope Francis reflects on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, mercy, and love

The Holy Father's Angelus address (text from Vatican Radio):

Dear brothers and sisters!

The month of June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the highest human expression of divine love. Just this past Friday, in fact, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: the feast that sets the tone for the whole month. Popular piety highly prizes symbols, and the Heart of Jesus is the ultimate symbol of God's mercy – but it is not an imaginary symbol, it is a real symbol, which represents the center, the source from which salvation for all humanity gushed forth.

In the Gospels we find several references to the Heart of Jesus, for example, in the passage where Christ says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. (Mt 11:28-29)” Then there is the key story of the death of Christ according to John. This evangelist in fact testifies to what he saw on Calvary: that a soldier, when Jesus was already dead, pierced his side with a spear, and from the wound flowed blood and water (cf. Jn 19.33-34). John recognized in that – apparently random – sign, the fulfillment of prophecies: from the heart of Jesus, the Lamb slain on the cross, flow forgiveness and life for all men.

Review: Dr. Hitchock's "HIstory of the Catholic Church" is "a unique joy."

Over on Fr. Dwight Longenecker's "Standing on My Head" blog, Christian LeBlanc had penned a guest book review of Dr. James Hitchcock's book, History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium (which is also available in Electronic Book Format):

Last week I started reading James Hitchcock’s History of the Catholic Church. It’s subtitled From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium. It thinks big. But it’s only…wait for it…500 pages long, 4 years per page! Just kidding: it’s 500 pages, and it takes the small-essay concept of Europe’s capsules; and expands it into an entire history. In other words, what one normally expects in a history book, pages of narrative, is replaced by a timeline stream of digestible individual articles. I was joking about 4 years per page, but the articles are about 4 to the page. For example in the “Reform and Counter-Reform” chapter, p. 297 lists these: Protestant Divisions, The Tridentine Spirit, The Baroque, and Patrons. They may be read as freestanding articles; but they’re arranged to lead from one to the next, and cohere over the span of the chapter into a comprehensive understanding of the whole period.

History is a unique joy. Pick an era, browse the subtitles in the margins. Stop on one that strikes you. Read that article for a couple of minutes. Proceed to the next one, or jump to another page. History is less of a braid, running from top to bottom; and more of a long tapestry, going back and forth as well as up and down. And like Barron’s Catholicism, each few minutes of information has been carefully edited into a self-contained little essay, a thought capsule, to use Europe’s term. For example, I just read Hitchcock’s capsule on Fr. Damien of Molokai. 230 words don’t just tell us why he matters, but draw an empathetic portrait of the saint that unexpectedly pricks my heart, as Chaucer would say. Like Catholicism, in History every second, every word counts, sometimes movingly so.

The structure of the book aside, History’s content reflects the mind of the Church. That is, it covers what matters to the Church, and how the Church matters to the World; and does so from a Catholic perspective. That’s not to say the book isn’t critical of the Church, it is; but its critiques are orthodox.

Read the entire review. For more about Dr. Hitchcock's book, visit its page at www.Ignatius.com. Also read the book's Introduction on the Catholic World Report site.

Discernment and Communion

Discernment and Communion | Fr. Bryce Sibley | Homiletic & Pastoral Review

If young people want to properly discern a vocation, they need an expert to help guide them.

Several years ago I had a discussion with a young man about his discerning a possible vocation to the priesthood. During our conversation, this young man confidently told me that, having already completed his discernment, he was certain that he was called neither to priesthood nor to celibacy. I asked him how exactly he had arrived at this conclusion. He explained that he had prayed about it for a while, made a weekend retreat, and after that he knew with certainty that God wanted him to get married. I then asked whether he had sought counsel during discernment process—with a priest, religious, or trusted spiritual advisor? His answer was that there was no one. He had discerned he was not called to priesthood or religious life all by himself.

I know that this young man is not unique in his solitary vocational discernment. It’s something of which I have seen a fair amount over the years—young people who decide that they ought to discern a call to priesthood or the consecrated life, and then come to the conclusion about their vocation without having discussed it with anyone. While I admire the apparent willingness to discern a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life, young people should know that honest and authentic vocational discernment can never be done alone. There is one main reason for this: no vocation in the Church is “private.”  Thus, proper vocational discernment always has a communal and ecclesial dimension. If young people come to me and say that they have discerned that they were not called to celibacy without any assistance or guidance, I usually tell them to go back to square one with the discernment process. Quite possibly they have arrived at the right conclusion, but the way in which they got there was faulty.

There are several reasons why discernment in isolation should be avoided.

Continue reading at www.HPRweb.com.

The Christian Filmmaker and Bringing Faith to the Big Screen

The Christian Filmmaker and Bringing Faith to the Big Screen | Jim Graves | CWR

Dean Wright, director of For Greater Glory, discusses being a Christian in Hollywood and his new project, Kingdom Come.

Dean Wright, director of the 2012 film For Greater Glory, made his first movie as a boy attending grammar school in Scottsdale, Arizona. He did it for a school project, and received an “A” for his efforts. He was immediately drawn to the process of telling stories on film, and knew that moviemaking would be his life’s work.

He attended film school at the University of Arizona and began his career making movies in the Tucson desert, typically Westerns. He re-located to southern California, and has since worked in visual effects on big budget Hollywood films such as Titanic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He was also an executive in charge of special effects for Disney. While working on the third Lord of the Rings film,The Return of the King, he had the opportunity to do second unit directing (without principal actors). For Greater Glory, which told the story of Mexico’s Cristero War in the 1920s, was Wright’s debut as director.

In a recent interview with CWR, Wright reflected on the success of For Greater Glory, working as a Christian in Hollywood, and plans for Kingdom Come, a special effects film telling the story of the public ministry of Jesus Christ.

CWR: What is life like in the film industry? Is it stressful? Demanding?

Wright: Yes, it’s both on multiple levels. You have to find work and feed your family; sometimes you have jobs that take you away from home for a long time. And, there are many pressures when you’re working on projects. [Laughing] I think you have to be crazy to do it.

Most people can make a decent salary as a member of a film crew, but no one gets rich doing it. You also risk being out of work for two or three months at a time. People working in television, for example, have periods of down time and there is no guarantee that they’ll get work again. You get used to saving as much money as you can when you’re working to cover your expenses when you’re not. You may read stories about this or that Hollywood celebrity making lavish amounts of money and buying expensive homes and cars, but that’s not most of us. We’re hard-working people raising families.

CWR: How did you get the opportunity to direct For Greater Glory?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Arguing Well by Avoiding the Genetic Fallacy

Arguing Well by Avoiding the Genetic Fallacy | Mark P. Shea | CWR

Fixating on who uttered an idea or argument can distract us from whether or not it is true or false.

It is often said that faith (and, if comes to that, culture) is “caught, not taught.”  A massive amount of what we believe most deeply comes to us, not from engagement in abstract arguments about ethics, philosophy, or theology, but from somebody we love.  Indeed, the inadequacy of the mere intellect against the volcanic forces of the heart is a well-known principle we all understand in practice.  As C.S. Lewis said:

No justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism. I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite skeptical about ethics, but bred to believe that “a gentleman does not cheat,” than against an irreproachable moral philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers.

We are social animals and our habit of imprinting on somebody we trust, of forming tribal bonds, of having faith in those we love and distrust of those we dislike is an enormously powerful feature built-in at the baby factory.  Before you ever learn about abstract ethics at school, you know in your bones that you’d trust your Uncle George with your life, that the Hatfields are dirty lying cheats that decent people don’t trust as far they can throw them, that Mama has never lied to you and that Father Malone may be a gruff old coot but he’s a saint and the salt of the earth.  We learn what we love and hate in very large measure from the fact that people we love find certain things lovable and other things loathsome.

Those people, by the way, need not be real.  Fictional characters from Mr. Micawber to Innocent Smith to Frodo Baggins to Captain Kirk can be deep taproots of moral formation for us.  Ronald Moore, a writer who created the Battlestar Galactica reboot, remarks that in growing up watching Star Trek, he deeply internalized the conviction that Kirk, Bones, and Spock were simply what decent people look like as they go about meeting and overcoming challenges.  Similarly, I sometimes tell people that about 95 percent of my Catholic moral formation came, not from the Catechism or from homilies or teachings on doctrine, but from two hugely important sources that I think every parent should steep their children in: Twilight Zone re-runs and The Lord of the Rings.  Both deeply ingrained in my bones the conviction that however tempting it may be, nothing good can come of doing evil in order to try to achieve some good and that faithfulness in the face of such temptation is rewarded.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

"It's awesome": Creative Minority Report praises new Joseph Pearce book

From Matthew Archbold on his Creative Minority Report site, in praise of Joseph Pearce's new book, Shakespeare on Love: Seeing the Catholic Presence in Romeo and Juliet (Ignatius Press, 2013):

I've never written a book but I imagine it's pretty hard work and then to see some dopey blogger critiquing it by saying he liked it but (insert any old dumb complaint here,) just seems nasty. So I'm telling you all this to tell you that I don't write reviews with "buts." Either I'm all in or I'm silent. So here's my but-less review of Joseph Pearce's "Shakespeare on Love:"

It's awesome. I feel smart for having read it and that takes a lot for a guy like me. I've read Romeo and Juliet a few times and always felt that there was something missing from the interpretations I've read. I mean, I always knew that Shakespeare wasn't holding them up as models of great love. But Joseph Pearce brilliantly points out what I've been missing. Heck, not only me but pretty much most modern interpretations of the play.

The book doesn't go into a lot of rigmarole trying to prove Shakespeare's Catholicism because Pearce already did that in previous books. So if you're willing to assume Shakespeare was at least a fairly serious Catholic (which you should) then Pearce's most recent work takes that into his analysis of the play.

And I hate even saying "analysis" of the play because that sounds all high falutin and stuff. This book is brilliant but it's not stuffy. It doesn't sound like Pearce was covered in tweed and smoking a pipe as he wrote it. He may have been for all I know. It just doesn't sound like it.

Read the entire review. You can also read the Prologue to the book  on Insight Scoop. 

Pope Francis focuses on environment, creation, relationships, "culture of waste"

A combination of pictures shows Pope Francis catching a rosary thrown by someone in the crowd as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican June 5, 2013. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters) (June 5, 2013)

Here is a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis:

Catechesis

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today I want to focus on the issue of the environment, which I have already spoken of on several occasions. Today we also mark World Environment Day, sponsored by the United Nations, which sends a strong reminder of the need to eliminate the waste and disposal of food.

When we talk about the environment, about creation, my thoughts turn to the first pages of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, which states that God placed man and woman on earth to cultivate and care for it (cf. 2:15). And the question comes to my mind: What does cultivating and caring for the earth mean? Are we truly cultivating and caring for creation? Or are we exploiting and neglecting it? The verb "to cultivate" reminds me of the care that the farmer has for his land so that it bear fruit, and it is shared: how much attention, passion and dedication! Cultivating and caring for creation is God’s indication given to each one of us not only at the beginning of history; it is part of His project; it means nurturing the world with responsibility and transforming it into a garden, a habitable place for everyone. Benedict XVI recalled several times that this task entrusted to us by God the Creator requires us to grasp the rhythm and logic of creation. But we are often driven by pride of domination, of possessions, manipulation, of exploitation; we do not “care” for it, we do not respect it, we do not consider it as a free gift that we must care for. We are losing the attitude of wonder, contemplation, listening to creation; thus we are no longer able to read what Benedict XVI calls "the rhythm of the love story of God and man." Why does this happen? Why do we think and live in a horizontal manner, we have moved away from God, we no longer read His signs.

A Sure Guide to St. Augustine’s Thought and Theology

A Sure Guide to St. Augustine’s Thought and Theology | Jared Ortiz | Catholic World Report

A review of Matthew Levering’s new book, The Theology of Augustine: An Introductory Guide to His Most Important Works

It is often said that Augustine is the most “modern” of all the Church Fathers.  Whatever one means by “modern,” it is certainly true that Augustine still speaks to us today, even though he is separated from us by 16 centuries.  When, for example, Augustine speaks about our restless hearts or when he relates how he prayed to receive chastity and continence, “but not yet,” we know that this is a man of deep feeling who has “been there,” and we know we can trust him. Augustine the sinner, the searcher, the convert who doesn’t settle for easy answers—this is a man who speaks to our experience. 

Lover of beauty

Perhaps Augustine resonates so much with us today because he was a profound lover: he loved women, he loved his friends, he loved wisdom, and, finally, he channeled this love toward God.  The mature Augustine prays,

Continue reading on the CWR site.

The Idea of a Catholic Society

The Idea of a Catholic Society | James Kalb | Catholic World Report

What would it mean for society and its institutions, including government, to become Catholic?

At the close of the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI noted that the Council had displayed an unparalleled desire “to know, to draw near to, to understand, to penetrate, serve and evangelize the society in which she lives.” That desire reflected a constant goal of the Church, to make her message effective by bringing it to men where they are. Modern man had become centered on himself, so perhaps the Church could reach him, and start the process that would eventually bring him to God, by joining in the concerns and movements of the day. 

It’s been a bumpy ride, and some have suggested course corrections. The journey is not over, though, and to the extent the Church does reach and persuade people, they will become closer to her. As men are, so are their institutions, so ultimate success of the Second Vatican Council would mean that society and its institutions become Catholic. That should be no surprise, since the Council reaffirmed “traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.”

But what would it mean for society and its institutions, including government, to become Catholic? The idea seems silly and wrong to many people. However things may have seemed fifty or a hundred years ago, it now seems ridiculous to speak of such a thing. Here in the West we’re losing whatever public influence we once had, and if we manage to stay legal while retaining our doctrines and something of our way of life we’ll be doing well for ourselves.

Beyond such immediate practicalities, many people have raised basic objections to the idea of a Catholic society. All societies are unjust, they say, so no society can be Christian. If a society claims to be Christian, then Christianity and power become entangled and Christianity becomes corrupted. Also, not everyone is Catholic, and that situation won’t change, so a Catholic public order would unjustly force a particular religion on those who disagree with it. And past societies that have called themselves Catholic have put most of their efforts into other and less lofty goals. So the idea is impractical, tyrannical, and hypocritical by its very nature. The Constantinian idea of a Catholic empire was a bad one, and good riddance to it.

Continue reading on the CWR site.