We continue what be began in our last number, a three-part study of spiritual childhood by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (1877-1964).
St. Teresa of the Child Jesus reminds us that the principal virtues of the child of God are those in which are reproduced in an eminent degree the innate qualities of the child, minus his defects. Consequently the way of spiritual childhood will teach us to be supernaturally ourselves minus our defects.
Brother Thomas Mary wrote an article many years ago that deserves wider circulation and attention. It’s called, simply, “Doctrinal Summary” — an accurate name, as the piece summarizes Father Feeney’s doctrinal stance, but a too modest name to arouse readers’ attention. Please consider this an invitation to read Brother …
(This is dedicated to Heidi Beirich, director of “research” at the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose intelligent, nuanced writing style I attempt to imitate.)
The radical mercenary leftist fundraisers at the Southern Poverty Law Center are busily spewing out their trademark caterwauling again. Yes, the enemies of free speech and Christian social order are howling about the frenzied maniacs ready to escort Adolf Hitler himself down Main Street, U.S.A.
MERRIMACK, N.H. (TMC Press Release) – The Virginia-based Young America’s Foundation recently recommended the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as one of the nation’s top conservative colleges in its sixth annual “Top Conservative Colleges” list.
Commenting on the list, Young America’s Foundation President Ron Robinson explained, “Given the liberal bias in higher education today, it is critical that we make these recommendations.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
I just read on the New Advent website the Catholic Encyclopedia’s excellent account of the life of Erin’s great apostle. I would highly recommend it if you can spare fifteen minutes today. I can’t think of anything I’ve read elsewhere over the years about the saint that …
That’s the motion that was debated last week in London, at an event hosted by the Spectator and held at the Royal Geographical Society. And guess what — “the 700-strong sell-out audience voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion”!
Excerpt from The Catholic Herald:
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, author Piers Paul Read and Dom Anthony Sutch, former headmaster of Downside, spoke for the motion.
Anime cartoons and their characters are a huge cultic phenomenon, the most popular of all escapist media venues. It is very addictive and very dangerous, to the soul and the mind. I don’t post weird stories, but this blog by Zoe Romanowski from Inside Catholic, along with another, even …
One of the commentators on the relevant CWN article expressed it well: “It’s past time someone said this. Too often ecumenism is taken to mean the weakening of the teachings of the Church and the addition of non-Catholic ritual and beliefs.” A-m-e-n-!
Past time is better than no time — or, “better late than never.” All the scandal that has transpired, and is ongoing, in the name of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue should cease at these words of Cardinal Levada defining its purpose (or “final cause” to you Aristotelians out there): “Union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism.”
Our 2010 conference will be held on October 8 and 9 at Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire.
The information currently available is as follows:
Theme: “The Romance of Wisdom”
Cost: $100 for both days (Friday and Saturday). This includes meals. Single days without meals: $40.
Note: This year, Friday and Saturday will both be full days. There will be eight speakers giving presentations in addition to the master of ceremonies, our Prior, Brother Andre Marie.
Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, apostolic nuncio to Japan, has a very perceptive insight into the subversive effects Buddhist doctrine has on the soul of a suffering devotee confronting hopelessness. From Sandro Magister’s latest column: “Why Life is Worth So Little in Prosperous Japan.”
“The Japanese do not have a personal …
[March 5, 2010 - Rome Reports (with hat tip to Rorate Caeli)]
Benedict XVI has formed a commission to investigate if Our Lady truly appeared in Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia.
The commission is part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Cardinal Camillo Ruini will preside over the commission. Ruini is the pope’s former vicar of Rome’s diocese. Ruini goal will be to explain to the pope what’s happening at the sanctuary which has become the third most visited in Europe.
Allegedly, at least 6 people have witnessed the Virgins apparitions there since 1981.
Over at Taki’s Magazine, Charles Coulombe playfully takes readers on a fast-paced romp through the unfamiliar (for most people) political spectrum of what is called “Paleoconservatism.” His article, The Old Paleos and the New, seeks to explain the contrasts and often bizarre alliances within this recently-coined label.
Kirkians, Burkeans, the descendants of the Old Right, Monarchists, Strict-Constructionists (like Birchers), devotees of Richard M. Weaver, and even certain Libertarians — all these find a home under the Paleo umbrella. Many of the leading thinkers within Paleoconservatism are Catholics, and their commitment to the Catholic-influenced political traditions of the West underlies their paleoconnery. (For a glimpse of Paleoconservatives in action, take a look at Chronicles Magazine, which has many Catholic contributors.)
As Coulombe points out, this alliance can be defined largely by what its constituents oppose: the big government, jingoism, globe-trotting war mongering, globalism, and multiculturalism embraced by the neocon. Beyond that, there is a lot of diversity within the very loose movement. Sad to say it, many who lay hold to the name appear to be craving for an identity — just as they are obsessed with labels — and are willing to embrace the most bankrupt of philosophies and call it “conservative.” I’ve even heard of some in the movement who profess to be Nietzscheans, which begs the question: what on earth are they “conserving”?
In fact, that is the big question for all “conservatives.”
Catholics should want to conserve a society which honors the rights of God first, protects the family, reflects the heavenly hierarchy that the rest of creation mirrors, and makes its citizens’ salvation more attainable than it would otherwise be. In short, the Catholic wants to preserve the rights of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, wherever and however those might be preserved. Some of the authors and movements I’ve mentioned here (and others, like the Southern Agrarians, and, more explicitly, the Distributists) share certain ideals which are conducive to the Social Reign of Our Lord. Those ideals ought to be promoted.
If we wish to conserve America, we must give her the Kingship of Christ. Only He saves: not political parties, not constitutions, not movements based on merely human wisdom — no, not even the human wisdom of the Founding Fathers. But since politics — the art and science of governing society — is necessary, let the apostle of Christ the King embrace whatever is good and noble in these various schools of thought, and scuttle whatever lacks conformity to the Church’s social teaching.
After all, we are not ideologues, but disciples.
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This article, by the great American Catholic writer Orestes Brownson, illustrates how only the, presumably, pre-Vatican II Catholic Faith is up to the task of preserving popular liberty. http://terrenceberres.com/bro-cat.html
Tim,
It may edify you to know that Russell Kirk, whom I mentioned in the column, is a convert. I’m not sure that he converted because of Brownson’s influence, but he was profoundly impressed with Brownson’s political writings.
This probably helped in his conversion.
Deo gracias!