It may not be long before “Ladies and Gentlemen” ceases to start a speech, as the result of blurring the distinction between man and gentleman, and woman and lady. We may not hear at banquets, “Gentlemen, charge your glasses,” or understand the Victorian-era ballad: “My mother was a lady like yours, you will allow.” Putting…
As a psychosis, “self-mutilation syndrome” is rooted in self-loathing and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Whole cultures can be afflicted with a similar compulsion to injure themselves. Nowadays it is called a “cancel culture.” To topple statues and burn churches is a metaphor for self-loathing rather than reason. In their modern aesthetic recklessness, nations begin to disdain what Matthew…
The coronavirus pandemic has forced us all to rethink our daily lives. From the personal to the professional to the spiritual, the habits and rituals that we have come to rely on have been upended. It’s been difficult, to say the least. But it’s also a good time for us to ask: How can we…
When viewing the events of recent weeks I think most Americans share the common heartbreak, anger and confusion of a mugging victim. We have been violently assaulted by some thugs and something precious has been wrenched from us. Our mugging was not a one-time crime on the streets of Chicago or New York during which…
It is hard for an old man like me to talk about suffering. Most people I know, including me, are in charge of our lives. No matter the losses and illnesses, we still have access to care, to security, and a decent life. Suffering is not a real part of my world. Just how far…
Tied to my garden by a number of convalescing’s that have ganged up on me, I have been thinking of some words that we chew over a lot in religious settings. Words we use to pinpoint events, or human experiences. And one of them is conversion. Sounds very special—something that does not go in, in…
July waves Old Glory and Le Tricolore. Jacques-Louis David based the French flag on the cockade of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had been urged to help the American colonists by the Duke of Gloucester, in a funk because his brother, King George III, disapproved of his marriage. At least there was no Reign of Terror…
There’s nothing like sitting outside on the 4th of July, the birthday of the United States, listening to great patriotic music and hearing a new Lee Greenwood song. Yes, I missed watching the traditional parade due to Covid-19 concerns, but I find myself thinking of all the blessings that my family and I enjoy; things…
Stalin, killer of at least 20 million people, said “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” In mid-nineteenth-century China, the civil war known as the Taiping Rebellion cost upwards of 30 million lives. The feast of Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his 119 companions, on July 9, is a reminder…
I am happy, and even relieved, to be able to let you all know that we will again be open for Masses this weekend. And we will be celebrating the 4th of July. Open, but very Carefully Open. Which should go without saying. But when you are dealing with a lethal epidemic nothing goes without…
As the local churches gradually open again, one is reminded of the persistence of Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, president of the College of William and Mary, ringing the school bell during seven years of closure after the Civil War. It is yet to be seen how many return to our churches after the quarantine, but the…
June 27, 2020
BOOK REVIEW: The Reinvented Leader: Five Critical Steps to Becoming Your Best, by Chuck Bolton (Paperback)
In The Reinvented Leader, author Chuck Bolton shares the wisdom and tools he has developed from working with more than 1,000 executives and 100 top leadership teams. Like Pat Lencioni and Ram Charan, Bolton sees patterns while working across many organizations and
After the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jews relied on literacy to preserve their culture, with the Mishna as the written record of what until then had been an oral tradition of rabbinic commentaries. While functional illiteracy seems to have been common, our Lord asked his listeners at least…
As our society gradually unwinds the Covid-19 shutdowns and people reenter the public workforce, we’re seeing new government efforts to “protect” us whether we like it or not. This increasingly involves mandatory health screenings and various forms of technology-assisted “contact tracing,” including new smartphone apps to identify people who are sick or have associated with…
Robert Gould Shaw was born into an abolitionist Unitarian family in Boston in 1837. When he was ten, they settled on Staten Island. An uncle who became a Catholic priest paid for his tuition at what is now the Fordham Preparatory School. As a somewhat distracted student, Shaw never completed his studies (who does?)…
“…he is a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.” That’s how the author of Acts describes the apostle Barnabas. That simple description—a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith—stuck in my mind as I read the words. Stop for a moment. Think of your day today. This week. Your work,…
Celebration of the Most Holy Trinity follows Pentecost, because it is through the Holy Spirit that the sublime truth of God as Three in One expands the limits of human intelligence. The perfect harmony of the Triune God is like music whose sound frequency cannot be registered by unaided hearing, but it reverberates in the…
This is the fourth month of our lives being impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. We have gone from total uncertainty of the length and strength of the virus, to having some knowledge without definite assurance of the accuracy of the information. We hunkered down and did our best to find ways to usefully apply ourselves,…
In a letter Sigmund Freud wrote to his friend Edoardo Weiss on April 12, 1933, he reminisced about a visit to the Roman church of San Pietro in Vincoli: “Every day for three lonely weeks of September 1913, I stood in church in front of the statue, studying it, measuring it and drawing it until there…
In these days of closures, which must soon end, I am able to offer Mass quietly for the intentions of parishioners and others, and I often take the opportunity to use the Extraordinary Form, whose beautiful cadences end with the “Last Gospel.” This Johannine Prologue in hymnodic verse concluded the Liturgy from the earliest days…
