One of Flannery O'Connor's most famous quotes is "tenderness leads to the gas chambers". It was borrowed by Walker Percy in his novel The Thanatos Syndrome, but what did O'Connor mean by the thought and why did Percy pick up on it? Percy's novel could well be interpreted as a commentary on O'Connor's quote. The plot of [...]
Fox News has a report today on the contemporary surge of popularity in Catholic schools--especially those with a classical curriculum. Go here to read the report. We have moved our parish school over to a classical curriculum and due to this, a dynamic young Headmaster and enthusiastic staff and parents, the school is thriving. Our enrollment [...]
Assumption A long time she’d been fading. He noticed how upright and still she’d sit in her chair, gazing for silent hours through the latticed window into the late afternoon air. She ate almost nothing, spoke even less. He feared her mind and soul were wandering, but she seemed alert, listening to voices he could not [...]
Readers of this blog will be familiar with the term "moralistic, therapeutic Deism." It is a phrase coined by a pair of sociologists some time ago. I wrote about it thus in Beheading Hydra Rather than preparing souls for a better place, the utilitarians have turned the Christian religion into a method for making the world a [...]
I am aware of so many who read the news, spend too much time on social media and allow themselves to become upset over the terrible state of affairs in the church and the world. If you are one who is regularly upset, worried, fretful, dismayed, angry and concerned I would remind you of several important [...]
The other day on the internet someone posted a picture of Pope Francis being chummy with Nancy Pelosi and the person who posted the picture said, "This is the reason I am no longer a Catholic." OK. I get it. The guy is pro-Life and finds Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden (as public Catholics) nauseatingly hypocritical [...]
Here is my somewhat annual Fourth of July post. Every year I review it and add a few things and remove a few depending on my mood and the circumstances... In no particular order here is the list of stuff I love about America. Hot Dogs and Sauerkraut, Drive In Restaurants, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Five [...]
Why have faithful Catholics been so much in the forefront of the campaign to end the crime of abortion? Non Catholic Christians and non-believers and pro abortion activists should stop to consider an aspect of the Catholic faith which is unique among Christians and unique in world religions. It is the veneration of the Blessed Virgin [...]
Yesterday was the first day back on the job wearing a clerical outfit in my parish, and stopping at the supermarket to pick up a few things I was stopped by a guy in the parking lot who felt obliged to tell me a Catholic joke. Q: Did you hear the pope got bird flu? A: [...]
My two month + sabbatical and pilgrimage is now concluded and I am at home in South Carolina ready to return to the parish I left in the capable hands of Fr Richard Ballard. The adventure in Jerusalem concluded on June 1 with a flight to London where I met about 25 pilgrims for a ten [...]