Recent Comments
- Neighborhood Walk (2)
Gen X Revert: "My brother lives in Pittsburgh (Mt. Lebanon) and whenever I visit I realize how out of shape I am. Just walking the neighborhood with the large hills…"
- Gay Marriage in California (14)
Peter: "gbm3: Weekends are usually when I have the time to participate in blogs. But my office is moving this weekend and I may not have time to respond to…"
Jerry: "Well, you picked a good book to be incensed by, not a strawman. Perhaps you could write up a critique of some key part of the book in the future for…"
Peter: "Introduction to Christianity.…"
- Engaged Encounter Part I: House of God? (8)
whizkidforte: ""Sing of the Lord's Goodness" actually kinda reminds me of "Take Five" by the late, great jazz saxophonist Dave Brubeck. . . Not that that's a good…"
Ales Rarus
A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog
random thought of the moment:
It is time again to resurrect the wise and marvelous quote from Canon Sydney Smith, the great classical liberal and anti-interventionist in early nineteenth century England. When Lord Grey, the Prime Minister, was moving toward a foreign war, Sydney Smith wrote the following letter to Lady Grey, in 1832: ‘For God’s sake, do not drag me into another war! I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself. I am sorry for the Spaniards - I am sorry for the Greeks - I deplore the fate of the Jews; the people of the Sandwich Islands are groaning under the most detestable tyranny; Baghdad is oppressed, I do not like the present state of the Delta; Tibet is not comfortable. Am I to fight for all these people? The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am I to be champion of the Decalogue, and to be eternally raising fleets and armies to make all men good and happy? We have just done saving Europe, and I am afraid the consequence will be, that we shall cut each other’s throats. No war, dear Lady Grey! - No eloquence; but apathy, selfishness, common sense, arithmetic! I beseech you, secure Lord Grey’s swords and pistols, as the housekeeper did Don Quixote’s armour. If there is another war, life will not be worth having.’
— , Notes on Iran, Afghanistan, etc.
abuse
Scandal Time
Much ink has been spilled over the abuse scandals in the Church, and Father Neuhaus (editor of my favorite magazine, First Things) has so far produced the most balanced assessment of the situation. Here are the links to his ongoing "Scandal Time" editorials in the past few editions of First Things.
Scandal Time I
Scandal Time II
Scandal […]
Cleaning House
I think the most important line in this article is the following. "Even if the figure were higher, it would still likely represent less than half of 1 percent of the 46,075 priests in the United States." AP: 177 Priests Removed in 28 States
Catholic Crisis
Here's a Washington Post article related to the previous post . Catholics: Church in Midst of A 'Crisis' "A growing majority of Catholics are sharply critical of the way the Roman Catholic Church has handled instances of child abuse by priests and believe the scandal has deeply tarnished the […]
