Make a Donation
November 11, 2015

Note from the Managing Editor:

An American Cardinal: The Biography of Cardinal Timothy Dolan was published last year by St. Martin's Griffin.

It's an entertaining read, successfully relaying the infectious joy and colour of the Cardinal Archbishop of New York.  Our feature this week is an excerpt from the preface of that book.

Roger Scruton is piercing as he explains "Why people shouldn't feel the need to censor themselves" to his many readers and listeners at BBC News and to us.

There's no such thing as a trial marriage asserts George Sim Johnston.  And in "The Co-Habitation Trap" he makes his case.  Even if it's hard, it's better not to live together before you tie the knot. - J. Fraser Field



Web version of this CERC Weekly Update here
Previous CERC Weekly Update here
Subscribe/unsubscribe here
Visit the CERC website at www.catholiceducation.org

"I leaf through the ancient philosophers and find my newest discoveries there." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn



New Resources


 
The Saints as Constellations - Pope Benedict XVI - from The Spirit of the Liturgy

In addition to the sun, which is the image of Christ, there is the moon.


 
Preface - Christina Boyle - An American Cardinal: The biography of Cardinal Timothy Dolan

Cardinal Timothy Dolan came bounding down the stairs of his Madison Avenue residence wearing black pants with suspenders and a gray polo shirt.


 
Why people shouldn't feel the need to censor themselves - Roger Scruton - BBC News

Any discussion of free speech needs to deal with two important issues — jokes and race.


 
The Co-Habitation Trap - George Sim Johnston - The Catholic Thing

There's no such thing as a trial marriage.


 
The Church, Mater Dramatis: How the Church has changed the world - Anthony Esolen - Magnificat

"Senor Carpenter," calls a man wearing the cord of a lay Franciscan, "have you heard what I want you to make?"


 
Unmanly Men in Flannery O'Connor's Short Stories - Mitchell Kalpakgian - Crisis

Many of O'Connor's stories portray the ineptness of men to uphold traditional ideals of manhood.


 
The Speaker and the social doctrine - George Weigel - The Catholic Difference

Now one of the key figures on the national stage, Paul Ryan brings to the Speaker's rostrum a statesman's commitment to the principles of Catholic social doctrine and a keen sense of the politically possible.


 
Insuppressible prophecy - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

An astute professor once said that political wrangling in universities is so vicious because the stakes are so small.

Editorials of Interest:

The great exorcism boom - Catholic Herald
Suffering Shame - Patheos
The Gift of Singleness - Spiritual Friendship
Watching Liberalism Flail - The Navel Observatory
The Concern of a Canine - The Cinch Review

Editorials of Interest


Pope Francis Condemns Attacks on Israel as Anti-Semitic - The Forward

"There may be political disagreements between governments and on political issues, but the State of Israel has every right to exist in safety and prosperity."


Vatican Scandal: Two Arrests Made After Leak of Confidential Documents - NC Register

Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui, two former members of a Vatican economic commission, are charged with stealing and leaking information.


Cardinal Collins addresses 1700 guests at 36th Cardinal's Dinner - Archdiocese of Toronto

There is no reason that the struggles we face should overwhelm us with fear. They are an occasion for joyful hope, but only if we resolutely advance against them and, most importantly, offer life giving alternatives.


The great exorcism boom - Catholic Herald

From Manila to Mexico City Catholic priests are leading a new and sometimes spectacular crusade against demonic possession.


The State Department Turns Its Back on Syrian Christians and Other Non-Muslim Refugees - National Review

The gross underrepresentation of the non-Muslim communities in the numbers of Syrian refugees into the US is reflected year after year in the State Department's public records.


Can Bad Catholic Music be stopped? - Catholic Herald

When Benedict XVI was in his prime choirmasters quietly reintroduced chant and polyphony to Catholic parishes. But it may have been too little too late.


Do You Love Your Pessimism? Then You Will Never Know Joy - Aleteia

Don't miss out on joy just because you're so enthralled to the negativity you serve far too much in life.


People who think Jesus didn't exist are seriously confused - Catholic Herald

Forty percent of British people think Jesus never really existed — a terrible indictment on their ability to understand history and evidence that 40% of us cannot distinguish between history and myth, historical personages and fictional characters.


Suffering Shame - Patheos

Depression isn't something you can see from the outside, and neither is financial hardship.


The Gift of Singleness - Spiritual Friendship

Singleness is a gift, it is a good gift, and it should be savoured.


There's More to Life Than Being Happy - The Atlantic

Being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself — be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is.


Two Years Among the Liberal Theologians - CWR

All believing Catholics who seek to understand what it is they believe are Catholic theologians, which means that Ross Douthat is a Catholic theologian.


Watching Liberalism Flail - The Navel Observatory

Activism that looks for problematic content like gendered language and unsafe imagery is a way for privileged people to reassure themselves that they are doing good, even while they in no way adjust the balance of political and economic power in our society.


Hi God, I Don't Love You - Aleteia

I needed to know for sure whether God existed. So I did what every sane miscreant trying to disprove God does; I went to Mass.


Saint Peter Damian, "Gomorrah," and Today's Moral Crisis - CWR

An interview with Matthew Cullinan Hoffman about his new translation of a treatise against sodomy, pederasty, and clerical corruption penned nearly a thousand years ago by a great reformer and Doctor of the Church.


The Tangled Cultural Roots of Dungeons & Dragons - NY Times

For creator Gary Gygax, war games offered not just a dreamy retreat from the real world, but a prism through which to examine it. It is a perspective that seems increasingly prescient as the line between the virtual and the actual continues to blur.


The Concern of a Canine - The Cinch Revier

Billie never considers whether she has "time" to express concern or not; neither does she consider whether anyone will be embarrassed by her concern, least of all herself.


After Scientology, Leah Remini Says She Has Found "Amazing" Comfort in Catholic Church - Aleteia

The former King of Queens actress spoke about her conversion in an interview with Howard Stern.


Christsploitation: Hollywood gives thanks for the new wave of faith movies - The Guardian

Today, if you're not making blockbuster spectacles, you're typically not making theatrical profits — unless you let Jesus take the wheel.


The Room that is the World - Fare Forward

We tend not to recognize when our neighbor is struggling until their pain and suffering boils over and breaks the surface; for many of us, our own burdens seem like enough to bear.


Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman and
St. Justin Martyr, pray for us

Subscribe / Unsubscribe
Copyright © 2015 Catholic Education Resource Center