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CERC WEEKLY UPDATE - July 2, 2009 NEW RESOURCES EDITORIALS OF INTEREST EDUCATION MATTERS Note from the Managing Editor:
As Pope Paul VI instructed us in last week's update, "Error makes it's way because truth is not taught, we must teach the truth." And when that truth is taught, it surely helps if the form the truth takes is itself beautiful. That's why I was doubly delighted to begin reading The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to Western Civilization, by Anthony Esolen. Esolen presents the truth in a compelling and accessible manner. His book is gracefully written. Russell Hittinger, the William K. Warren professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa, has this to say on the back cover:
Our Virgil's book has been favourably received, though some have criticized its author for writing what amounts to "an apologetic for Roman Catholicism". Well, yes, he has certainly done that, but necessarily so, since the Roman Catholic Church figures so centrally in the largely unknown story he tells. You will be happy to have Esolen's book on your bookshelf. You can read the preface and a short excerpt below. - J. Fraser Field This CERC Weekly Update is also available on our web site here.
• Papal Programming - Catholic TV • The Blessings of A Catholic Classical Education - Catholic Exchange • Religious Liberty Stops at the Schoolhouse Door - Catholic Exchange • Muslim School Holidays? - The New York Times • Can you talk yourself into feeling loveable? - Family Edge • Back to the Dating Drawing Board - NCRegister • Patterns: Drinking Age Affects Bingeing, to a Point - New York Times • Modern Love - The New York Times • Disney world ‘too heterosexual’ for children’s good - Family Edge • New study reveals innate gender differences between boys and girls - Inside Catholic Preface - Anthony Esolen - from The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to Western Civilization The other side has the mainstream media, the Ivy League, the political classes, and a lot more money. Thankfully, on our side, we've got thousands of years of history and some pretty big guns -- with names like Aristotle, Augustine, Burke, and Eliot.
The Early Church: How Christians elevated culture - Anthony Esolen - excerpt from chapter four of The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to Western Civilization What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change?
Many Catholics just don’t know what to say when someone asks them whether they are saved.
Eight years ago today, a famous American philosopher died who had lived as a Catholic the last year of his life.
May 31 was the 200th anniversary of Franz Joseph Haydn's death in 1809 at the age of 77.
"Harder to kill than a vampire." That is what the sociologist Joel Best calls a bad statistic. But, as I have discovered over the years, among false statistics the hardest of all to slay are those promoted by feminist professors.
The relation of language to thought has long been a philosophical puzzle, one to which no universally accepted answer has yet been given.
Gran Torino Works - Jordan Ballor - Acton PowerBlog Clint Eastwood’s 2008 project Gran Torino has recently been released on DVD, and what a delight it is.
'Lines that divide' - Charles Colson - Breakpoint A new documentary shows why we need to "stem" the tide of embryo-destructive stem-cell research.
Imagine - Robert Royal - The Catholic Thing Imagine, if you will, just as a thought experiment, a nation that for two generations has been forming almost all its children in state-run schools.
Papal Programming - Catholic TV CatholicTV currently has the video of the Pallium Mass celebrated June 29 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Pope to POTUS: "Thank You"? - Whispers In a normal year, today's feast of Saints Peter and Paul would be the Vatican's "last hurrah" before the summer exodus.  Per "Caritas," Six Days' Notice - Whispers This morning, the Holy See announced next Tuesday, 7 July, as the release date for B16's social encyclical "Caritas in Veritate."
Bone Fragments Found in Tomb Are Paul's - Reuters The first-ever scientific test on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seems to confirm" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.
Fragile Tanzanian Orphans Get Help After Mothers Die - New York Times The Berega Orphanage, a cluster of neat stucco cottages in this village of red dirt roads and maize plots, is a far cry from what the name suggests.
Heartless - Slate The disturbing glee at Mark Sanford's downfall.
Beware the Christians! - Pajamas Media People who think the religious right are just like Iranian mullahs are just like Iranian mullahs.
Christians Can Save Islam - AsiaNews.it A Jesuit priest explains how Christians may help Islam avoid cultural suicide.
Black Church Opposes Gay Marriage - Washington Times A number of black church leaders resent the comparison of gay marriage to the civil rights movement.
Michael Jackson and Saint Guinefort - First Things blog The death and veneration of Michael Jackson reminds me of my favorite medieval saint: Saint Guinefort.
Hotlanta: "Grain Once Scattered"... Now a Juggernaut - Whispers Suffice it to say, the fruit is considerable — in the heart of the Bible Belt, the North Georgia Church has seen a more than fivefold increase in membership over the last two decades
'Stonewalling' by Obama - NCRegister President Barack Obama implicitly endorsed the entire homosexual agenda in the remarks he made yesterday.
A Tale of Two Prizes - Jerusalem Post Norway is honoring a Nobel Prize winner who supported Nazism, but strangely neglecting Sigrid Undset, an anti-Nazi activist, the first woman to win the prize, and a Catholic.
Veiled threats: row over Islamic dress opens bitter divisions in France - Guardian In the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, with its busy market, fast-food joints and bargain clothes shops, Angelica Winterstein only goes out once a week – and only if she really has to.
Mexico City Policy Fallout - NCRegister Speaking to Vatican Radio, our Latin America correspondent Alejandro Bermúdez recently outlined some of the evil consequences of President Barack Obama’s cancellation of the Mexico City Policy.
Miracle in Kansas - The Wichita Eagle The case for the sainthood of a Servant of God, Fr. Emil Kapaun, may be supported by the remarkable recovery of an injured athlete.
Atheist Summer Camps? - London Telegraph An atheist worries about what will happen to children at atheist summer camps.
A Different Strategy for the Hearings -NRO Let Sotomayor talk — and get on the record what Dems don’t want explained about the law.
"Totally Alone" - Inside the Vatican A talk with two former members of the Society of St. Pius X who are seeking a home in the Church. A bit more on the upcoming encyclical. A note about Pope Pius XII. Plus, Suor Giovanna retires...
Doctor tells how Neda Soltan was shot dead by Ahmadinejad's basij - Times They were a few brief minutes that Arash Hejazi will never forget, that have changed his life for ever.
The Pauline Chapel Restored - Examiner Less famous than the Sistine Chapel, it was also decorated by Michelangelo—the great artist’s last murals.
Catholic iPhone Apps - YouTube A brief video ad showing some of the many Catholic-related applications available for the iPhone.
Enrollment down, scores up - New York Post In New York City's schools, Catholic students “trounce” all others in math and reading.
The Blessings of A Catholic Classical Education - Catholic Exchange Classical schools take for their model the kind of education that formed great men such as Benjamin Franklin and William Shakespeare.
Religious Liberty Stops at the Schoolhouse Door - Catholic Exchange In public school classrooms across the country, religious liberty is under assault.
Muslim School Holidays? - The New York Times New York's City Council votes to recognize two Muslim holidays in public schools.
Can you talk yourself into feeling loveable? - Family Edge One of the most influential ideas of the twentieth century was summed
Back to the Dating Drawing Board - NCRegister Gina Zaccagnini laughs at the thought of her first date. She was in high school. Her little brother had to come along to the movie.
Patterns: Drinking Age Affects Bingeing, to a Point - New York Times A new study finds that as the drinking age has gone up, binge drinking has gone down — except among college students.
Modern Love - The New York Times In America, passion and its discontents may not be exactly what they seem.
Disney world ‘too heterosexual’ for children’s good - Family Edge Two sociologists have come up with a novel reason for fretting about kids’ exposure to media: the risk of seeing heterosexuality as normal and desirable.
New study reveals innate gender differences between boys and girls - Inside Catholic A new study by researchers at Texas A&M University suggests that little boys are hardwired to prefer toy trucks, while girls have innate preferences for dolls -- and all of this apart from social conditioning.
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