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February 7, 2018

Note from the Assistant Managing Editor:

Our lineup this week satisfies a variety of interests from suffering to education to the Church in China, but I will mention two specifically.

First is Jordan Peterson's talk for PragerU, "Fix Yourself" (the youtube video of this talk can be seen at the bottom of the transcript).  "I have learned," he says, "that there are two fundamental attitudes toward life and its sorrows.  Those with the first attitude blame the world.  Those with the second ask what they could do differently."  (I listened to his talk then went and ordered his book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.)

Then Anthony Esolen writes an excellent piece on Jérôme Lejeune, a French physician and scientist, whose discovery of the cause of Down Syndrome spurred him to seek a cure while others sought methods to "not allow a pregnancy to continue."  But those who kill to spare suffering do not make "progress in science.  It was the one 'who could not accept the thought of giving up, when confronted with sickness, suffering, and death.'" See "The Least of These."

Winston Churchill said, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.  Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy....We have only to persevere to conquer." - Meaghen Hale



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"I have found a desire within myself that no experience in this world can satisfy; the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." - C.S. Lewis



New Resources


 
The Blessings of Family - Pope Benedict XVI - from an address on the occasion of the fifth world meeting of families.

The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love.


 
Fix Yourself - Jordan Peterson - Prager University

Blaming others for your problems is a complete waste of time.


 
The Least of These - Anthony Esolen - Magnificat

Some years ago, when I was in the midst of an intellectual and spiritual abyss, I was visiting the family of one of my students, in the Georgetown area of the nation's capital.


 
Introduction: The Image of God That Isn't True - Ulrich Lehner - from God Is Not Nice: Rejecting Pop Culture Theology and Discovering the God Worth Living For

Stripping away the niceties with a sling blade, Ulrich Lehner shows that God is more strange and beautiful than we imagine, and wants to know and transform us in the most intimate way.


 
After Great Pain, Where Is God? - Peter Wehner - New York Times

These days I find I'm more alert to the grief and sorrow around me than I once was.


 
Vaclav Havel's politics of encounter - Emina Melonic - The New Criterion

It has become fashionable to give name to the cultural age in which we currently find ourselves.


 
What have I learned in a community college? - Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas - Catholic World Report

A Latin proverb informs us: "Discimus docendo" (We learn by teaching). What have I learned these past five semesters while teaching at a local community college? That the teachers' unions have gotten away with academic murder.


 
The China Syndrome - Robert Royal - The Catholic Thing

In several decades of living in Washington, D.C., I've met my share of scamps and scalawags, fabulists and outright liars.


 
Millennials - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

As a demographic cohort, "Millennials" are the last generation to have been born in the twentieth century.

Editorials of Interest:

Despite Gratitude to Holy See, Major Archbishop Shevchuk Says Declaration With Russian Patriarchate Does Not Function - ZENIT
On the Size of the Universe - The Catholic Thing
How to Trust Your Feelings - The Catholic Thing
Poverty's Greatest Foe - Values & Capitalism

Editorials of Interest


In Memoriam: Germain Grisez, Great Defender of Humanae Vitae (1929-2018) - National Catholic Register

The Christian ethics professor, called 'a towering figure in contemporary Catholic thinking about morality,' died Feb. 1 at the age of 88.


The Catholic Church doesn't do "paradigm shifts" - Catholic World Report

Because the pastoral implementation of Amoris Laetitia mandated in some places differs from other places, the Catholic Church is beginning to resemble the Anglican Communion (itself the product of a traumatic "paradigm shift" that cost John Fisher and Thomas More their heads).


Romantic Thoughts for Ash Wednesday - Ignitum Today

Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day reminds us that suffering is the touchstone of love, that the point of penance is not to perform arduous feats of self-denial but to love God and others better, and that with love, suffering is turned into joy.


Despite Gratitude to Holy See, Major Archbishop Shevchuk Says Declaration With Russian Patriarchate Does Not Function - ZENIT

The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church says the war in Ukraine is the "greatest humanitarian catastrophe" since World War II.


On the Size of the Universe - The Catholic Thing

In the end, it will turn out that all civilizations are confronted with the same issue. Are they the cause of their own existence, or were they all included in the initial plan that brought anything into existence?


Science Is Giving the Pro-Life Movement a Boost - The Atlantic

Advocates are tracking new developments in neonatal research and technology — and transforming one of America's most contentious debates.


Need to awaken your soul for Lent? Here's the devotion that will do it - Aleteia

The day before Ash Wednesday is a feast day you might not know about.


Catholics aren't obsessed with sex — they are obsessed with life - Catholic World Report

There seems little doubt, at this point, that 2018 is going to witness yet another great clash over Paul VI's encyclical — arguably one of the most contested and disputed papal texts in modern history.


A Brief Story About the Need for Prudence - Community in Mission

Prudence is the virtue that bids us, in each situation, to keep in mind our deeper call and final goal.


How to Trust Your Feelings - The Catholic Thing

Feelings can be important, because they often tell us something about ourselves and/or the world. But feelings can also be a delusion.


When wanting to believe is the best we can do - Aleteia

Time does not heal all wounds; for some, time simply runs out.


Jordan Peterson is a prophet — and a problem for progressives - Catholic World Report

Peterson understands how ideology shapes culture — and that enrages his harshest critics.


The Philosophical Contradictions of the Transgender Worldview - Public Discourse

The thinking of transgender activists is inherently confused and filled with internal contradictions. Activists never acknowledge those contradictions. Instead, they opportunistically rely on whichever claim is useful at any given moment.


Transgenderism: Mutilating the Reproductive Function - Crisis Magazine

The human body is an integrated organism designed to work in a particular way. Faux organs do not have a reproductive function. They are "genitals" that do not generate. "Transitioned" persons are sterile.


Poverty's Greatest Foe - Values & Capitalism

By overwhelming margins, free markets and private enterprise have enabled more people to escape poverty than any system in the history of the world.


Why more Catholic schools are looking to minimize screen time - Catholic World Report

New research has begun highlighting the detrimental impacts of excessive screen time, particularly on developing brains and on education, sparking concerns among educators and parents.


How to Talk to Your Kids About Sex in a Sex-Obsessed Culture - NC Register

Parents have more influence than they realize.


How do I communicate boundaries with the man I'm dating? - The Culture Project

With all of the fear that can come from losing his interest, be affirmed, you are worth a man that would stop at nothing to make sacrifices out of love for you.


Interview: Jim Caviezel Goes Back to the Bible in 'Paul, Apostle of Christ' - NC Register

The Passion of the Christ actor talks about the challenges of playing iconic roles and why good movies aren't always family-friendly.


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

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