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September 27, 2017

Note from the Assistant Editor:

We begin this week with a reflection on the ego-shattering nature of faith, in which I become "the 'we' of the Church, one with the common 'I' of Jesus Christ."  See "Such Faith."

"Sigrid Undset, for my money, is the greatest woman novelist who ever lived," says Anthony Esolen in "Speaking the Painful Truth" — and I'm inclined to agree.  Kristin Lavransdatter is one of the most powerful novels I have ever experienced.  "The Faith," says Esolen, "gave Sigrid Undset eyes, and heart, and a pen to write words as if etched in stone by fire."

Judging moral actions does not mean condemning — but rather sharing the truth.  "Relativism hinders us from loving people" because it stops us from seeking the best for others.  See "'Don't Judge' — How to Respond When Your Relativistic Friend Quotes Jesus."

Matt Nelson gives us "Four Questions About the Bible You Should Ask Your Protestant Friends."  This passage particularly struck me: "Scripture is fully equipped in the sense that it is a closed canon and thus cannot be changed or added to.  But it is incomplete in the sense that it does not interpret itself."  Enter the Catholic Church.

A new book by Fr. James Martin has received a lot of press of late for his attempt to build a bridge between the Church and the LGBT community.  Edward Peters explains Fr.  Martin's error: "If, say, a woman who experiences same-sex attraction marries a man, their wedding enjoys the same presumption of validity that every other marriage enjoys — unless and until it is proven null for reasons other than a non-existent impediment to marriage allegedly known as 'lesbianism'.  Because no such impediment exists.  See "That's not right.  That's not even wrong."

Fr.  George Rutler pens our final piece about "The current mania for tearing down statues and stifling free speech by cultural ingénues ignorant of history and logic, which has reached a stellar absurdity in demands to censure 'The Star Spangled Banner.'" It seems that those who don't know history are doomed to destroy it.

God bless you all this week! - Meaghen Hale



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"The woman's soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold." - St. Edith Stein



New Resources


 
Such Faith - Pope Benedict XVI - The Yes of Jesus Christ: Exercises in Faith, Hope, and Love

The act of faith, we said, is a sharing in the vision of Jesus, propping oneself up on Jesus: John, who leant on Jesus' bosom, is a symbol for what faith means.


 
Speaking the Painful Truth - Anthony Esolen - Magnificat

Sigrid Undset, for my money, is the greatest woman novelist who ever lived.


 
Gender Ideology as Abuse - Matthew Hanley - The Catholic Thing

Blocking puberty is now healthcare?


 
'Don't Judge' — How to Respond When Your Relativistic Friend Quotes Jesus - Edward Sri - National Catholic Register

It's fascinating how some people who don't regularly read the Bible are quick to quote one scriptural verse back to Christians: "Don't judge" (Matthew 7:1).


 
Witness to Truth at 75 - Robert Royal - The Catholic Thing

There's another side of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) that deserves to be remembered.


 
Four Questions About the Bible You Should Ask Your Protestant Friends - Matt Nelson - Reasonable Catholic

I believe in the following Christian principle: everything the Bible tells us is true. I do not, however, believe that everything the Bible tells us is clear.


 
That's not right. That's not even wrong. - Edward N. Peters - In the Light of the Law

According to Fr. James Martin, although the Church teaches that "LGBT people must be celibate their entire lives" this expectation "has not been received", by lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and/or transgender people, and therefore it has failed to become "authoritative" in their regard.


 
The Standard of the Cross - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

If revisionists would burlesque the past and mute the voice of reason, they should first recognize that the value of life is secured best by the standard of the Cross and not the Crescent.


 
25th Sunday in OT - Father John Horgan - CERC

The last will be first, and the first last.

Editorials of Interest:

Gender Ideology as Abuse - The Catholic Thing
Holy Routine - First Things

Editorials of Interest


Pope Francis Sets Up New John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family - NC Register

The new entity, issued by papal decree, replaces the previous institute founded by John Paul II in 1981. Its aim is to carry forward the teaching of Amoris Laetitia and make it irreversible.


For the first time in 30 years, Sistine Choir to perform in US - CNA

On September 20, a free concert will be hosted at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., next to The Catholic University of America.


Archbishop Chaput: Civility and Church Life - First Things

It's one thing to criticize respectfully an author's ideas and their implications. It's quite another to engage in ad hominem trashing.


Archbishop Chaput: Faithful Christians are the new Western dissidents - Catholic Herald

The target of Western liberals today is not just the Catholic Church but the whole framework of biblical moral thought and its public influence. And the weapon of choice is the issue of sex.


George Weigel: A Memoir I Never Expected To Write - First Things

My intent is that, out of these stories, an even fuller, more deeply etched portrait of John Paul will emerge, for there is much this exemplary figure still has to teach us.


George Weigel on the "lessons in hope" he received from John Paul II - Catholic World Report

The papal biographer's new book describes his relationship with Pope John Paul, as well as the great challenges the pope faced in the final years of his life.


Catholic laity and the undiscussed sex scandal of our times - Aleteia

Bad clergy are always problematic, but it's Catholic parents who are these days helping along a serious strain of sin.


The Splendor of Truth in 2017 - First Things

The truth may not make us comfortable, but it does make us free. And knowing and living the truth ennoble our lives. It is the only path to lasting happiness.


Ave and Irma: How this small Catholic university weathered the storm - Catholic World Report

Ave Maria University rode out Hurricane Irma giving shelter and aid to the poor and needy from the local community.


Lady Gaga: Fibromyalgia is 'punishment' for joining the illuminati - Roman Catholic Man

Lady Gaga believes her illness is a physical manifestation of the dark forces that seized control of her body and soul after she joined the Illuminati early in her career.


New climate change calculations could buy the Earth some time — if they're right - Washington Post

The recalculation emerges because warming has been somewhat less than forecast by climate models and because emissions have been somewhat more than expected.


Why The Word 'Woke' Encapsulates An Evil, Self-Defeating Ideology - The Federalist

Salvation occurs as the Gnostic awakens (ahem!) to the prison house he is in and breaks free (violently if need be) from his prison.


Finland's Welfare State Has a Massive Baby Problem - Bloomberg

Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years.


Gender Ideology as Abuse - The Catholic Thing

Abuse is not just an occasional, incidental byproduct of the larger revolution, in which gender fluidity is but the latest salvo. It is the heart of the matter.


I'm a Pediatrician. How Transgender Ideology Has Infiltrated My Field and Produced Large-Scale Child Abuse. - Daily Signal

Transgender ideology is not just infecting our laws. It is intruding into the lives of the most innocent among us — children — and with the apparent growing support of the professional medical community.


Demand Moral Beauty: It Is Our Birthright - Crisis Magazine

Beauty is the call of the Spirit, the invitation to cultivate virtue and to participate with the creativity of life itself that creates ever greater beauty.


Holy Routine - First Things

The fact is that human culture consists in the production of unnecessary things; but at the same time we could say that these unnecessary things are most necessary to express human dignity.


Struggling with patience? Let this famously impatient saint help you - Aleteia

Impatience is, perhaps, the great vice of our time.


We All Suffer, but Not All Suffering is the Same - NC Register

"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."


Enjoy Chicken? Thank Medieval Catholic Monks. - uCatholic

A team of researchers from Oxford University directly linked Catholic fasting practices of Benedictine Monks to the domestication of chickens.


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

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