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October 12, 2016

Note from the Managing Editor:

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom of the Diocese of Sourozh in Great Britain tells us — or perhaps just reminds us — that prayer is "...born of the discovery that the world has depths; that we are not only surrounded by visible things but that we are also immersed in and penetrated by invisible things."  See "At daybreak Jesus went to a deserted place."

Next in line Anthony Esolen writes that "...we are not called to oppose, notionally, comfortably, the characteristic evils of other ages, basking in the glow of a righteousness that costs nothing."  Rather, "We are called to suffer in opposing the characteristic evils of our age.  And we will not begin even to conceive of how such a thing is possible, if we do not obey an authority that transcends mankind."

That's from Esolen's article "Holier than Them" which I found exceptional both in the quality of the ideas he puts down and in the precision and beauty of the expressions he uses.  When I wrote Brad Miner of The Catholic Thing for permission to reprint this article I commented on the calibre of Esolen's writing both in this particular article and more generally.  Brad Miner wrote back, "Esolen is a near miracle.  The best thing is his Facebook page, where you see his astonishing erudition, including his command of multiple languages."  You may be interested in Anthony Esolen's Facebook page.

I'll let you discover the many other interesting articles that follow on your own. - J. Fraser Field



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"Faith is a liberation of my I from its preoccupation with self ... a breaking out of the isolation that is the malady of my I." - Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI



New Resources


 
At daybreak Jesus went to a deserted place - Metropolitan Anthony Bloom - from Courage to Pray

Prayer is the search for God, encounter with God, and going beyond this encounter in Communion.


 
Holier than Them - Anthony Esolen - The Catholic Thing

My friend, the inestimable Robert George, likes to ask his college students how many of them, if they lived in the South before the Civil War, would have opposed slavery.


 
The horrors of an honest America - Rex Murphy - National Post

Do you believe her? Nope.


 
Escaping the Constant Sales Pitch - David Warren - The Catholic Thing

An unforgettable scene outside a college book sale in Toronto the other day: an old man, an old Jewish scholar, whom I have known in passing, thirty years.


 
New Assisted Dying Law Will Claim Unintended Victims - Dr. Will Johnston - Huffington Post Canada

The Carter decision to allow assisted suicide and euthanasia claimed that Canada could avoid abuses through careful guidelines and screening.  Experience proves otherwise.


 
What your kids will remember about you - Tamara El-Rahi - MercatorNet

Five important things to take note of.


 
Open letter from a priest to a porn star: I understand your suffering - Father Francisco Javier D. Bronchalo Patxi - Aleteia

"I have met people broken by pornography. On both sides."


 
Family, Faith, and Titanic War - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

Of all wars, the most vicious are civil wars and religious wars.


 
28th Sunday in OT - Father John Horgan - CERC

Is gratitude part of my disposition every day?

Editorials of Interest:

Must one vote? - Catholic World Report
A Call to Arms - Christian Renaissance Movement

Editorials of Interest


Pope Francis: Full text of in-flight press conference from Azerbaijan - Catholic World Report

Topics discussed include the papal visit to Georgia, religions and human rights, marriage and Amoris laetitia, gender ideology, future trips, and the U.S. presidential election.


Pope Francis Green-Lights Opening Fr. Jacques Hamel's Beatification Process - NC Register

The French Diocese of Rouen has officially begun an inquiry into the beatification of the French priest, killed by Islamic extremists earlier this summer, after receiving a note from Pope Francis waiving the traditional five-year waiting period.


Cardinal Robert Sarah on "The Strength of Silence" and the Dictatorship of Noise - Catholic World Report

In a wide-ranging interview with La Nef, Cardinal Sarah discusses his new book, published in France, saying, "By living with the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent."


Three cardinals sign statement defending magisterial teaching on the sacraments - Catholic Herald

The Declaration of Fidelity to the Church's Unchangeable Teaching on Marriage and to Her Uninterrupted Discipline has gathered over 4000 signatures worldwide since its launch last week.


Witnesses to martyrdom: Father Hamel's last moments - Aleteia

Survivors of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray attack described their ordeal to French journalists.


Must one vote? - Catholic World Report

We must move beyond the sense in which we see voting as the beginning and end of the citizen's political activity.


Trump, Taxes and Citizenship - NY Times

A healthy nation isn't just an atomized mass of individual economic and legal units. A nation is a web of giving and getting.


America's 'quiet catastrophe': Millions of idle men - Washington Post

A smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression in 1940.


Pro Bikers for Life Saves Babies on the Streets of New York - NC Register

The Pro Bikers For Life have formed an attention-getting alliance with the Sisters of Life to defend unborn children.


Vandal destroys statues in four Roman churches - CNA

Italian police have arrested a 39-year-old Ghanaian man who entered several historic churches in central Rome Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, destroying a number of statues and creating panic among the faithful and tourists who were there at the time.


Pounding Aleppo, Russia and Syria reprise politics of brutality - CS Monitor

In their overwhelming attacks on eastern Aleppo, which spurred the US to suspend talks with Moscow, Russia and Syria are seeking a favorable political outcome through time-tested — if brutal — military means.


Open letter from a priest to a porn star: I understand your suffering - Aleteia

We are not only flesh. What we choose to do with our physical freedom, what others do to us with theirs, has consequences for the soul, for life itself.


Landmark Study Links Hormonal Birth Control And Depression - Huffington Post

Teens who used the patch or the IUD were the most at risk.


Football and the Hail Mary - NC Register

Whether fans realize it or not, football's Hail Mary pass is a subtle reminder that Our Lady triumphs in the end.


First Belgian Child Euthanized, Slippery Slope Morphs into Cliff - Truth and Charity Forum

If we cannot in principle rule out death for the physically sound, on what grounds do we have to argue for that any life is worth living?


'Emergency' need for exorcists after surge in people dabbling in Satanism and black magic - The Telegraph

"The lack of exorcists is a real emergency. There is a pastoral emergency as a result of a significant increase in the number of diabolical possessions that exorcist priests are confronting."


A Call to Arms - Christian Renaissance Movement

Since we are in the unique position of having the fullness of supernatural truth, we are also in a unique position to reveal the fullness of supernatural beauty.


The Exorcist and the Lost Art of Catholic Storytelling - The Atlantic

A TV reboot of the 1971 novel and its film adaptation debuts this week, but the deeper religious themes of the original story might be lost on contemporary American viewers.


Mark Wahlberg Posts Video Calling For Vocations To The Catholic Priesthood - U Catholic

"I want my children and future generations to have good priests in their lives just like I had."


Podcast: Teaching the Way of Beauty with David Clayton - Catholic Exchange

David Clayton, the artist, iconographer, and professor at Pontifex University, discusses the importance of beauty and why it's necessary to cultivate an appreciation of art, theology, and liturgy.


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

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