Make a Donation
November 29, 2017

Note from the Assistant Editor:

Before we begin, help us continue.  Over the next few weeks, we will be offering you an opportunity to participate in the good work we do at CERC.  Please donate here.

"To come face to face with something absolutely and profoundly natural — something that corresponds to the needs of the heart that nature gives us — is something absolutely exceptional." Ponder "Andrew and the Exceptionality of Jesus."

Kevin Vost has written The One-Minute Aquinas: read the introduction below.  "St. Thomas provides sublimely profound answers to the questions that matter the most — and yet he does not complicate things.  He teaches us about our everyday lives."

"All art will be dust one day." And yet it is still of value to see and to learn about.  Brad Miner's report on "Salvator Mundi: the Saga of the 'Last' da Vinci" is a worthwhile education.

My favorite piece this week is "The Sexual Revolution Turns Ugly." "Perhaps the greatest impact is the morally debilitating effect it has on all of us.  I mean not simply our willingness to accommodate sexual permissiveness but even more our willingness to confuse self-righteous moralizing with true moral understanding." Read it below.

"Must one feel extremes of pain or love to create authentic poetry, or is stylistic capacity enough?" A question about the artist that greatly interests intrigues me.  "You must have both, clearly," replied poet Frans Wright.  "And have them to a terrible, excruciating, and obsessive degree."

Finally, some cool news: "Zimbabweans get long-awaited deliverance from the evil Mugabe." It is inspiring to see people stand up to injustice.

God bless you all this week! - Meaghen Hale



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

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions." - G.K. Chesterton



New Resources


 
Andrew and the Exceptionality of Jesus - Monsignor Luigi Giussani - from Generating Traces in the History of the World: New Traces of the Christian Experience

What does "exceptional" mean?


 
Introduction & Preface - Kevin Vost - The One-Minute Aquinas

"The One-Minute Aquinas is for anyone who has ever despaired of comprehending the most brilliant theologian who ever lived." - Peter Kreeft


 
Don't despair of Catholic primary schools — I know one that's found a great way to get children to pray - Stephen Bullivant - Catholic Herald

Sometimes we all need a little encouragement to cultivate good habits.


 
"Salvator Mundi": the Saga of the "Last" da Vinci - Brad Miner - The Catholic Thing

As you've no doubt read, Salvator Mundi was sold at Christie's on November 15th to a still-undisclosed buyer for $450,312,500.


 
The Sexual Revolution Turns Ugly - Stephen Baskerville - Crisis Magazine

Initially promising freedom, like all revolutions, the Sexual Revolution has entered something like its Reign of Terror phase and is devouring its own children.


 
Franz Wright - John Janaro - Magnificat

Franz Wright (1953-2015), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Catholic convert, struggled with addiction and depression, and wrote movingly of isolation, illness, and religious transcendence.


 
"You have to decide" - George Weigel - The Catholic Difference

In his pre-papal life as a university chaplain, Father Karol Wojtyla signature phrase as a confessor and spiritual director was, "You have to decide".


 
Zimbabweans get long-awaited deliverance from the evil Mugabe - Father Raymond J. de Souza - National Post

Zimbabweans have earnestly looked forward to Robert Mugabe's death, that apparently being the only way to be free of his tyrannical regime.


 
A sovereignty both human and divine - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

A professor told me of two experiences he had when civilization was picking up its pieces after World War II.


 
Christ the King - Father John Horgan - CERC

The feast day of Christ the King was instituted less than a hundred years ago by Pope Pius XI in 1925.

Editorials of Interest:

Black Elk and the Need for Catechists - Integrated Catholic Life

Editorials of Interest


Pope Francis: What matters in the end is how well we loved - CNA

When the Final Judgment comes, what will matter most is how much we loved God and others, especially through daily, concrete acts of charity toward those most in need.


Pope Francis: Cultural colonization ends in persecution - Vatican Radio

Cultural and ideological colonization does not tolerate differences and makes everything the same, resulting in the persecution — even of believers.


Pope Francis and the Youth - First Things

Though the selection of Chaput and Barron to the 2018 Synod on Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment should not be considered a rejection of Francis' agenda, it does tell us something about how the US bishops want to engage with the universal Church.


St John Paul II 'had vision of an Islamist invasion of Europe' - The Catholic Herald

Mgr Mauro Longhi said the former pontiff foresaw a 'mortal wound' to the Church in the third millennium.


How to use an Advent wreath - Aleteia

A basic guide for those new to the tradition.


Pope arrives in Myanmar - ABC News

Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, today to cheers from groups of children waving Vatican flags and singing "Viva Papa!"


Our Misguided War on Legalism - First Things

Surprisingly, we can force ourselves to do good. And with this surprise comes satisfaction.


Poland to phase out Sunday shopping by 2020 - Catholic Herald

Initially proposed by trade unions, the idea received the support of the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party, who want to allow workers to spend more time with their families.


Enabling Jihad at Stanford, Georgetown, and Beyond - The Catholic Thing

More needs to be said about the fact that it is harder to broach uncomfortable facts about Islam t Stanford than it is to be admitted.


ISIS Threatens To Kill the Pope Over the Holidays - Newsweek

A new propaganda poster released by a pro-ISIS group this weekend depicts Pope Francis eing beheaded by an ISIS jihadist.


3 New touching Christmas ads - Aleteia

This year there are a few holiday ads out there that truly celebrate the spirit of giving that brings out the best in people at Christmastime.


A simple idea which changed the lives of millions - Mercatornet

The Hippo Roller has revolutionised water transport in Africa.


A new Met exhibit on the genius of Michelangelo provides a 'spiritual experience' - America Magazine

The exhibition affords viewers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see works rarely shown and too fragile to travel again soon.


The new Museum of the Bible entertains in order to engage all kinds - Aleteia

Conveniently located two blocks from the National Mall, the new $500 million museum is poised to attract visitors to the city, no matter their denomination or whether or not they are believers.


Black Elk and the Need for Catechists - Integrated Catholic Life

Without good catechists, more and more of our young people will fall into secularism and indifferentism. And as these unaffiliated in ever greater numbers come of age, our society will be adversely affected, for Christian ideas and values will be less and less at play.


If church schools won't fight the cult of gender ideology, who will? - Catholic Herald

The encouragement of trans confusion among schoolkids has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with relativism.


Let's Talk About Sex, Shall We? - Wisdom and Folly

How to live out your sexuality as a man in the nuts and bolts of everyday married life is as earthy as it is lofty.


Dad writes super-hero comic book inspired by son who has Down syndrome - Aleteia

"I wanted my son to think that he, too, could dream just as big as I dreamed when I was little kid."


Are you emotionally dependent? Here's what you need to know. - Aleteia

In romantic relationships, emotional dependency is a personality disorder with deep roots.


What Grieving People Wish You Knew at Christmas - Desiring God

While those of us who surround grieving people can't fix the pain of loss, we can bring comfort as we come alongside those who hurt with special sensitivity to what grief is like during the holidays.


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

Subscribe / Unsubscribe
Copyright © 2017 Catholic Education Resource Center