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
|
|
|
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions." - G.K. Chesterton
|
|
|
New Resources
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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:
|
Editorials of Interest
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.
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!"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
|