Welcome to the Ink Desk
Enjoy the ponderings of the Star's contributors and add your own thoughts. As this section develops, we hope it may become a medium for an exchange of ideas among those who are working towards the cultural revival.
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May 23rd, 2013REVOLUTION AND RESURRECTIONby Joseph Pearce
With few exceptions, the quality of the posts to the Ink Desk are matched by the quality of the comments appended to them. I am, for the most part, greatly heartened by the spiritual and intellectual caliber of the people who visit the Ink Desk. Occasionally, however, a comment is made that is not only wise and insightful but brilliant in its succinct appraisal and summary of a complex issue. Such was the comment made by Thomas Banks to my post on May 17.
I am giving it pride of place as a post in its own right by pasting it below. I agree that all was not well with Catholicism in Europe, and in France in particular, prior to the Revolution and, indeed, if things had been better, the Revolution might not have happened.
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May 22nd, 2013Life in Deathby Joseph Pearce
My wife has just forwarded me this wonderful video. It focuses on a Catholic coffin maker and shows how Christianity lives with death in a spirit of joy and expectation. The Benedictine spirituality of ore et labore (prayer and work) reminds me of Middle-earth - of hobbits in the Shire but particularly of the elves who put all that they love and all that they are in to all that they make. In this sense the wonderful craftsman in this video is truly elven in his approach to art and life - and death:
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May 22nd, 2013LOVE AND REASON IN ROMEO AND JULIETby Joseph Pearce
I've been giving lots of interviews over the past few weeks in relation to the recent publication of my book, Shakespeare on Love: Seeing the Catholic Presence in Romeo and Juliet. Here's the link to a news story just published by the Catholic News Agency:
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May 21st, 2013Rome Versus Romance in “Romeo and Juliet”by Joseph Pearce
Yesterday morning I was interviewed on "Morning Air" on Relevant Radio about my new book, Shakespeare On Love: Seeing the Catholic Presence in Romeo and Juliet. The radio station has now posted the interview on-line:
http://relevantradio.streamguys.us/MA%20Archive/MA20130520c.mp3
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May 21st, 2013Belloc, Chesterton, and the French Revolutionby Joseph Pearce
In my post on Friday (True Democrats are Not Democrats), I mentioned that I would aim to say a little more about the Chesterbelloc's misguided support for the French Revolution. For the time being, though much more could be said, I'd like to restrict my comments to my brief discussion of it in my forthcoming book, "Race With the Devil: A Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love", which I finished writing yesterday and which should be published in August.
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May 21st, 2013Frankenstein: The Monster and the Criticsby Joseph Pearce
I was delighted and heartened to see a good review of the Ignatius Critical Edition of Frankenstein in Crisis Magazine. Here's the link:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/frankenstein-by-mary-shelly
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May 19th, 2013The Demand for Social Assurance that Abortion and Sexual Evils Are OKby Colin Jory
Richard Kerley, of whose descent into schizophrenia and tragic death as a vagrant I recently told on this site, back in the late 1970s when abortion was still generally abhorred and abortionists were still occasionally prosecuted, made a very telling point. I remember the scene clearly: he was leaning on the piano in our living room. He observed that the greater the number of women who have (elective) abortions, the more demand there will be that abortion be legalized, because these women will only be able to dull their irrepressible sense of the evil they have done by demanding social assurance that it was OK.
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May 17th, 2013NEWMAN A to Z: SAINTS, INVOCATION OFby Joseph Pearce
You would not think it against the Gospel, I suppose, to ask for yourself the prayers of a good man on earth. Why then should you scruple to ask his prayers, when, having left this world and gone to God, he has become possessed of a far greater power?
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May 17th, 2013True Democrats Are Not Democratsby Joseph Pearce
It's a mark of my protracted absence from the Ink Desk that I am only now responding to a comment on one of my posts, dating April 8th, almost six weeks ago! The comment was written by "Ed" in response to my post "Tolkien and Democracy".
Ed's comment raises some very interesting questions about the nature of democracy, which warrant further attention. I'm posting Ed's comment in its entirety, my response will follow:
Tolkien a democrat?! Say it ain't so Joseph!
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May 16th, 2013BIG BROTHER PERSECUTES CATHOLIC VOTERSby Joseph Pearce
In light of the recent disclosure that Big Brother has been using its stormtroopers in the IRS to target dissident groups, I thought that visitors to the Ink Desk should read this letter from the Director of Catholic Vote.org Education Fund. It makes for frightening reading.
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May 15th, 2013From Homeschoolers in Louisiana to a Prison in Englandby Joseph Pearce
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. After two frenetic months of manic activity and almost ceaseless travelling, I can sense a respite on the horizon. Apart from speaking at a homeschooling conference in Charlotte, NC, on Saturday May 25 (which is, in any case, only a two hour drive from my home), I have no other speaking engagements until June 7.
Last weekend I was at a homeschooling conference in Lafayette, Louisiana, one of my favourite parts of the country. I sampled southern hospitality and cajun cooking, the latter of which included deep-fried oysters and alligator legs. I also had a taste of home cooking when a teenage homeschooler brought me some home-baked English-style scones. They were truly scrumptious and reminded me of my home across the Water.
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May 14th, 2013Strange Notionsby Dena Hunt
I seldom recommend anything, lest Murphy's law kick in, but this looks really, really good. Watch the clip at:
http://brandonvogt.com/strange-notions/
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May 14th, 2013A Truly Catholic Educationby Joseph Pearce
Following my earlier post about Cardinal O'Malley's boycotting of Boston College's commencement in protest at BC's honouring of a pro-abortion politician, I thought I would contrast BC's abandonment of the Faith with the fidelity of Thomas More College, an hour north of Boston, the genuinely Catholic institution at which I am honoured to teach. The extent to which the students at TMC receive an authentic and bona dife Catholic education was epitomised in a letter handed to the college President by a student following her final exam. Here's an extract from the student's letter. It speaks for itself.
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May 14th, 2013Boston College and Baby Cullingby Joseph Pearce
Boston College is the latest so-called "Catholic" school to promote the spread of abortion through the honoring of pro-abortionists. It is, however, heartening that Cardinal O'Malley is taking a courageous and uncompromising stand in defence of unborn children. Read on.
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May 14th, 2013Abortion and the Obamanationby Joseph Pearce
It's sickening but not surprising that President Obama has been deafeningly silent about the murder of babies in Philadelphia by an abortionist. Obama has consistently sided with abortionists and against babies whenever exercising his right to choose on which side to vote on the abortion issue. This article by the eloquently hard-hitting Anne Hendershott nails Obama for his hypocrisy in the wake of the conviction of Kermit Gosnell:
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May 13th, 2013Romeo and Juliet: What’s Love Got to Do With It?by Joseph Pearce
I gave an interview recently with Beliefnet's "Faith, Media, and Culture" blog on the Catholic dimension in Romeo and Juliet. Here's the link:» Continue Reading -
May 13th, 2013Jesus and the Sins of the Fleshby Joseph Pearce
I am continually astounded by the brilliance of Anthony Esolen. Here is his excellent article on the teaching of Christ on sexual sin from today's Crisis:
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May 13th, 2013Dancing in Our Fairy Woodby Joseph Pearce
Our family is blessed to live in a relatively secluded corner of South Carolina in a house surrounded by woods. We have named our home and its surrounding land Ladydale, dedicating the valley in which we live to the Mother of God. Recently my wife happened to catch a glimpse of a wood elf dancing in the trees, capturing the moment for posterity with the camera she happened to have on hand. In truth, the photo is of our five year old daughter, Evangeline, who is even more enchanting, at least in the eyes of her father, than any beguiling visitor from Faerie.
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May 13th, 2013An Invitation to Join My Classesby Joseph Pearce
Any visitors to the Ink Desk who would like to sign up for my on-line courses on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings should check out the following link.» Continue Reading -
May 12th, 2013Mortification at the Cathedralby Kevin O'Brien
I tried to blog in the confessional today.
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What I mean by that is I tried to tell the priest what I told my readers in Feeding the Hungry I, my post from this morning. "The works of my Hungry I are works of the flesh as St. Paul calls them," I said. "I have been sowing to the flesh and not to the spirit," I said, echoing Galatians 6:8.
"Well, what can you find in the desires of your Hungry I that can be redeemed?" he suddenly asked.
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Old Thunder
Hilaire Belloc is one of the most important, revered and reviled writers of the twentieth century. A social commentator, a master of finely crafted prose and a poet of great wit, he continues to fascinate. Joseph Pearce examines the lasting impact of this prolific writer and social commentator on British…