St. Austin Review: Reclaiming Culture

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.

• March 9th, 2010A Distributist Dittyby Joseph Pearce

  This hilarious video has already been viewed by almost three million viewers so there's a good chance that many visitors to this site will have see seen it already. For those who have not seen Tim Hawkins' "The Government Can", now's your opportunity. It will make you chuckle and will warm the cockles of your distributist heart.
  
  Tim Hawkins - The Government Can: 
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0&feature=related

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• March 8th, 2010Anglican Nonsenseby Joseph Pearce

  Father Dwight Longenecker, one of StAR's regular columnists, has just published this superb article in The Times Online attacking the latest manifestation of Anglican nonsense. Fr. Longenecker is a true pugilist for Christ in the Bellocian mode. No wonder he writes for StAR!!

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• March 8th, 2010A Rare Talentby Joseph Pearce

  I don't watch reality television, not least because it's not reality. My understanding of shows like Britain's Got Talent is that they are full of bad or mediocre talent being sneered at and insulted by sadistic critics. I was, however, stunned at the seemingly incongrous brilliance of the Scottish lass, Susan Boyle, whose appearance on the aforementioned show reached a global audience via YouTube. If you haven't seen this, check it out. It's truly astonishing and powerfully uplifting.

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• March 4th, 2010Walmart Goes Localby Joseph Pearce

  A good friend has just sent me the following link to an article in Atlantic Magazine:
  
  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/the-great-grocery-smackdown/7904/

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• March 4th, 2010Belloc and Mel Gibson; Blair and R. H. Bensonby Joseph Pearce

  The irrepressibly controversial Mel Gibson has been giving advice to today's politicians: "Political leaders ought to read Hilaire Belloc," he stated in an interview with the UK's Daily Mail. Praising Belloc's distributist political ideas, Gibson was presumably thinking particularly of Belloc's two pillars of distributist thought: The Servile State and An Essay on the Restoration of Property.

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• March 2nd, 2010Outbreaks of Instabilityby Pavel Chichikov

  Most of us have been following the news about the earthquake in Chile. I’ve never been through a serious temblor myself, though as a small child I once woke up in the middle of the night to feel the earth give a rapid shrug. A few glasses fell off a shelf. Nothing worse happened.

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• March 2nd, 2010The Infernal Beast Stirs Againby Kevin O'Brien

  Belloc said the primary moral fruit of modernism is not sexual license, but cruelty - for such was the primary moral fruit of paganism.

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• March 2nd, 2010Tony Blair’s New Religionby Joseph Pearce

  Last week I posted a video clip of "famous Catholic converts", which I thought very edifying and worth sharing with visitors to this site. In response, Diego posted a comment querying Tony Blair's inclusion on the list. I confess that I winced at Blair's inlcusion, and that of one or two other "converts" on the list, but felt that the overall power of the video still made it edifying viewing.

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• March 2nd, 2010Hot Off the Pressby Joseph Pearce

  Long awaited sequel examines Shakespeare's plays in light of his Catholic faith
  2/24/2010 - 12:59 PM PST

  SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 24, 2010) - A new book just released from Ignatius Press, "Through Shakespeare's Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays", gives further evidence of what many people have long suspected: that the famous William Shakespeare was indeed a Catholic. Fulfilling the promise he made in his previous book, "The Quest for Shakespeare", bestselling literary writer Joseph Pearce analyzes in this volume three of Shakespeare's immortal plays - "The Merchant of Venice", "Hamlet" and "King Lear" - in order to uncover the Bard's Catholic beliefs.

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• February 24th, 2010Blazing in the Nightby Pavel Chichikov

  There's a great light all around us to which we are blind at birth, often by upbringing, and sometimes by inclination. If this blindness were gone for an instant, the true glory of the world and its meaning would be shown to us. The great light would not dazzle us with its clarity and force. And yet it would burst upon us, and within us, like a newer, greater sun.

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• February 24th, 2010Wonders Never Ceaseby Joseph Pearce

  I never thought I'd see the day that I watched the Oprah Show. I never thought I'd see the day that I actually enjoyed watching the Oprah Show.

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• February 24th, 2010My Lenten Plan: Give Up Controlling Peopleby Lorraine V. Murray

  When it comes to Lent, the knee jerk reaction is giving up goodies. I’ll say no to desserts or coffee or snacks, and I’ll be good to go! There’s nothing wrong with these sacrifices, of course, but this year I’m hoping to change something else in my life -- my relationships with other people.

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• February 19th, 2010Hitler versus the Holy Fatherby Joseph Pearce

  For those seeking some light relief, this brief video of Hitler being driven to distraction by Pope Benedict XVI's pontifical successes might raise a smile.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b12aglwd8QY&feature=player_embedded

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• February 19th, 2010Monkey Experiment Proves Life Has No Meaningby Kevin O'Brien

  With Pavel Chichikov writing about Hamlet, I thought we needed to counterpoise the poetry with some hard-nosed science.  This is from a report I made a while back.

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• February 19th, 2010Famous Catholic Convertsby Joseph Pearce

  My father-in-law forwarded this YouTube link to me. It's an impressive and uplifting list of significant converts to the Catholic faith, and well worth the investment of five minutes of time.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceWeNFNv4dI&feature=player_embedded

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• February 16th, 2010Hamlet, Prince of Denmarkby Pavel Chichikov

  To be alive or not to be,
  Conception by the world’s Creator
  ...

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• February 16th, 2010Make No Mistakeby Pavel Chichikov

  Thanks to Fr. R. and Winsor McCay

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• February 16th, 2010To Be Compromisedby Kevin O'Brien

  She’s almost 30.  She’s been promiscuous, but not more so than other secular women her age.  She’s seen the movie “My Cousin Vinnie”, in which actress Marisa Tomei performs the “Biological Stomp”, telling her marriage-resistant boyfriend that her biological clock is ticking and emphasizing that fact with several stomps of her foot.

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• February 15th, 2010Against Chaosby Pavel Chichikov

  I’ve had another online debate with someone who says he’s an atheist, although you never know these days who is pure in his atheism, and who is carrying a torch for one goddess or another. It sometimes changes from sentence to sentence.

   

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• February 12th, 2010Confessions of a Facebook Ignoramus…by Joseph Pearce

  Thanks to all who have contributed to the ongoing conversation about the "fan page" (see the post, dated Feb 8). I'd like to reassure Ana and Enrique that I am not offended, merely confused!!! I'm something of a luddite and a techno-ignoramus and I don't know how Facebook works. I am, of course, flattered that anyone should feel my work warrants such a page. Thank you Ana and Enrique!

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• February 11th, 2010Mulling over Masksby Jef Murray

  I’m mulling over masks. This happens each year about this time, as Shrove Tuesday approaches. Mardi Gras materializes just as winter waxes full. Spring storms will stalk the weeks to come, but for now we are still Jack Frost bitten.

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• February 11th, 2010Mediareleaseby Joseph Pearce

  For Immediate Release
  
  Joseph Pearce to Present at the Catholic Writers Conference Online
  
  World Wide Web-- Joseph Pearce will be presenting a CHAT on "What authors can learn from Chesterton" at the Catholic Writers Conference Online.
  
  The third annual Catholic Writers' Conference Online, which will be held February 26-March 5, 2010, features writers, editors and publishers from across the globe. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer's Guild, the online conference is free of charge and open to writers of all levels who register before February 15, 2010.

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• February 11th, 2010The Love Bombby Kevin O'Brien

  I’ve been looking into cults lately and have found that one of the techniques they use to attract their needy and vulnerable members is something called “love bombing”.  This is showering the new recruit with praise and a kind of intense but artificial intimacy.  “I’ve never had friends like this before!  What love I’ve found!” the neophyte thinks, and thus gets sucked in.

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• February 11th, 2010The Essential Bellocby Joseph Pearce

  The irrepresible Scott Bloch and the indefatigable Fr. C. J. McCloskey have teamed up with Saint Benedict Press to produce a new anthology of "essential Belloc". A description of this exciting new title, which is due to be publsihed this spring, is inserted below. If you have never read any Belloc this might be a good place to rectify the sin of omission:

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• February 11th, 2010Catholic Writers Guild Writers Conference Onlineby Joseph Pearce

  Budding Catholic writers might be interested in checking out the forthcoming Writers Conference Online, organized by the Catholic Writers Guild.

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• February 11th, 2010Rescued From Racism by the Love of G. K. Chestertonby Joseph Pearce

  This is the headline of a feature article about my journey from radical politics to religious conversion, published in this week's Catholic Herald, the UK's premier Catholic weekly newspaper. For those interested in my sordid past and my journey to the Catholic faith, a visit to the following link will be illuminating.
  
  http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/f0000524.shtml

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• February 10th, 2010The Snowby Pavel Chichikov

  It’s snowing again in Washington, DC, for the second time in a week. Down and sideways, and at all angles, the snow recovers its empire from what was uncovered only days ago by shovel and plow. Eventually it will melt, or sublimate into the air, or be carried away by dump trucks. But suppose it continued, without stopping, for days and weeks, until it covered everything? What would be left besides a sterile white blankness?

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• February 8th, 2010The Rich, the Poor, Ham Sandwiches and Usuryby Kevin O'Brien

  I just finished reading a paper online by Brian McCall on usury and the damage it is doing to the modern economy (see http://works.bepress.com/brian_mccall/6/ ).

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• February 8th, 2010Facing the Farce of the Facebook Fan Pageby Joseph Pearce

  I understand from my friend, Sean P. Dailey, editor-in-chief of Gilbert Magazine, that there's a so-called "Joseph Pearce Fan Page" on Facebook.

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• February 8th, 2010Sneak Preview of the March/April Issue of StARby Joseph Pearce

  The March/April issue of the Saint Austin Review is almost ready to wing its way to the printers. It's another exciting, power-punching issue, filled to the brim with great articles by some of the finest writers in the English-speaking Catholic world, not to mention the odd fine writer from the non-Catholic world! The theme of the next issue is "G. K. Chesterton: Fidei Defensor" and we've assembled a veritable cornucopia of Chestertonian delights for the delectation of our readers.

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• February 3rd, 2010Bruce Fingerhut, StAR’s Publisher, On His Friend, Ralph McInernyby Joseph Pearce

  Further to the earlier tribute to Ralph McInerny, here are the words of Bruce Fingerhut of the St. Augustine's Press, the new publisher of StAR, who knew McInerny much better than I did:

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• February 1st, 2010Ralph McInerny - May Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Restby Joseph Pearce

  With the passing of Ralph McInerny on Friday, the Catholic world lost one of its greatest contemporary writers and one of its most invigorating voices of orthodoxy.

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• January 29th, 2010Bad Catholic Artby Kevin O'Brien

  There is an ugly flipside to all our talk in these posts about reclaiming the culture.  And that is the sad fact that many people who make an attempt to create a culture or a work of art from a Catholic perspective are somehow dishonest about it.  This is a difficult phenomenon to describe, so bear with me.

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• January 29th, 2010More Best Booksby Joseph Pearce

  Further to the earlier post giving my selection of "Best Books of 2009" for the IgnatiusInsight website, I thought it would be good to give people the opportunity to look at the "best book" selection given by other Ignatius authors. Here's the link:
  
  http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/bestbooks1_2009_dec09.asp

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• January 29th, 2010Was Shakespeare a Secret Visitor to Rome?by Joseph Pearce

  Evidence unearthed at the Venerable English College in Rome has heightened speculation that Shakespeare may have visited this Catholic seminary, the de facto headquarters of Catholic resistance to the English Reformation, during the 1580s, shortly before he embarked upon his playwrighting career in London...

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• January 29th, 2010The Best Books I Read in 2009by Joseph Pearce

  At the end of last year, Carl Olson, editor of Ignatius Insight requested that I list the best books that I'd read throughout the preceding twelve months. I was happy to oblige.

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• January 29th, 2010News, Musings & Wanderingsby Joseph Pearce

  It seems an age since I last posted anything on this site, and it has, indeed, been more than two weeks. Too long! I'll try to do better in the future. In the interim, I am grateful for Kevin O'Brien for keeping the site warm with his entertaining visits. Clearly I owe him an ale or two next time we meet, whenever that may be.

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• January 20th, 2010HBO from A to Fby Kevin O'Brien

  This is from a newsletter I send to our Upstage Productions Murder Mystery fans.  It's an article I wrote ten years ago about an experience I had with HBO.  I am not making any of it up!

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• January 18th, 2010I’ll Be Damned - with Faint Praiseby Kevin O'Brien

  There is an interesting secular take on Chesterton's book "What's Wrong with the World" at the U. K. Guardian, a wonderful example of damning with faint praise.

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• January 7th, 2010Announcing the Launch of C. S. Lewis Collegeby Joseph Pearce

  Great news has reached me from my good friends in the C. S. Lewis Foundation.
  
  A few days before Christmas it was announced at a press conference that the site of the campus of the soon-to-be-launched C. S. Lewis College had been purchased.

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• January 7th, 2010New Year - New Issueby Joseph Pearce

  The new issue of StAR is the perfect way to get the New Year off to an edifying start. Its theme, "Tolkien & Lewis: Masters of Myth, Tellers of Truth", is a return to an ever popular theme. And the content of this issue is simply superb.

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• January 1st, 2010New Year’s Postby Kevin O'Brien

  Although this isn’t technically a new decade until 2011, we can still pretend, and so I found myself musing on where I was ten years ago, before the apocalyptic Y2K bug was about to bite us all.

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• December 28th, 2009Christmas, Communion, “Seinfeld” and “The Office”by Kevin O'Brien

  So this past Christmas the family get togethers were particularly trying.  You know what I mean.

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• December 25th, 2009What I Learned in Englandby Kevin O'Brien

  This past week I was in England with actors and crew from my company and from Corpus Christi Watershed, as we filmed a short movie on the conversion of the Venerable John Henry Newman.  We were graciously granted access to Newman’s retreat house at Littlemore, near Oxford, administered by the delightful Sisters of the Work.

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• December 25th, 2009On Chestertonby Robert Asch

  There is presently a real and refreshing interest in GK Chesterton among serious French Catholics. Several of his books are available in recent translations - including a version of The Flying Inn by the great philosopher and critic Pierre Boutang.

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• December 22nd, 2009New ways of loving: gay goldfish for French 9-year-olds ...by Ferdi McDermott

  France's children are now going to be treated to the ridiculous spectacle of a batty old right-wing cat, abandoned and trapped in a fairy-tale castle tower, which is all that is left of the old ways. This old pussy-cat, predictably named Agathe (Agatha is a really old-fashioned name in France as in England), is ripe for conversion to the beautiful, modern lifestyles emerging beyond the confines of her castle, (in which the only love imaginable is that dry and dusty old kind that exists between handsome princes and beautiful princesses ... )

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• December 21st, 2009Greetings and Happy Advent!by Jef Murray

  In the Roman Catholic Church, today marks the fifth day during which the "O Antiphons" of Advent are sung at evening vespers. These antiphons, seven in all, were the basis for the hymn "O Come O Come Emmanuel", although the melody is very different.

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• December 15th, 2009Censorship from Withinby Kevin O'Brien

  I am usually not a big booster of “Put Christ back into Christmas”.  Even de-Christianized Christmas is a magical time, as it was to me as an atheist before my conversion, and I figure if the secular Christmas (known as “The Holidays”) still manages to touch the hearts of the unwashed Pagans out there, fine.  We all know that there’s a special peace and joy to this time of year, and we see it in our pop culture, from movies about Santa Claus to secular “Holiday” music.

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• December 15th, 2009Solemnity of the Immaculate Conceptionby Robert Merchant

  On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  It began, appropriately enough, with Solemn Mass at the Ave Maria University Oratory, which Oratory has excellent acoustics.  The choir(s) are properly in the choir loft at the back of the Oratory (unlike children, choirs are to be heard and not seen) and aided by a sound cone (there's undoubtedly a better phrase) behind them which projects their singing throughout the cavernous 1100 seat Oratory.

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• December 10th, 2009Dúnedainby Jef Murray

  I sensed the soaring sandhills today…at least, so it seemed. A distant discord…cockled calls above clouds. “Come along! Come along!” Would that I could follow that cry….

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• December 7th, 2009Secular Fundamentalist Dictatorship or Religious Freedomby Joseph Pearce

  Ferdi McDermott’s post earlier today lamenting the outlawing of the crucifix by the iniquitous European Court of European Rights raises some intriguing questions. For example, isn’t the banning of Christianity in public places simply the imposition of secular fundamentalism? Isn’t it simply the draconian imposition of de jure atheism and relativism? Isn’t it the dictatorship of huge centralised states and courts over the wishes of ordinary people?

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• December 7th, 2009“Smelling the Ducks and Ducking the Smell”by Kevin O'Brien

  I know I’m getting older for two reasons.  First, not only do I like Judge Judy, I now like the way she looks.  Second, for years I was a young Curmudgeon, but I have now passed beyond Curmudgeon to Crank.  You don’t hit Crank until you have the years to back it up.

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• December 4th, 2009Freedom of Religion or Freedom from Religionby Ferdi McDermott

  That's the question many of my friends have been asking over the course of the last couple of weeks, in the wake of the European Court of Human Rights decree that the Italian law mandating a crucifix in every state school classroom is an infringement of human rights.

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• December 4th, 2009Ruth Asch’s Poemsby Robert Asch

  It's with understandable pride that I am able to announce the forthcoming appearance of my wife, Ruth Asch's first book of poems, Reflections, to be published by the St Austin Press this month.

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• November 30th, 2009“Is Catholicism a cult?” and other joys of being a Catholic author in the Southby Lorraine V. Murray

  Flannery O’Connor once wrote an essay about the rather strange experience of being a Catholic author in the Protestant South. This was back in the 1950s, when Catholics were regarded as very odd ducks indeed.

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• November 30th, 2009St. Austin and St. Augustineby Joseph Pearce

  As of the forthcoming issue, St. Augustine’s Press, one of the premier Catholic publishers in the English-speaking world, takes over as StAR’s new publisher.

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• November 24th, 2009Loome’s to Open Sacred Gifts Departmentby Jessica Marie Smith

  Via Matthew Alderman at Holy Whapping (self-plug for Matt, but we approve), Loome Theological Booksellers, one of the best places to get your God read on, will be featuring sacred gifts, to include Mr. Alderman’s lovely illustrations.

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• November 16th, 2009World Record Holderby Kevin O'Brien

  Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves.  You are reading a blog post by THE FIRST ACTOR IN HISTORY TO PLAY ALL THE ROLES IN A SHAKESPEARE PLAY.

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• November 16th, 2009Award-Winning Grassroots Films Looking for Internsby Jessica Marie Smith

  The Film Company which has cornered the barely-there market on film making with a soul wants you! Well, if you happens to be a college registered student in the greater New York area looking to use your social networking skills.

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• November 10th, 2009S.O.B – Saving Our Boatby Kevin O'Brien

  I was sitting at the table with a number of priests, one of whom had had a tad too much to drink.  It was a fundraiser banquet for an orthodox Catholic cause, and most of the priests were rather stolid types.  I had just finished explaining the homily I had endured that day.  The Gospel reading was the Woman at the Well, and the homilist had explained to us how this encounter shows how Jesus “grew” in his ministry, how he learned to be less “sexist and judgmental”, and how we, like Jesus, should learn to “grow beyond our boundaries”, that that’s what Lent is all about, learning to “grow beyond your boundaries”.

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• November 9th, 2009Speaking Engagements for Novemberby Joseph Pearce

  After a frenetically busy few months in which I seem to have been travelling to far flung corners of the continent of America, north and south, I’m pleased to have a relatively quiet November. In fact, I don’t leave the state of Florida for the entire month. I am, however, giving a few talks in the SW Florida area. If you live in the area, please try to attend one or more of these. I’d be delighted to see you!

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• November 5th, 2009Something Beautiful for Godby Joseph Pearce

  On the evening of All Souls Day, the Oratory at Ave Maria University was filled with the aural incense of Maurice Durruflé, Cristóbel Morales, Heinrich Biber and Gregorian Chant.

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• November 5th, 2009Cloning and Bad Homiliesby Kevin O'Brien

  I am convinced that cloning is in fact going on, and has been for many years.  For instance, the so-called “cantor” at most suburban Catholic parishes has been cloned.

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• October 28th, 2009If “It’s a Wonderful Life” were made today ...by Kevin O'Brien

  GEORGE:  I’m gonna jump, I tell you!  I’m gonna jump!
  
  CLARENCE:  Don’t jump, George.  I’m Clarence, a benevolent illusion.

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• October 26th, 2009Dappled Things…and ninjas!by Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  Hi, this message is all about ninjas Dappled Things,* THE NEW ISSUE OF DAPPLED THINGS. This message is awesome. My name is Bernardo and I can’t stop thinking about the new issue. This issue is cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

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• October 26th, 2009An Iberian Resurrection?by Joseph Pearce

  Sudden and still – hurrah!
  Bolt from Iberia!
  Don John of Austria
  Is gone by Alcalar.
   
  These are Chesterton’s rousing lines about Don John of Austria en route to his victory at Lepanto in 1571, passing “by Alcalar”, the site of a Christian victory over the Moors in 1246.

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• October 26th, 2009Facebook Folliesby Kevin O'Brien

  After swearing off the Vast Vacuity that is Facebook  for some weeks, I am back on.  I still think there’s a way to make it worthwhile, perhaps by kicking off all the friends who are giving me grief – kind of like life.

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• October 13th, 2009Joseph Pearce at Notre Dameby Joseph Pearce

  Catholicism lecture celebrates C.S. Lewis - by Tess Civantos (The Observer)

  Although C.S. Lewis made fun of Catholics as a teen, he was actually incredibly close to being Catholic himself, associate professor of Literature and Writer-in-Residence at Ave Maria University Joseph Pearce said in a lecture Tuesday.

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• October 10th, 2009Sterility can take many formsby Kevin O'Brien

  First, there’s simply being too lazy or too preoccupied to produce anything.   This explains why, although Joseph Pearce cajoles his writers to blog regularly for The Ink Desk, I haven’t posted anything in over a month.  (Ha!  Little does Joseph know – writers are almost as unreliable as actors).

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• October 9th, 2009Preview of the November/December 2009 Issueby Joseph Pearce

  The next issue of StAR is now safely in the hands of the graphic designer and I’m delighted to be able to offer a sneak preview. It’s another power-punching issue, this time on the theme of “Fides et Ratio: Faith and Philosophy”. Highlights include:

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• October 2nd, 2009Speaking Engagements for Octoberby Joseph Pearce

  Here are my speaking engagements for the coming months. If I’m in your area come and introduce yourself!

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• September 17th, 2009Christian Cultureby Andrew Thornton-Norris

  Modernity might be defined as the age when mankind tried to do without God for the first time. The effect on culture has been extraordinarily stimulating. From the Renaissance and Reformation, through the Baroque reaction, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and the Modernist reaction, Western culture has flourished.

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• September 15th, 2009An Ode to an Elderly Friendby Lorraine V. Murray

  “Don't knock me over!” These are her words, delivered with laughter, when she sees me walking into the living room of her little condo, and heading toward her for a hug.

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• September 6th, 2009Television of the Wordby Kevin O'Brien

  Just a plug here for my television show, “The Theater of the Word”, which premieres this week on EWTN.  I am the host of a 13-part anthology series of Catholic drama, featuring performances by and interviews with folks from all over the States who are evangelizing through the dramatic arts.

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• September 3rd, 2009Speaking Engagements for Septemberby Joseph Pearce

  Here are my speaking engagements for the coming months. If I’m in your area come and introduce yourself!

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• September 3rd, 2009Tastelessby Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  I scream. You scream. We all scream...at Ben and Jerry's.

  It is not an incident that should bother me unduly -- I do not eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream and, moreover, think that the notion of mixing pretzels and ice cream sounds too much like a concoction thought up by drunken frat boys.

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• September 2nd, 2009“Caritas in Veritate”: A Forumby Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  Like all Church documents, Caritas in Veritate deserves continued and marked attention. The recent public forum should therefore be of interest (videos, we are told, are forthcoming). The panel was singularly impressive (Fr. Allen is a delightful, brilliant man and a family friend):

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• August 29th, 2009Edward Kennedy and Christ’s Toughest Commandmentby Joseph Pearce

  On first hearing the news of Edward Kennedy’s death I was filled with mixed and conflicting emotions. I was sorry that a prominent Catholic had died without any apparent contrition for his unceasing support for in utero infanticide.

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• August 28th, 2009Vocational Recruitmentby Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  Watch a new 90-second video on Vocations from the Archdiocese of New York

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• August 26th, 2009The Cultivation of Saintsby Kevin O'Brien

  Duluth, Minnesota
  
  I’ve been coming to Duluth performing shows for about ten years now with my ragged assortment of actors.  There are glimpses of striking beauty around here, especially Split Rock Lighthouse, north of here, the most beautiful lighthouse on earth – placed high on a cliff above the waves crashing upon the shore of Lake Superior.  It is one of the most stunning sights you can imagine.

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• August 22nd, 2009Priests Bring Christ’s Light into Our Livesby Lorraine V. Murray

  It is so easy to criticize priests. This one delivers dull sermons. That one is always asking for money.. The other one sings off-key.

  And of course many lay people think they know the perfect cure for whatever ails any particular priest. “Oh, if the Church would just let them get married,” they say, “everything would be fine.”

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• August 21st, 2009Chesterton in Africaby Joseph Pearce

  Further to Kevin's post about the Chesterton conference in Seatle and my more recent post about the Chesterton Crusade in Chile, here is news of a superb Chestertonian intiative in Sierra Leone in Africa.

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• August 20th, 2009Chesterton in Chileby Joseph Pearce

  I was pleased to read Kevin O'Brien's recent post in which he waxed lyrical on the rambunctious splendour of this year's Chesterton Conference in Seattle. My reading of his article was not, however, untainted by a degree of wistfulness bordering on envy.

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• August 16th, 2009A Culture of Lifeby Kevin O'Brien

  I’ve been to the mountain and back again.
  
  That’s my report from the annual American Chesterton Society Conference.  That’s always my report.  The conference is a kind of Mount of Transfiguration where we see things more clearly than we do below; it is a place where lovers of Chesterton and lovers of the Lord he loved get together to socialize, share ideas, and celebrate something you don’t see much these days … Catholic Culture.  True, not every fan of Chesterton is Catholic, but the Culture that is his cultus is entirely Catholic and overflowing with health and joy.

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• August 15th, 2009In response to a letter accusing the Pope of heresy on the Four Last Things ...by Ferdi McDermott

  Dear Jennifer,
  
  Thanks for the letter and enclosure you sent me a while back. In them you suggested a dialogue about the popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. You also implied that perhaps they were not popes at all.

  Your main problem was that they emphasised universal salvation and thereby - you thought - effectively denied all the Church’s doctrine about sin and the need for redemption from it.

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• August 14th, 2009A Monster For Our Timeby Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  Some months ago I penned a piece for the National Catholic Register on the phenomenon of "The Abortion Story" in Catholic literary circles. It's a "rite of passage for young Christian writers", I declared. Most if not all of us have written such a thing at one time or another. Most of them are completely unoriginal and unsuccessful.

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• August 3rd, 2009The Prodigal’s Returnby Joseph Pearce

  Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. (Luke 15:23-24)

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• July 31st, 2009Preview of the September/October Issueby Joseph Pearce

  One of the benefits of keeping an eye on this site is being able to learn the contents of the next issue of StAR long before the issue is delivered to the journal's happy band of subscribers, indeed long before it has even reached the printers. I have just delivered the articles for this issue to our graphic designer, Michelle, and am happy to offer you the customary preview of what you can expect in the forthcoming September/October issue.

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• July 30th, 2009Keep Your Eyes on the Anglicansby Robert Asch

  While the Church of England is clearly entering the last stages of decay, with Rowan Williams's proposal of a two-track church - one accepting homosexual union and clergy, the other rejecting it - it would be a mistake for Catholics to crow over its demise, for at least three reasons: 

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• July 26th, 2009How Does Your Garden Grow?by Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  I’m rooting about in the dirt, making a general nuisance of myself about the flowers. The chrysanthemums—victims of my plan for transplantation—register distress mildly by bobbing their heads about, while an azalea bush looks on impassively. A flock of impatiens, sitting close by, remains obnoxiously sedate, despite the fact that their colorful spread is interrupted by an astonishingly long earthworm.

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• July 25th, 2009The Wandering Joeby Joseph Pearce

  Since my last post, way back on July 13th, I have been on the road almost continuously. Hence, and by way of an excuse for my absence, I have been exiled from my family as well as from this site. Nor is there any respite in sight. 

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• July 23rd, 2009Dappled Things: SS. Peter and Paul 2009by Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  From the Editors of Dappled Things:

  Has the summer heat gotten you down? Fear not! The cool new edition of Dappled Things is sure to refresh you with an invigorating selection of prose, poetry, and art.

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• July 20th, 2009The Virtue of Detachmentby Kevin O'Brien

  Detachment is an ugly word.  It carries the connotation of stoicism and cold-heartedness – perhaps even ruthlessness.  But what the saints mean by “detachment” is “renouncing possessiveness”.  Thus it is not wrong to be “attached” to people and things that we love (in other words to care for them and long for them), but if we become possessive of them, then we enter into something that might lead to idolatry at worst, selfishness at best.  The mother who loves her son and misses him when he moves away is “attached” to him; the mother who sabotages her son’s psyche and makes him a perpetual adolescent, still living at home at age thirty is “possessive” of him.

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• July 13th, 2009The Foolishness of Hopeby Kevin O'Brien

  We talk in these pages about our culture, which is clearly a Culture of Death.  But this is this because it is a Culture of Despair, a society that cultivates Despair and makes it bearable by making it fashionable and natural.

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• July 13th, 2009Pope Benedict and the Challenge of Globalizationby Joseph Pearce

  Last week saw the release of the Holy Father's new Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. In response to its publication, the Catholic World Report's website published the views of several Catholic commentators on the Encyclical's importance. I was one of those asked to submit a response. Here it is:

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• July 3rd, 2009Bathroom Humorby Kevin O'Brien

  Today is my daughter Kerry's 14th birthday.  In honor of her near total maturity, I present an article I wrote many years ago that's bound to embarrass her.

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• July 3rd, 2009Changelessness at the Beachby Jef Murray

  I’m dragging the suitcase up from the basement. Each summer, Lorraine and I spend a week at the beach, usually with other family members. In previous years, I’ve notched up plenty of bruises and abrasions while body surfing with my great-nephews. Their decades-younger rubber bodies seem immune to the surges and slaps of tropical storm-tossed breakers; mine, on the other hand, always comes home battered.

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• July 1st, 2009“I’ve, like, got to get there, like, now:” A Rant on Language, Unintelligibility, and Irrevereby Eleanor Bourg Donlon

  Once upon a time, the word “like” had a soul. Modern tongues have since beaten the word like the proverbial dead horse, badgering it to the meaningless status of non-verbal filler. “Um” and “like” can be used almost interchangeably.

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• June 30th, 2009Pure BSby Joseph Pearce

  One of the myths or lies of pluralism and secular fundamentalism is that religion should be excluded from the public square. Regardless of their protestations to the contrary, secularists don't believe that religion should be excluded; on the contrary, they believe that all religion should be excluded except their own.

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• June 27th, 2009Another Postcard from Orange Countyby Joseph Pearce

  I never thought that I'd be waxing lyrical about the merits of California. For as long as I can remember, California has epitomised what I like least about modern America. From the dross and decadence of Hollywood, the rootless autocentric mayhem of LA, and the queer queeziness of San Francisco, the Golden State had as much appeal to me as the golden casket in The Merchant of Venice. And yet on visiting the left coast I found myself unwilingly and unwittingly seduced by its charms. No, not the "charm" of Hollywood or LA but the hidden charm of the unseen California.

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