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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September 1st, 2010Toward a Definition of “Conversion” Part IIby Dena Hunt
To continue, “Why did you become a Catholic?” is a different question from “Why did you become a Christian?” What’s the reason for that difference? Well, here’s a clue: http://rainhadocanto10-evangelicalchristian.blogspot.com/2010/08/roman-catholic-church-is-not-christian.html
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September 1st, 2010Aloneby Pavel Chichikov
How does an atheist die? Obviously, he dies the same way as everyone else. God doesn’t vanish because one of His creatures denies His existence. The universe, of which the atheist is a part, doesn’t evaporate when he expires. Angels will be the same as they ever were, and the spirits of those we call the dead still live in the House of Love.
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September 1st, 2010Empathetic Capacityby Ferdi McDermott
I recently read about some 17th century Dominican dialogues with Zen Buddhist monks and the many interesting and moving consequences that such cultural openness brought to the men of that age.
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September 1st, 2010One Small Step for Virginiaby Sophia Mason
Last week a state delegate and an attorney general got together and decided that it is again time for the Commonwealth of Virginia to regulate abortions.
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August 31st, 2010From Here to Babylonby Pavel Chichikov
I spend a lot of computer time reading and contributing to a blog called Calculated Risk. It’s a finance and economics blog, although people tend to wander very far from the topics, especially when business hours have ended. Many of the contributors are highly educated, articulate, and funny. They can be good electronic company.
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August 29th, 2010Toward a Definition of “Conversion”by Dena Hunt
A couple of recent little incidents have set me thinking about “Christian ecumenism” again. I’m a convert (1984), and I’ve been asked occasionally why I chose to become Catholic. I can never answer that question directly because it’s a single question with two answers. “Conversion” means either a conversion to Christianity or a conversion within Christianity, and these are not the same question.
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August 28th, 2010The Feast of St. Augustineby Bruce Fingerhut
Today is the 1580th anniversary of the death of St. Augustine. The Church celebrates the Feast of St. Augustine on August 28 each year.
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August 28th, 2010Scabby People & that Grimfaced Nunby Christian LeBlanc
One night decades ago I was watching TV; that nun, Mother Teresa, was on Leno. I knew she'd won a Nobel prize, took care of scabby people all day, and looked grim as cancer. What could they possibly talk about that would be, if not entertaining, at least not unpleasant? Curious as to how this was going to work, I didn't zap immediately to another channel.
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August 20th, 2010One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nestby Joseph Pearce
Way back in March, on this site, I highlighted the near-death experience of the atheist philosopher, A. J. Ayer (see "An Athiest Sees the Light" below).
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August 20th, 2010Towards a Post-Imperial Futureby Joseph Pearce
A friend drew my attention to this article in today's Wall Street Journal (see below for the introductory paragraphs), which speaks about an unlikely alliance between "progressive liberals" and "conservative libertarians" over the thorny issue of defence spending.
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August 20th, 2010The Action of Graceby Kevin O'Brien
“I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil,” wrote Flannery O’Connor.
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August 18th, 2010The Guy/Girl Thingby Kevin O'Brien
OK, there seems to be some confusion in Catholic circles about how to handle this whole thorny issue of dating and romance. As an expert on Life, a fully-fledge EWTN Matinee Idol, and as a man who has spent almost twenty years traveling the country with young actresses, I can help set a few things straight.
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August 18th, 2010The Church and the Libertarianby Richard Aleman
Author and attorney Christopher A. Ferrara speaks to Jeremiah Bannister about his book “The Church and the Libertarian.” They discuss the Austro-libertarian movement, Catholic Social Teaching, and Distributism.
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August 16th, 2010Colloquiumby Susan Treacy
As a new blogger, I have been slow in getting started, but I hope to have something to contribute on a regular basis. My first post will cover what for me is probably the highlight of my year.
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August 16th, 2010The Chesterton Conference: An Insider’s Observationby Kevin O'Brien
Below Dena Hunt waxes joyful on the Chesterton Conference as an Outsider. Allow me to do the same as an Insider.
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August 16th, 2010The Mistake About Distributismby Richard Aleman
(The following is a robust version of the talk I gave to the American Chesterton Society's "ChesterTEN" conference on Friday, August 6th 2010.)
Today we are going to try something a little different. How well it goes down depends on how many cups of coffee you’ve had this morning.
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August 16th, 2010Dappled Things SS. Peter & Paul 2010by Eleanor Bourg Donlon
Like a cool summer breeze, the SS. Peter & Paul 2010 edition of Dappled Things has arrived, clearing the air with it a fresh selection of prose, poetry, and art. Among the offerings in this edition, you will find two essays by Eleanor Bourg Donlon on the subject of evil in English literature that study its manifestations from the profound to the popular.
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August 11th, 2010The Chesterton Conference: An Outsider’s Observationby Dena Hunt
First, the conference wasn’t the purpose of my journey. I intended a brief visit of three days with my friend in Washington, and since the conference was nearby, we decided to attend Friday’s session and Saturday morning’s. Secondly, I’m not a Chestertonian. I “love” Chesterton (I use that word in its common vernacular misuse), but I’m not a fan or a devotee or a scholar—depending on how sundry Chestertonians might define themselves. There are writers, like Chesterton, whom I admire to the point of veneration, but fandom of any kind is not a temperament I’m endowed with.
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August 4th, 2010In Defense of Fencesby Jef Murray
I've been brooding over boundaries: fences, barricades, walls, dikes, moats, hedges and the like. I'm contemplating commodities that separate space from space and vista from vista. "Post-modernist" folk
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August 3rd, 2010Tell Talesby Christian LeBlanc
Reading epic poetry has always been something of a slog for me. This short video provides a stimulating glimpse of how compelling such tales can be when told, not read. The centuries just melt away.
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Reading List
Literary Giants, Literary Catholics
British author Joseph Pearce has firmly established himself as the premier literary biographer of our time, especially in interpreting the spiritual depths of the Catholic literary tradition. In this book, Pearce examines a plethora of authors, taking the reader through a dazzling tour of the creative landscape of Catholic prose…