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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April 26th, 2011More Gaelic Beautyby Joseph Pearce
Yesterday I posted a link to a beautiful Marian gaelic hymn. Here's something equally beautiful in the same vein.
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April 25th, 2011The Lord of the Rings: Pagan or Christian?by Joseph Pearce
I've contributed an essay to a new collection of essays on The Lord of the Rings, edited by by BYU history professor, Paul Kerry. The book, entitled The Ring and the Cross, has just been published. Here's an article on the debate between paganism and Christianity in Middle-earth, as discussed in Kerry's book:
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April 25th, 2011A Gaelic Hymn to the Virginby Joseph Pearce
A correspondent has forwarded me this interesting link to a beautiful folk rendition of a Marian hymn whose title translates as "Star of the Sea."
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April 25th, 2011Pope Benedict’s Brilliant Easter Sunday Homilyby Joseph Pearce
The Holy Father's Easter Sunday homily is simply astonishingly brilliant. There's nothing else to be said or done except to point to Benedict and remain in awe-struck silence. Here's the full text:
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April 21st, 2011More Tolkien on TVby Joseph Pearce
Earlier this month, as announced on this site, the hour-long Tolkien programme, Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings:' A Catholic Worldview, was aired on EWTN. Here's a link to a brief review of the show on the Hollywood Jesus website:
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April 20th, 2011Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exileby Joseph Pearce
Yesterday I received via UPS several copies of my latest book, the revised and updated edition of Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile. Originally published by Harper Collins in the UK and by Baker Books in the USA, the new edition, published by Ignatius Press, contains several important revisions and four new chapters.
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April 20th, 2011Great New Artistby Joseph Pearce
My wife was perusing the Distributist Review website and came across a superb new painting by a young Catholic artist, Anthony van Arsdale. Enthused by what she saw, she shared it with me.
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April 19th, 2011Parish Hopping During Lentby Sophia Mason
Because I live in the middle of the Arlington Diocese, I have the good fortune to be able to go "Parish Hopping." One occasionally hears the pejorative "Parish Shopping," a reference to Catholics who go from church to church looking for the one most likely to turn a blind eye to their particular doctrinal or moral irregularities. "Parish Hopping" is another thing altogether, a largely benign phenonemon arising primarily in orthodox dioceses.
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April 18th, 2011Peter Jackson on the New Hobbit Filmsby Joseph Pearce
After many false starts and interminable delays it seems that the filming of the long-awaited film-version of The Hobbit is finally under weigh. Although I have serious misgivings about the way that Tolkien's book will be adapted for the screen, I will be awaiting its release with eager anticipation.
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April 14th, 2011More Shakespeare Nonsense from Hollywoodby Joseph Pearce
It looks like a new Shakespeare movie will be hitting the silver screen soon. The trailer promises epic mystery and betrayal set against a dark, moody London atmosphere. It is a political thriller about Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, whom the movie will claim actually wrote Shakespeare's plays. Set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her, it is the latest nonsense on the life of the Bard to emanate from Tinsel Town.
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April 13th, 2011O Salutaris Hostiaby Joseph Pearce
Just back from my second Lenten visit to the Missionaries of the Poor in the ghettoes of Kingston, Jamaica. I'm in the midst of gathering material for a book on the Missionaries. More on this later. I mention it now simply to explain my prolonged absence from this site. I got home in the early hours of this morning ...
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April 12th, 2011“Jesus, I Will Ponder Now”by Sophia Mason
Every Lent I try to post these verses somewhere.
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April 7th, 2011Sneak Preview of the May/June Issueby Joseph Pearce
The next issue of the Saint Austin Review will be winging its way to the printer next week. It's on the theme of "American Faith & Culture". Here's a sneak preview of some of the highlights:
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April 7th, 2011Speaking Engagements for Aprilby Joseph Pearce
Having spoken at a Catholic homeschool conference in Atlanta last weekend, it dawned on me that I have not posted my customary "upcoming speaking engagements" for the upcoming month. Apart from the aformentioned event that has already come and gone, I only have two other engagements this month.
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April 6th, 2011Ignatius Insight on Iceby Joseph Pearce
The series of audio interviews on the Ignatius Critical Editions that I did with Kris McGregor has now been posted on the Ignatius Insight website.
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April 5th, 2011Remembering Rohanby Jef Murray
Where now the horse and the rider? where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harp-string, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?These lines and more were chanted by Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, and were attributed to a long lost poet of Rohan, the realm of the horse lords from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.
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April 4th, 2011Tolkien on TVby Joseph Pearce
An hour long documentary on J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings that I made with EWTN is being premiered this week. The times are as follows:
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April 2nd, 2011Join Me at This Year’s C.S. Lewis Conference in Oxfordby Joseph Pearce
I hope that visitors to this site will consider joining me and many other admirers of Lewis and Tolkien at this year's Oxbridge Conference organized by the C. S. Lewis Foundation. I'll be present during the first week of the conference in Oxford in late July and will be giving a plenary address on the role of Lewis in my conversion to Christianity, and I'll also be teaching a two-day seminar on C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy.
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March 31st, 2011Ten Reasons Why I Love Lentby Lorraine V. Murray
It may seem strange for someone to say they love a season of repentance, but in fact, I look forward to Lent every year with great enthusiasm. In many ways, I see it as a time when the rubber hits the road for Catholics, as we put aside excuses and really get serious about our faith.
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March 31st, 2011In the Ghettoby Joseph Pearce
I thought some sort of explanation might be necessary for my absence from the Ink Desk over the past ten days or so. It was due to a recent trip to the ghettoes of Kingston, Jamaica, to gather research for a forthcoming book on Father Richard Ho Lung and the Missionaries of the Poor. For those who are not aware of the work of the MOP, their charism is "Joyful Service to Christ on the Cross", a painful paradox that encapsulates the work they do with the poorest of the poor. Founded in Jamaica in 1981 with only three brothers, the MOPs now have around 550 brothers in missions in India, the Philippines, Uganda, and even, oddly enough, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Common Sense 101
Dale Ahlquist, the President of the American Chesterton Society, and author of G. K. Chesterton -The Apostle of Common Sense , presents a book of wonderful insights on how to "look at the whole world through the eyes of Chesterton". Since, as he says, "Chesterton wrote about everything", there is…
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