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.

• January 26th, 2012Back to the Futureby Joseph Pearce

  I feel an irresistible urge to share the brilliance of some sermons on the theology of the Creation narrative in Genesis. I was privileged to be present at these sermons and was gripped instantly by the sheer brilliance of the priest and the way in which he systematically and logically dissected the key issues.

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• January 25th, 2012Catholic Coursesby Joseph Pearce

  I'm delighted to see that the Catholic Courses, recently launched by St. Benedict Press and of which I am executive director, have received great coverage in the National Catholic Register.

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• January 25th, 2012Why Republicans Will Never End Abortionby Kevin O'Brien

  My friend Scott P. Richert has an excellent article on about.com Catholicism entitled Put Not Your Trust in Princes.

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• January 25th, 2012The Chapel of the Soulby Pavel Chichikov

  I’ve just come across a news item here.

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• January 24th, 2012Those are Some “Awfully Nice” “Loose Tights”: Why Paradox Gets Usby Deirdre Littleton

  A piece of old news has just been uncovered regarding a student teacher who was found missing on a hot summer evening last June. She was last sighted all alone grading stacks of exams in a dingy dim lit classroom on Walnut Street. Friends and acquaintances report that her unusually severe case of schizophrenia had become progressively worse with time, and the night before her disappearance, she had been clearly confused, and had displayed a passive aggressive temper which was quite unlike her. 

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• January 23rd, 2012Chesterton in Italyby Joseph Pearce

  I just received notice of the following lecture from the Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture.

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• January 22nd, 2012J.R.R. Tolkien: A Teenager in Loveby Joseph Pearce

  A correspondent from Australia has sent me a very interesting article which makes an unlikely connection between the Jesuit modernist, George Tyrrell, destined to be excommunicated for his criticisms of Pope St. Pius X, and J.R.R. Tolkien's secret teenage love affair.  If the connection between the sublimely orthodox JRRT and the sadly heterodox Tyrrell has whetted your curiosity, read on.

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• January 21st, 2012Etsuro Sotooby Fr. Simon Henry

  I came across this interesting piece on Rome Reports.

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• January 21st, 2012Two New Books for Distributistsby Richard Aleman

  The Sun of Justice (An Essay on the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church) by Harold Robbins (1888-1954) is a classic Distributist text. Robbins, Chairman of the Birmingham branch of the Distributist League and editor for Cross and the Plough, the official organ of the Catholic Land Federation, wrote what Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day described as, “the best thinking ever done on Distributism.” Using the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Leo XIII’s encyclicals, and other authoritative sources, Robbins lends his pen with the goal of demonstrating just how crucial social justice is for the future of the faith, the family, self-sufficiency, and to help us understand the proper role of our public institutions.

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• January 20th, 2012Alban Roe & Nicholas Woodfen - English Martyrsby Joseph Pearce

  As mentioned in an earlier post, I am speaking tomorrow, along with Joanna Bogle and Father Dwight Longenecker, at a conference on English Catholicism in Greenville, South Carolina. Providentially the date of the conference coincides with the feast day of two English Martyrs.

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• January 20th, 2012Remembering Roy Campbellby Joseph Pearce

  In a breach of normal practice, I'm posting the text of a book review that is published in the latest issue of the Saint Austin Review. Although we normally publish only one article from the print edition, together with the table of contents, I feel that the great Roy Campbell is so neglected that Dena Hunt's excellent review of the book warrants the widest audience possible. For those visitors to this site who have committed the cultural sin of not yet subscribing to the magazine, I urge you to do so. In the interim, I urge you to learn more about the neglected and much-maligned poet, Roy Campbell, by reading the following review.

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• January 19th, 2012Edith Nesbit - Literary Convertby Joseph Pearce

  Much to my surprise, I've just discovered that the famous children's writer, Edith Nesbitt, was a literary convert. I have no idea why this fact has escaped my attention until now. I was alerted to the fact by a correspondent. Here's the text of his e-mail:

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• January 18th, 2012A Message for the Homeby Richard Aleman

  “Finance wields an immediate and immense power; but it is like the power of a spell or spoken charm. The victim of the magician… is always partly to blame for his own paralysis.” – G.K. Chesterton.

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• January 17th, 2012Political Independents, Political Independenceby Dena Hunt

  It’s that time again for me to realize that I’m a freak. Public spaces of all kinds are full of the differences among the various contenders for the Republican nomination for the presidency. If I could arrive at those differences, I might feel some measure of progress toward communal discussion. As it is, I’m too far behind even to think about them….

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• January 17th, 2012The Resolutionsby Sophia Mason

  A few months back I began doing periodic ... war bulletins, shall we say? on my blog.  Here's the latest from that master of propaganda, Slangrine:

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• January 16th, 2012More on Martin Luther Kingby Joseph Pearce

  Following my own post on MLK, I'm posting a short piece on Dr King by my friend, Cornelius Sullivan, the fine artist and sculptor whose work is featured in the latest issue of StAR. Cornelius' views are somewhat more subdued than mine! Read on ...

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• January 16th, 2012Secular Saints and Iconsby Joseph Pearce

  As Martin Luther King Day draws to a close, I can't help but utter a plaintive gibe against the rise of secular fundamentalism and its secular "saints". It's not that I have anything in particular against Dr. King, any more than I have anything in particular against Lord Nelson or Napoleon Bonaparte. It's simply that I would rather show reverence and deference to the saints in heaven, canonized by Christ's Mystical Body, the Church, than to genuflect before the secular saints of the seemingly almighty State.

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• January 16th, 2012A Moral Enterprise: America and the Irrelevance of the Tea Partyby Paul Adams

  I recently attended a presentation by a local Tea Party leader about the relevance of his movement.  It’s a good question, given the rapid collapse of TP’s influence, as far as can be discerned from the GOP primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.  

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• January 16th, 2012Marriage and Religious Freedomby Joseph Pearce

  Further to my recent post about the battle to defend marriage, here's an e-mail I've just received from European Dignity Watch, an organization which is battling against the secular fundamentalism of the European Union.

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• January 15th, 2012The Reception of Holy Communionby Fr. Simon Henry

  The Eponymous Flower reports on Bishop Antonio Keller of the southern Brazilian Diocese of Frederico Westphalen following the example given By Pope Benedict. Apparently, a Pastoral Letter issued for Christmas explains that in his Cathedral Holy Communion will be given, as a norm, on the tongue and kneeling. This actually only reverts to the worldwide norm for the way in which Holy Communion is administered as the allowance for receiving in the hand is given by indult - which admittedly most diocese have applied for and received permission to do. To be honest, I'm not sure if kneeling falls into the same category, except that it is always permitted to kneel and no-one can be refused communion should they kneel to receive it (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, written on 1. Juli 2002, Notitiae 2002, S. 582-585). The Bishop's letter also draws attention to other things that apply universally: to fast at least one hour before receiving communion and the necessity of having the right disposition at the reception of Holy Eucharist.

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