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 13th, 2012Defending Marriageby Joseph Pearce

  I can't help feeling ambivalent about the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Those who are most "pro-life" also seem to be manically attached to a neo-conservative view of foreign policy, which will plunge the United States into another disastrous war, perhaps against Iran, at first, and then against an increasingly Islamicized Arab-world.

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• January 12th, 2012Batter up! A New Member on the Teamby Deirdre Littleton

  Back to Florida for the final stretch—my last semester of college! I love the Sunshine State, but it's all so eerily familiar... reminds me of a recent Grinch-green Christmas back home in the Chicago suburbs. It seems like dear old Chicago got hit on the head too many times and forgot her name. She's traded in her blustery blizzards and windstorms for a trendy "Global Warming Fanatic" banner, and now she's trying to pass off as Sunshine City.

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• January 9th, 2012Saints and Sleuths at Seton Hallby Joseph Pearce

  Just received from the G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture:

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• January 9th, 2012Catholic England Comes to the Protestant Bible Beltby Joseph Pearce

  I'm delighted and honoured to be one of the speakers at a conference on English Catholicism in Greenville, SC, on Saturday, January 21st.

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• January 9th, 2012Advice to Aspiring Actorsby Kevin O'Brien

  A friend of mine who's done lots of community theater emailed me about her first audition for a professional acting troupe. She did not make call-backs, and might have had a shot at chorus, but because she didn't know tap, they didn't consider her.

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• January 8th, 2012The Year of Faithby Fr. Simon Henry

  The Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith has published a Communique today with pastoral recommendations for the YEAR OF FAITH which is to begin on 11 October 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, and will conclude on 24 November 2013, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Universal King. The Holy Father's aim in promulgating this Year is to focus the attention of the Church on the theme which, since the beginning of his Pontificate, has been closest to his heart: the encounter with Jesus Christ and the beauty of having faith in Him.

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• January 8th, 2012The Cult of Chanceby Kevin O'Brien

  I am reading as many books as I can by Fr. Stanley Jaki, in preparation for my one-man show, Science and Religion, in which I will portray Fr. Jaki at the Portsmouth Institute Conference next June.

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• January 6th, 2012The Importance of Fantasyby Abigail C. Reimel

  During this modern age it may seem like one’s time would be wasted reading tales of elves, dwarves, and dragons. Why would such smart, technically advanced people want to waste their lives on such things? Aren’t these imaginative tales of good versus evil children’s novels, to be outgrown like the crib and the rocking horse? A look at modern literature would make it seem that way.

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• January 6th, 2012The Church and the Nazisby Ed West

  The year after Queen Elizabeth II's successful visit to Ireland the Republic is set to pardon 5,000 Irish soldiers who deserted to fight for the British against the Nazis.

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• January 6th, 2012More Re Philanthropyby Bruce Fingerhut

  Dear Friends:

  I don't know whether you are familiar with Philanthropy Daily, an online newsletter edited by Jeffrey Cain, who, with Jeremy Beer, founded American Philanthropic, LLC. Below is a fine short article from Scott Walter, one that ties private philanthropy to private property. The hero of this piece is none other than Pat Moynihan, who needs no introduction.

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• January 5th, 2012Bishop of Lancaster on things Catholic in name onlyby Fr. Simon Henry

  Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster has issued a Pastoral Letter which has attracted some attention. It is principally about evangelisation and how the Church is to go about it in changing circumstances. He challenges his people to think about evangelising their lapsed family, friends and neighbours.

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• January 4th, 2012I May Not Know Much about Art, but I Know What I Don’t Likeby Kevin O'Brien

  Comments at my previous post have inspired me to elaborate a bit about one of the major stumbling blocks in Literary Criticism.

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• January 4th, 2012We Doth Protest Too Muchby Kevin O'Brien

  I've figured it out. It explains so much. A great many of my Catholic friends are simply Protestants. They object to and Protest not only many basic Catholic teachings, but the whole tenor and worldview of the Catholic Church. Included in this are a great many self-consciously "real Catholics" and "uber-Catholics."

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• January 3rd, 2012The Best Books I Read in 2011by Joseph Pearce

  Every year, Carl Olson of the Ignatius Insight website asks a selection of authors to list the best books that they've read in the preceding twelve months. Once again, I'm honoured to be included amongst these selected authors and have given my own customary list of the books I've most enjoyed reading in 2011.

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• January 3rd, 2012Confident Presentation of the Faithby Fr. Simon Henry

  I can't recall when I last - if ever - went to an English diocesan website and thought, "Wow, that's really good!" But if you go the the Diocese of Lancaster site the home page greets you with this video unashamedly announcing who and what the Catholic Faith is. 

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• January 1st, 2012Secret Altars and English Martyrsby Joseph Pearce

  Further to my recent post about the great English Martyr, St. Thomas Becket, a priest in Canada has sent me the link to a shrine to the English Martyrs in Lancashire.

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• December 30th, 2011Napoleon and the Pharisees, Becket and the Innocentsby Dena Hunt

  On this feast day of the Holy Innocents, I’d like to think just a bit about the “innocents”. I think our use of the term to refer to the millions of innocent children who are killed by abortionists with the permission of their mothers is not at all a misapplication, but it may be a bit narrow when we think of victims, and it may be a bit shallow when we think about the consequences of secularization.

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• December 29th, 2011Remembering Thomas Becket and the Holy Innocentsby Joseph Pearce

  Today is the feast of St. Thomas Becket who was martyred on this day in 1170. His martyrdom reminds us that secular fundamentalism is not a new phenomenon.

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• December 28th, 2011Be courageous in working for a return to the true liturgy of the Churchby Fr. Simon Henry

  The New Liturgical Movement reports on the 20th general assembly of the FIUV (Internationalis Una Voce) held this past November 5-6 in Rome, and on December 19th the same issued their written report coming out of that general assembly. It draws particular attention to the contents of a letter which was written by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith—former secretary of the CDW—to the participants of that assembly.

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• December 28th, 2011Our Literary Magazineby Dena Hunt

  We have plenty of Catholic theological, economic, political, cultural, and social commentary in books and periodicals, print and online. We have plenty of sources that talk about art from a Catholic perspective. What we don’t have is good Catholic art about which to talk! Why is that? Every so often, someone whines that there are no good Catholic writers any more—no Graham Greenes, no Flannery O’Conners. That’s not true. What’s missing is venue.

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