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 18th, 2010In This Valley of the Slainby Pavel Chichikov

  I belong to a Godfathers’ Circle. It may sound like a meeting of mafia chieftains, but it’s not. We’re a small group of old guys who get together once a month for prayer, a reading of the daily passage in the Gospel,  reflection, meditation, and a little socializing over coffee and pastries. We rarely discuss politics.

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• 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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