The media is abuzz with rumors that extraterrestrial beings are monitoring our planet. Surely, if these visitors are even nominally intelligent, they must be amused by us homo sapiens and our habit of linguistic contradiction. Consider the popular uses of the terms pro-choice and discrimination. …
Category: Advancing the Kingdom
Noun or verb?
Are you a logophilic nerd? Are you inebriated by verbal nuance, troubled by the mutability in the meaning of words? If so, have no fear. You’re not alone and your condition may be instructive. For instance, it is illustrative to consider the different implications of…
Teaching Spiritual Things Spiritually
Because of their interest in the works of the Church around the world, our donors are aware of the vibrant growth the faith is experiencing in the southern hemisphere. Parish communities are expanding, churches are bursting at the seams during Sunday liturgies, and – especially…
Rebounding the Course of Evolution
“Do we accept the idea, strongly supported by fact, that the individual man cannot achieve his wholeness….except in solidarity with all other men, present, past and future? If we do, the awareness aroused in us of being a responsible element in a rebounding course of…
Unicity and Aseity
The scandal of particularity is a phrase which means different things to different people. For many, it refers to God’s selection of the Jews to be his Chosen People through whom the salvation of the world would be wrought. Why would he bestow this privilege…
CST and Philanthropy
Contrary to what some might think, Catholic social teaching (CST) is not a modern concept. It is rooted in scripture, in the deliberations of the early Church, and in the subsequent writings of numerous theologians and philosophers. The popular understanding is that CST attained its…
Self-service or self-help?
Readers older than I may recall the Horn and Hardart Automats in New York and Philadelphia in the 1900s. By placing a few coins in a slot a hungry customer could open one of many small glass windows and retrieve a reasonably fresh meal. It…
Detachment
In common parlance there are two expressions that offer the proverbial food for thought. Though they are seemingly unrelated, they share one aspect. The first, “He can’t manage the truth”, has two possible meanings. One is that an individual denies the truth by ignoring it…
Memorable or unforgettable?
Consider the difference in the terms memorable and unforgettable. There are people, places and experiences that impress us so greatly we choose to remember them. We cherish, even nurture, our recollection of them. They are memorable. Others impress us in ways we may choose not…
The reverence of gratitude
If you’re like me, you are embarrassed to admit ignorance of the obvious. My recent humiliation occurred when someone explained that the word ‘alphabet’ comes from alpha and beta, the first two letters of that millennial old lexical foundation, the Greek alphabet. (Go ahead, laugh!).…