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…
Category: Advancing the Kingdom
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!).…
‘a grave evil and disturbance’
It sounds like a joke, but when asked how the date for Easter is determined each year an acquaintance of mind replied in a tone of offended intelligence: “That’s easy, it’s the Sunday after Good Friday!” How easy it is for us to accept things…
‘Algorethics’ and Purpose
“Artificial Intelligence Will Cause Humans to Think in New Ways” is the title of a recent, thought-provoking article in the Wall Street Journal co-authored by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher. The writers expound on the risks , benefits and unprecedented challenges of Artificial…
Blinding Clarity
When I was young and still possessed of intellectual docility a French Jesuit introduced me to the role of paradox in faith. Paradox, rather than invalidating its tenets, leads us to a deeper understanding of faith. Examples abound: the servant/Savior; God/man; first will be last;…
Empty Tabernacles
The tabernacle was empty, its vigil lamp extinguished. Hope had abandoned the sanctuary. An oppressive emptiness replaced it. I don’t remember to what it referred, but this mysterious passage appeared recently on my computer screen like some dark prophecy. On the same day I read…
‘Gated Paradise’
This description appears in a real estate ad I recently read. The intention is clear and, one assumes, innocent. But, the words do provoke the question: can paradise be gated? People have different opinions about the existence of paradise, and believers have varying concepts of…