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Black Skirts and Funny Hats

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Google Image I grew up Catholic in the “old church,” that is, before the Vatican Council of the early 1960s when the world’s bishops met in Rome to “turn the church upside down,” as some observers put it. My parents, four siblings and I were practicing Catholics all our lives. We all went to Catholic elementary schools (grades 1-8) and most went to Catholic high schools, taught by men and women members of religious orders. Two of us went to the seminary and became priests. (I received a dispensation from the church after six years and returned to the lay state.) Masses, including the music, were in Latin. The sanctuary surrounding the altar and the nave of the church, where the people mostly knelt, were separated by the communion rail. You had to fast before going to communion and ate no meat on Fridays. Most Catholics attended Mass at least once a week and observed many popular devotions. That was then. This is now. Happy Childhood I should add that mine was a happy childhood an...
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¿Puedes llegar a tener fe solo con pensar?

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Imagen de Google Charles Murray era un chico de un pequeño pueblo de Iowa. Hijo de un ejecutivo de la Corporación Maytag, eventualmente fue a la Universidad de Harvard, donde obtuvo una licenciatura en historia antes de conseguir un doctorado en ciencias políticas en el Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts (MIT).   Luego se convirtió en un comentarista frecuente sobre la vida estadounidense contemporánea, especialmente en lo que respecta a la educación, la política social y el sistema de bienestar, escribiendo artículos para publicaciones nacionales y siendo entrevistado a menudo sobre lo que escribía.   Me lo encontré en YouTube, donde lo estaban entrevistando sobre su nuevo libro, “Taking Religion Seriously.” El entrevistador parecía asombrado por el hecho de que Murray, un agnóstico declarado durante toda su vida – una persona que no afirma ni cree ni deja de creer en Dios – pudiera escribir un libro así. ¿Religión irrelevante? Murray, verás, siempre había seguido...
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Can You Think Your Way to Faith?

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Google Image Charles Murray was a small-town Iowa boy. Son of an executive in the Maytag Corporation, he eventually went to Harvard University where he received a bachelor’s degree in history before getting a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He went on to become a frequent commentator on contemporary American life, especially regarding education, social policy and the welfare system, writing articles for national publications and being frequently interviewed on what he wrote. I came across him on YouTube, where he was being interviewed about his new book, “Taking Religion Seriously.” The interviewer seemed astonished at the fact that Murray, a lifelong, outspoken agnostic – a person who claims neither belief nor unbelief in God – could write such a book. Religion Irrelevant? Murray, you see, had always adhered to the standard mantra of most atheists and agnostics, that religion is unnecessary and irrelevant. Now, in his new book, Murr...
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¿Realmente heredarán la tierra los mansos?

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Imagen de Google No parece que sea así. Esta “Bienaventuranza” en el evangelio de Mateo es posiblemente una de las más difíciles de aceptar porque la evidencia de lo contrario es tan convincente. Los arrogantes, los fuertes, los dominantes y los imperiosos parecen tener un control firme sobre todo lo que pasa en el mundo. Esto es cierto en la política, el gobierno, los deportes, los negocios e incluso, hasta cierto punto, en la iglesia. Los mansos están siendo aplastados. Y esto no es nada nuevo. Durante la vida de Jesús, quien dijo estas palabras sobre los mansos -   que los humildes heredarán la tierra esto - era cierto, tal vez incluso más que hoy. Herodes, llamado “el Grande,” que gobernaba el territorio donde vivió Jesús alrededor del tiempo de su nacimiento, era notoriamente despiadado. Ejecutó a su esposa, a sus hijos, a muchos de sus opositores políticos y a líderes judíos. La Biblia dice que ordenó la ejecución de todos los varones menores de 2 años en y alrededor de B...
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Will the Meek Really Inherit the Earth?

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Google Image It sure doesn’t seem so. This “Beatitude” in Mathew’s gospel is arguably one of the hardest to accept because the evidence for the opposite is so compelling. The arrogant, the strong, the domineering and the imperious seem to have a firm control of all that is going on in the world. This is true in politics, government, sports, business and even, to some extent, the church. The meek are getting hammered. And this is nothing new. During the lifetime of Jesus, who said these words about the meek - that the meek will inherit the earth - it was true, maybe even more so than today. Herod, called “the Great,” who ruled over the territory where Jesus lived at about the time of Jesus’ birth, was notoriously ruthless. He executed his wife, his sons, many of his political opponents and Jewish leaders. The Bible says he ordered the execution of every male under the age of 2 in and around Bethlehem because he heard that Jesus’ birth signified the birth of the "king of the Jew...
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¿Jesús y yo?

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Imagen de Google Justo antes del cambio de siglo XX, nació una niña en una familia de Brooklyn, NY, que era "sólida, patriótica y de clase media", según lo cita Wikipedia.  El padre de la niña era periodista deportivo y perdió su trabajo cuando ella tenía solo nueve años y era muy impresionable. Él y su madre habia casado en una iglesia episcopal, pero su eventual familia de cinco rara vez asistía a la iglesia.  La niña, sin embargo, se interesó por la religión desde pequeña y eventualmente se convirtió al catolicismo. Era una lectora ávida y le gustaban Upton Sinclair y los grandes autores rusos, Dostoyevski y Tolstói. De ellos y otros autores, aprendió sobre capitalismo, socialismo y pobreza extrema. Con el tiempo se convirtió en pacifista, periodista y fundadora del Movimiento del Trabajador Católico y del periódico Catholic Worker. "Radical Política" Muchos de ustedes ya sabrán que estoy escribiendo sobre Dorothy Day, quizás la "radical política...
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“Jesus and Me?”

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Google Image Just before the turn of the 20 th century, a child was born to a Brooklyn, NY, family that was "solid, patriotic, and middle class,"  says Wikipedia. The child’s father was a sportswriter who lost his newspaper job when she was an impressionable nine years old. He and her mother were married at an Episcopal church but their eventual family of five rarely attended church. The girl, however, was interested in religion from an early age, and eventually converted to Catholicism. She was an avid reader and fond of Upton Sinclair and the great Russian authors,  Dostoevsky  and  Tolstoy .  From them and other authors, she leaned about capitalism, socialism and extreme poverty. She eventually became a pacifist, a journalist and founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and Catholic Worker newspaper. "Political Radical" Many of you will already know that I’m writing about Dorothy Day, perhaps the best-known "political radical"  among American Cath...
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