I have just received word that, after voting to remove a large statue of St. Junípero Serra that stands in front of their City Hall, the government of Ventura, Calif, (which is in my pastoral region) is now considering removing the image of Padre Serra from the city seal and from the badges of the Ventura police officers.
Category: Word on Fire
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God
I’ve been reading, recently, a good deal of the work of Dietrich von Hildebrand — perhaps not a household name, but in fact one of the greatest Catholic philosophers of the last century.
Unorthodox and the modern myth of origins
Unorthodox, a mini-series that debuted on Netflix a few weeks ago, is the story of a young woman who escapes from her oppressive Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and finds freedom with a group of welcoming friends in Berlin.
Pentecost and the fires in our cities
It is in a way providential that the Feast of Pentecost arrives this year just as our country is going through a convulsive social crisis.
The skepticism of modernity in Laudato Si’
In preparation for my participation in a USCCB sponsored symposium for the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’, I reread the famous and controversial document with some care.
Why we can’t do evil so good may come
There is a curious and intriguing passage in the third chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, which in the context of the missive seems almost tossed-off, but which has proven to be a cornerstone of Catholic moral theology for the past 2,000 years.
One, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church
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One silver lining for me during this weird coronavirus shutdown has been the opportunity to return to some writing projects that I had left on the back-burner.
One of these is a book on the Nicene Creed, which I had commenced many months ago and on which I was making only very slow progress, given my various pastoral and administrative responsibilities.
The last several weeks, I have been working in a rather concentrated way on the Creed book, and I find myself currently in the midst of the section on the Church: “I believe in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.”Gov. Cuomo and God’s noncompetitive transcendence
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Last week, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, made a rather interesting theological observation.
Commenting on the progress that his state has made in fighting the coronavirus, and praising the concrete efforts of medical personnel and ordinary citizens, he said, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.”
Tragedy, contingency, and a deeper sense of God
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I have lived in Santa Barbara, Calif., for the past four years. In that brief time, my neighbors and I have experienced a number of real tragedies.
Just over two years ago, the terrible Thomas Fire broke out in my pastoral region, in the vicinity of Thomas Aquinas College (hence the name).
For a frightening month it made its devastating way from Santa Paula through Ventura, Carpenteria, Montecito, and eventually commenced to devour the foliage on the hills just north of my home.
The coronavirus and sitting quietly in a room alone
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Blaise Pascal said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
The great 17th Century philosopher thought that most of us, most of the time, distract ourselves from what truly matters through a series of divertissements (diversions).
He was speaking from experience. Though one of the brightest men of his age and one of the pioneers of the modern physical sciences and of computer technology, Pascal frittered away a good deal of his time through gambling and other trivial pursuits.