Devra Torres

A Personalist Universe

Sep. 18, 2012, at 9:52pm

The other day, my husband and I were taking a walk.  We looked up and saw this:

Here are some questions we didn’t ask:

• What could have produced that unusual cloud formation?
• See how the hand of unguided, purposeless coincidence caused those letters to form in the sky?

No, we ruled coincidence out.  In fact, there were three separate things the letters told us.

• First, they were designed. I can’t theoretically disprove that just the right combination of air currents, evaporation and condensation might have produced them.  But surely it’s the least plausible explanation of all.

(Now, if you go to The Cloud Appreciation Society’s website--a delightful place to go in any case--there’s a …

Katie van Schaijik

Two former Muslims; two ways of opposing Islamism

Sep. 18, 2012, at 9:41am

Newsweek is featuring an article by the admirable Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose books Infidel and The Caged Virgin impressed me deeply.  Since reading them, I've been hoping to do an in-depth study comparing and contrasting Islamic and Christian sexual morality.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was raised as a devout, fundamentalist Muslim in Somalia, Saudia Arabia, Ethiopia,and Kenya. When she was a teenager she came across western books, including Jane Austen and Danielle Steel, that awakened in her heart a desire for love.  When her father arranged for her to marry a man she didn't know and didn't care for, she gathered the courage to flee to Holland.  While there, she began working as a translator among …

Devra Torres

Humor and Joy

Sep. 15, 2012, at 2:19pm

Speaking of Cardinal Dolan, and speaking of overcoming pessimism (not to mention speaking of obnoxiously self-referential posts), here's a nice talk of the Cardinal's called "Humor, Joy and the Spiritual Life."

Katie van Schaijik

The Pope goes to Lebanon

Sep. 14, 2012, at 9:36pm

God be with him.  And God bless him for his fearlessness!

I have come to Lebanon as a pilgrim of peace, as a friend of God and as a friend of men. ... Looking beyond your country, I also come symbolically to all the countries of the Middle East as a pilgrim of peace, as a friend of God and as a friend of all the inhabitants of all the countries of the region, whatever their origins and beliefs. ... Your joys and sorrows are constantly present in the Pope's prayers and I ask God to accompany you and to comfort you. Let me assure you that I pray especially for the many people who suffer in this region. The statue of St. Maron reminds me of what you live and endure.

More here.

Katie van Schaijik

Sound advice about the single life starts with personalism

Sep. 14, 2012, at 8:24pm

Anthony Buono, founder of the online dating site, Ave Maria Singles, and a friend of ours, has just come out with his first book.  I love the title: Would You Date You? 

My copy came in the mail today.  As Anthony knows, I tend to be a rather severe critic of other people's dating theories, so I picked this up with some trepidation. I'd so hate not to be able to endorse something by a friend!

So I'm very happy to be able to report: so far so good.  The Forward, by Lino Rulli, is warm and funny and teasing.  Proof positive that Anthony can't possibly be guilty of taking himself too seriously (a common failing of authors of advice books).

Then, on page 2, he neatly explains a core feature of …

Katie van Schaijik

How should a Catholic university treat gay alumni?

Sep. 11, 2012, at 12:43pm

A friend alerted me to this NPR story about our alma mater, Franciscan University.  A facebook group of gay alumni complained to the university about the official description for a sociology course on deviant behavior.

Here's the description:

The behaviors that are primarily examined are murder, rape, robbery, prostitution, homosexuality, mental illness and drug use.

According to fellow alum, Greg Gronbacher, he and another alum contacted the school and asked them to change the description.

The university's attorney responded instead with an email warning them not to use the university's name or logo in their activities.

A few thoughts.

I think NPR and Greg are being needlessly …

Katie van Schaijik

Personalist meditation of the day

Sep. 10, 2012, at 12:25pm

Today's Magnificat meditation, which comes from John Janaro (whose name is not familiar to me) is beautifully personalistic.

My trials have opened my eyes, my ears, and my heart to something I never noticed in my youth.  Maybe it is because I have finally started listening to people.  The fact is that many people are suffering, many of them more than I.  Indeed, suffering is deeper than the immediate external struggles that engage most of us.  Everyone has something missing in life, something that has disappointed, something that does not measure up to a once-cherished hope, something that inhibits freedom, some burden that tires, some hunger that is never satisfied.

People usually …

Katie van Schaijik

Persons present in their works

Sep. 8, 2012, at 12:35pm

Preparing for his Newman class—it begins Tuesday!—Jules bought a new book: Newman and His Contemporaries.  I picked it up this morning.  The essential personalism of the opening lines of the introduction jumped out at me:

The literary critic and biographer Mona Wilson once began an introduction to a selection of Samuel Johnson's prose and poetry with a memorable disclaimer, "I shall say nothing of Johnson's life.  No one should read even a selection from his writings who is not aleady familiar with the man.  Boswell must come first.  This is not to say that he is greater than his writings, or that they are only interesting because he wrote them, but they are the utterances of the whole …

Devra Torres

Judge Not, Even During Election Season

Sep. 7, 2012, at 8:58pm

I saw something Thursday night that surprised me, and it might surprise you, too.

Cardinal Dolan, along with God and Jerusalem, was originally persona non grata at the Democratic National Convention.  No surprise there.  I’m not sure anyone claimed that his original non-invite was a “technical oversight”—though that’s how Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (with an impressively straight face) explained the exclusion of Jerusalem and God.   

The invitation was reluctantly extended in the end, and he took them up on it.

What surprised me was not that he dared mention unborn babies, or religious freedom, or marriage.  I expected that, though I was struck by how gracefully and confidently he managed …

Katie van Schaijik

Whom shall we serve? God or Government?

Sep. 6, 2012, at 1:07pm

Just a week or two ago we heard at Sunday Mass the stirring exhortation from Joshua 24:25

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Personalist that I am, this set me reflecting on a mysterious fact of our being:  Service is an ineradicable exigency of our contingent nature.  We cannot decide whether we will serve, only whom we will serve.  We are not God.  We have no way of explaining our existence, nor any power to set its terms.  We are "handed …

Katie van Schaijik

Mother Teresa and personal graces

Sep. 5, 2012, at 1:56pm

On a business trip to India some time in the early 80s, my parents were with a small group of fellow travelers who got to meet Mother Teresa.  This is how my mother tells the story:

"She came in the room and spoke with a radiant face about how wonderful God is.  As she turned to leave, she stopped, looked at me, walked over to me, took my hands in hers and said, 'I'm praying for your children.'" 

Of course, it's a good bet that a forty-something woman with a wedding band probably has children.  But to me the story felt like a special grace. A very personal grace.

I hope she's praying for me still, from heaven.

Katie van Schaijik

Catholic social teaching and false equivalencies

Sep. 4, 2012, at 4:46pm

Like practically everyone I know, I'm an admirer of Fr. Barron. His clear, incisive and mild-mannered way of defending the faith is a gift for the Church in our day. But in a recent column about the social teachings of the Church, I think he misses the mark by trying too hard to be even-handed.

He begins by laying out two "extremes", as if they're equal and opposite errors.

For many on the left, Paul Ryan is a menace, the very embodiment of cold, indifferent Republicanism, and for many on the right, he is a knight in shining armor, a God-fearing advocate of a principled conservatism.

Mitt Romney's choice of Ryan as running mate has already triggered the worst kind of exaggerated hoo-hah …

Devra Torres

In Praise of Hypocrisy (No, Not Really)

Aug. 31, 2012, at 12:09pm

This quote was brought to my attention by my friend Jennifer, for whom I have enormous respect.  We don’t agree much on politics,

but we do concur on the more important things.  (Yes, there are more important things!). 

I clicked on “like,” but something about the quote bothered me.  It was hard to put my finger on.

It reminded me of St. Francis’ saying, “Preach always!  When necessary, use words.”

Oh, wait.  Turns out he never seems to have said that.  But we all see the point: practice what you preach.  If you don’t, then

• You a hypocrite, and therefore,
• You’re shooting yourself in the foot, because no one’s about to listen to a hypocrite.

So, sure, we can all agree: practice what …

Michael Healy

Reading Casti Connubii (and the Tradition) in Light of the Insights of JPII

Aug. 31, 2012, at 1:36am

So, exactly how are we to regard the personalist insights and interpretations of John Paul II in relation to the traditional Church teachings about marriage, man and woman, equality and leadership, headship and submission?  Evidently, he offers us a tremendous development of the tradition on equality between the marriage partners.  How does this relate to the notion of authority in marriage?  Is JPII's teaching simply a rejection, not only of scripture (as deeply erroneous?) but also of hundreds of years of tradition (no longer indefectible, much less infallible?)?  What would this do to our notions of inerrancy in Scripture and of guidance of the Church by the Holy Spirit in fundamental …

Katie van Schaijik

Do husbands have authority over their wives?

Aug. 29, 2012, at 4:39pm

Here are three things we all agree on about marriage:

1) Men and women are different, and importantly so.  The sexes are not interchangeable.  The "genius" of masculiinity and feminity shape the roles of husband and wife.  Wives want their husbands to be men; men want their wives to be women.

2) Authority is not bad.  It does not imply metaphysical or moral superiority.  (The modernist rejection of all authority is the cause of much misery and moral confusion in the world.)

3) It's never okay to "Lord it over" another person, or to be domineering.  Whatever authority a person has should be exercised in a virtuous, Christilke way, viz., in service of others.

Here is what is in dispute: …

Devra Torres

Overcoming Practical Pessimism

Aug. 29, 2012, at 7:57am

“Remember!  Inside every silver lining is a dark cloud of despair!”

(Many thanks to Richard West for this photo.  For more of his very striking and varied artistry, please see more of his work here.)

I knew a wonderful grandmother whose take on life could be captured in those words.  I couldn’t figure it out—until I became a mother.  Part of being responsible for someone you love is being on continual alert for anything that could possibly go wrong. The world is suddenly full of death traps.  A grape on the floor—choking hazard!   A hitherto harmless pet—smothering hazard!

And later: your daughter’s boyfriend—lifelong-misery hazard!

But it’s not only panicky mothers who tend to look on …

Michael Healy

Equality and Leadership in Marriage: the Example of Van and Davy

Aug. 26, 2012, at 11:12pm

I read with interest the post “Are wives supposed to submit to their husbands?” and the ensuing and intelligent comments.  I couldn’t jump in at the time, as I was out of the country, but considering especially that today’s readings at mass included this passage, I thought I would comment now with a new post.

Certainly, I agree with JPII that a mutual submission in Christ (Eph 5:21 “Being subject to one another, in the fear of Christ” [Douay-Rheims] or “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ” [NAB])—the passage preceding the ones about the relative roles of husband and wife (Eph 5 22-32)—is the key to interpreting the subsequent passages.  Only this interpretation can do …

Michael Healy

Boys Love, Not Just to Hit, But to Get Hit.  Are Girls the Same?

Aug. 24, 2012, at 2:49pm

When I was growing up, I was—unfortunately—a little guy.  Eventually I grew to almost six feet tall (never quite made it, had to settle for 5-113/4), but my growth spurt didn’t hit until the teenage years.  This meant that as a youth in sports I was always small.  How small you ask?  Consider the following.  In elementary school in Montgomery, Alabama, there were several levels of football leagues, depending on weight.  There were leagues for the big guys, the medium-sized guys, and the little guys.  The little guys were called the Pee-Wees.  Amongst the Pee-Wees, there were the big Pee-Wees (Blue) and the little Pee-Wees (Gray).  However, down below the Pee-Wees were the Termites: big …

Jules van Schaijik

Prozac, a consolation for atheism

Aug. 23, 2012, at 12:55pm

Is atheism something we can live with? Can it make sense of the world? Can it sustain us? Give meaning and direction to our lives?

These are the questions taken up by the "New New Atheists" (Alex Rosenberg, Sam Harris, and Alain de Botton) discussed by Chrisopher R. Beha in a recent issue of Harper's Magazine. (The article is available to subscribers only, but Beha also talks about it here. Hat-tip to a facebook friend.)

That God does not exist, these men take to be a firmly established truth. But where does it leave us, in terms of our personal lives? Can atheism replace the consolations and splendors of religion? Can it satisfy man's longing for a good and meaningful life?

It is an old …

Katie van Schaijik

A glaring instance of asking for unprincipled forgiveness

Aug. 22, 2012, at 9:13am

In Todd Akin's apology video, which his campaign dubbed "forgiveness," we find a handy example of the unprincipled variety I've been writing about.

He apologizes, but he declines to take pracitcal responsibility for the damage his remarks did to his cause, the Republican Party, and the voters he was nominated to represent.

Instead, he proceeds as if having said he's sorry, he's done all that can fairly be expected of a man.  Hence, his "please forgive me," only adds to his original offense.  It's as if he says to those he's just betrayed with his boneheadedness, "Now that I've apologized; it's your responsiblity to forgive me and move on."

To be genuinely sorry doesn't mean to feel really …