Hail, thou unwedded Bride!
A Homily by St. Gregory Palamas: On the Dormition of our Supremely Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Dormition/Assumption of Our Most Blessed Lady
Hail, thou unwedded Bride!
A Homily by St. Gregory Palamas: On the Dormition of our Supremely Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Case for Early Marriage
Bottom line: Biology is telling our young people to get married soon. Society, with its senseless expectation that everyone needs to go to college, is telling them to wait. Add to that the big corporate-inspired mobility that moves families around from place to place, forcing us to reduce the definition of the family as the "nuclear family" (sanz aunts, uncles and cousins) and you have a culture where young couples are estranged from the support of a larger family unit. The answer so far: Preach abstinence. Make virginity pledges. Have chastity balls. Push courtship.
All fine and good, but we still have the central problem: we expect these young people to wait ten, maybe fifteen years, before they can fulfill nature's call for them to marry. The answer? How about early marriage? Does everyone indeed need to go to college? Why not have apprenticeship programs that allow young people to start work and be productive as soon as possible (say, at 18 or 19)?
Maybe the economic slowdown, with peak oil and rising fuel prices, can be good for us, forcing us to live closer to our extended relatives, and providing the support needed for early marriage. If they are not called to a life of celibacy, then we should encourage some of our young people to marry soon, and facilitate, rather than get in the way of, their marriage with unrealistic expectations. That means making it possible for them to make a living that can sustain family life at a much earlier age. This will take the support of family (which will include grandma and grandpa, aunties and uncles, and a plethora of cousins, all living close by), church and community. The question is: Can, and will, our culture make such a transition?
Yes, it will mean early maturity, rather than extended adolescence.
Read the article here
Hat tip: The Young Fogey
Postscript: What might actually mitigate against early marriage is no-fault divorce.
All fine and good, but we still have the central problem: we expect these young people to wait ten, maybe fifteen years, before they can fulfill nature's call for them to marry. The answer? How about early marriage? Does everyone indeed need to go to college? Why not have apprenticeship programs that allow young people to start work and be productive as soon as possible (say, at 18 or 19)?
Maybe the economic slowdown, with peak oil and rising fuel prices, can be good for us, forcing us to live closer to our extended relatives, and providing the support needed for early marriage. If they are not called to a life of celibacy, then we should encourage some of our young people to marry soon, and facilitate, rather than get in the way of, their marriage with unrealistic expectations. That means making it possible for them to make a living that can sustain family life at a much earlier age. This will take the support of family (which will include grandma and grandpa, aunties and uncles, and a plethora of cousins, all living close by), church and community. The question is: Can, and will, our culture make such a transition?
Yes, it will mean early maturity, rather than extended adolescence.
Read the article here
Hat tip: The Young Fogey
Postscript: What might actually mitigate against early marriage is no-fault divorce.
Obamacare: A Distributist Perspective
Can a distributist support HR 3200?
Healthcare and subsidiarity: Local solutions are better.
Donald Goodman at The Distributist Review looks at the pros and cons of the proposed bill.
Are local systems possible? Certainly. The first hospitals in the Western world, of course, were Catholic hospitals, and they treated the poor---and everyone else---for free. In other words, they were operated on a purely charitable basis, generally by religious, who didn't expect payment for their work because they were doing it for the glory of God, not for their own pocketbooks.
Read article here
Healthcare and subsidiarity: Local solutions are better.
Donald Goodman at The Distributist Review looks at the pros and cons of the proposed bill.
Are local systems possible? Certainly. The first hospitals in the Western world, of course, were Catholic hospitals, and they treated the poor---and everyone else---for free. In other words, they were operated on a purely charitable basis, generally by religious, who didn't expect payment for their work because they were doing it for the glory of God, not for their own pocketbooks.
Read article here
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tomas Luis de Victoria's Salve Regina
#t=502
Image credit
In honor of our Most Holy, Most Pure, Immaculate Lady Mother of God and Blessed Virgin Mary, the Birth-Giver of our God!
Image credit
In honor of our Most Holy, Most Pure, Immaculate Lady Mother of God and Blessed Virgin Mary, the Birth-Giver of our God!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Eunice Shriver, Requiescat in Pace!
She has been hailed as the "Pro-Life Kennedy." Her work in establishing the Special Olympics, which transformed "America's view of the Mentally Disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes"-in short, full human beings, made in the image of God just like the rest of us-is a resounding testament to her conviction that all human life is sacred and must not only be protected, but celebrated.
May God receive her in His Kingdom, where the faces of the saints shine with the everlasting glory of Him who trampled down death by death.
+Memory Eternal! +Memory Eternal! +May her memory be eternal!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Caritas in Veritate: A Mixed Blessing
Or: "There is no such thing as Catholic (or Orthodox) economics, any more than there is any such thing as Catholic (or Orthodox) physics"-The Young Fogey (parenthetical addition mine)
The recent papal encyclical, I think, is sound. It all depends on how one interprets "society." If by "society" we mean "government," then I must voice my most vehement disagreement. The equation of "society" with "government" is a faulty one, since governments are formed by societies for the peace and well-ordering of citizens, allowing them to engage in their business lawfully and peacefully. Government is a product of society, and not the other way around.
If by "society" we mean the three pillars of civilization-family, faith and community-then I think the encyclical is right on, and could be a boon to the Distributist movement.
Read the whole article here, from The Distributist Review
The recent papal encyclical, I think, is sound. It all depends on how one interprets "society." If by "society" we mean "government," then I must voice my most vehement disagreement. The equation of "society" with "government" is a faulty one, since governments are formed by societies for the peace and well-ordering of citizens, allowing them to engage in their business lawfully and peacefully. Government is a product of society, and not the other way around.
If by "society" we mean the three pillars of civilization-family, faith and community-then I think the encyclical is right on, and could be a boon to the Distributist movement.
Read the whole article here, from The Distributist Review
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