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New Report Analyzes Origins and Phenomena Behind Abuse in France’s St. John Community…
“Many people around couldn’t imagine what was going on, myself included, even though I’d been a prison chaplain for a long time and thought I’d seen and heard everything,” he said. For Leyds, the novelty brought out by this report is the phenomenon of psychological control, made possible by intrusion into a person’s spiritual and contemplative life. “The abuse scandals of recent years have mainly concerned, in most cases, clergymen who used their positions of authority to physically abuse minor boys. Now we’re becoming aware of the existence of mystical kind of abuse, which comes on top of physical abuse, and consists [of] a perversion, a confiscation of the intimate link with God.” Disconnection from institutional Church More in Europe Another central element of th...
For Catholic science geeks, this spot in Indiana is the place to be for the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse…
‘The heavens declare the glory of God,’ says Psalm 19, ‘and the firmament proclaims the works of his hands’ Seeing a total eclipse of the sun is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many have seen a partial eclipse at some point, but it is unfortunate that the vast majority of people have never seen or will never see one of nature’s most wondrous spectacles — a total eclipse of the sun. But on April 8, 2024, millions of Americans will be in the right place and right time to see the solar eclipse. The fully-eclipsed sun will cast the moon’s shadow, or the path of totality, as it sweeps at 1500 mph across Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont and Maine. As for me, I’ll be watching the eclipse at the Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center just west of Bloomington, Indiana, as...
This Sunday, the Grave Danger and Devastating Consequences of Loving Family More Than God…
Chances are you or someone you know is failing to follow the warning Jesus gives on the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. And chances are, this doesn’t feel like a failure at all. It feels like the loving, righteous thing to do. But what Jesus warns about in Sunday’s Gospel is one of the greatest threats the Church faces in any age, and failing to listen to his warning has literally laid waste to the Catholic faith in large parts of the world today. What Jesus warns about is loving your family more than you love him. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me,” he says. The first place we see the impact of this is in daily routines — morning, noon and night. In the morning, we have the intention to ...
‘Nefarious’: Screwtape Meets Hannibal Lecter…
Skip to content Reading “The Screwtape Letters” can be a creepy and unsettling experience because C.S. Lewis does not merely take us into the head of the human who is experiencing temptation, but into the malevolent mind of the devil himself. This same psycho-dramatic technique is employed by the directors of the recently released horror film, “Nefarious,” in which a serial killer appears to be demonically possessed. Perhaps the darkest of all C.S. Lewis’s works and probably the strangest is The Screwtape Letters in which the narrative voice is that of a demon giving instructions to a junior devil. Throughout its pages, Screwtape teaches Wormwood, the novice demon, how to work and worm his way within the mind and emotions of his human victim, offering suggestive rationalizations and ...
America’s floating Overseas Highway, an engineering marvel, stretches 113 miles into the open ocean…
The Overseas Highway actually started as the Over-Sea Railroad, and it was the brainchild of visionary developer Henry Morrison Flagler (known as “The Father of Modern Florida”). In 1870, Flagler co-founded the Standard Oil Company alongside business magnate John D Rockefeller, and it became one of the world’s largest and most powerful corporations at the beginning of the 20th Century. After visiting Florida and recognising “The Sunshine State’s” tourism potential, Flagler poured much of his wealth into the region, building luxury resorts that transformed one of the US’ poorest states into a winter paradise for Gilded-Age travellers from the Northeast US. Yet, there was no way for guests to get to Flagler’s opulent-but-remote resorts. So in 1...
American summer, Roman art, and Russian icons…
American summer, Roman art, and Russian icons Skip to content Happy Friday friends, Two quick bits of housekeeping before we get started: Earlier this week I sent out a letter to our free readers, offering something of a rationale for where we are with The Pillar right now. After some pretty important stories we’ve covered this week, and with more to come, it’s our best effort at articulating how we’re approaching the work we’re doing, and what we want this project to be for and within the life of the Church right now. If you have a moment, please do read it. The second thing is to remind you all, if you need reminding, that next week is the Fourth of July. So, JD will be on vacation next week, news permitting, and there will be no newsletter on Tuesday. I’m looking forwa...
Judge Dismisses Texas Monastery’s Lawsuit Against Fort Worth Bishop; Arlington Police Say ‘Case Is Now Considered Closed’…
“This decision indicates that anyone who goes into a Catholic church in Texas can be required to turn over his mobile device, the church can make a copy of all of its contents, keep them for an indefinite period of time, trounce private citizens’ constitutionally-protected civil liberties, and that the Catholic Church may do all of this without any practical justification whatsoever,” he said. “And not only that, but that a Catholic bishop may publicly defame a Catholic to the media multiple times, and Catholic priests may freely manifest Catholics’ alleged sins to the entire world without any repercussion, either from the Vatican or the civil justice system.” In a statement, Bishop Olson said he was “grateful” for the judge’s ruling. “The decision vindicates our steadfast belief that this...
6 Things You Should Know About Sts. Peter and Paul…
The Church celebrates the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29th. Here are 6 things to know and share about these incredible saints! Let’s talk about Saint Peter first: Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP 1. Saint Peter’s name was originally Simon and he was a fisherman of Galilee. 2. He was one of the 12 apostles. His brother, Andrew, introduced him to Jesus. 3. Saint Peter struggled with doubt and human weakness, yet Jesus still chose him! 4. Saint Peter was the first Pope. The Catholic Church can trace the succession of every pope back to Saint Peter! Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP 5. The Acts of the Apostles illustrate his role as the Church’s head–the rock upon which Christ would build His Church. 6. He died by crucifixion. Tradition says he requested an upside-down crucifixion...
Sir Alec Guinness was a star beyond Star Wars…
Skip to content For most people, the name of Sir Alec Guinness is associated with his playing of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy. Such an association is understandable enough but it does scant justice to Sir Alec’s true legacy as one of the greatest actors of the twentieth century. He was a fine Shakespearean actor, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud as the most illustrious and successful of those who made the transition from stage to film in the years following World War Two. Prior to the war, he had made his way up through the billing, from minor roles, such as Osric in Hamlet, which he played as a twenty-year-old in 1934, to playing the role of Hamlet himself in 1938 and Macbeth the following year. Throughout his life, he contin...
From Nairobi to La Paz, here are the 10 highest capital cities in the world…
By pvandenbos Read time: 0 minutes Some travelers are drawn to locations high up in mountain ranges, offering breathtaking views of sprawling landscapes below. When the destination is the capital city of a country, it often makes a place even more intriguing. The combination of a high altitude and national importance can create a unique urban character — as found in these 10 highest-elevation capital cities around the world. 10. Nairobi, Kenya – 5,889 Feet Photo credit: Aleksandar Todorovic/ Shutterstock With a name derived from the Maasai phrase enkare nyrobi, meaning “cool water,” Nairobi is the bustling and modern capital of Kenya. The foundations for the East African city, originally an area of swampland, were laid in 1899. British colonists established a railway depot here due to its ...
How philosophy’s big 17th-century “everything must go” sale ruined beautiful art…
Sometime during the 17th century, philosophy held a big rummage sale. “Everything Must Go,” particularly the antiquated and popish. By Carrie Gress The art world is often daunting. It can feel esoteric and inaccessible, with the criteria for what is beautiful, popular, and expensive changing quickly according to whim. Few of us realize that what we think about art is laden with ideas from Descartes, Hobbes, Kant, Marx, Hegel, Nietzsche and so on. By and large, these men have all added to the intellectual soup of our contemporary world. We think their thoughts unthinkingly. Monreale Cathedral, Siciliy, 12th century. (Wikicommons, Berthold Werner) The influence of these thinkers goes well beyond art, but art provides a lens to tease out the problems more readily because we ...
These two areas of gender activism require clarity and forthrightness from our bishops…
(Image: Piotr Łaskawski/Unsplash.com) At their June 2023 gathering, the United States bishops voted to revisit a section of Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, the latest edition of which was published in 2016. The bishops will review Part III of the document, which offers directives on patients’ rights, the responsibilities of health care professionals and specific areas of potential concern. Not included in the present version are issues related to purported treatments and remedies for gender dysphoria. Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, the head of the committee on doctrine, proposed -and the bishops voted to approve—the incorporation of a doctrinal note issued in March of 2023 that addresses these matters: These interventions differ in the magnitude of...
