Tag Archive for sanity

Solid Intellectual Food In a Meta World

April 15, 2016 Intellectual Formation One comment

As my Junto brothers know, our eldest has been in the process of choosing a college. I have a 15-year history in higher education, as a student and marketing/communication professional, so it’s been interesting to see how different universities pitch themselves to prospective students. I’ve also been asked countless times where we want our teen to go: BigU? Ivy League? Catholic college (and if so, “Catholic” or, like, Newman Guide Catholic)? I have been decidedly unimpressed with most of the materials and approaches we’ve seen, but it wasn’t until this morning that I put my finger on exactly why. As providence would

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Athlete, Hero, Woman!

June 15, 2015 Intellectual Formation, Moral Action 4 comments

America loves sports heroes, especially improbable ones.  That’s why the newest superstar on the scene of women’s sports is garnering such unprecedented accolades (except from the usual Catholic dinosaurs).  With 5 victories in her first 10 LPGA events, this previously unknown woman has rocketed to celebrity status in a matter of a few months.  But what’s more amazing, she’s done it all since declaring her womanhood only a year ago! Unlike most gender transformations, Hank Purtzel’s was a sudden one.  “It was strange,” she says.  “I went home after missing another cut on the PGA Tour, knowing that I had

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We Are Doomed!

March 2, 2015 Intellectual Formation 2 comments

Some examples of our nation’s intellectual atrophy need no color commentary.  If you think that our educational woes are overstated, that our young collegians really do understand the historical foundations of our liberty, and are prepared to responsibly exercise their citizenship, watch and weep! St. Thomas More, pray for us.

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Q Is For Quackery

February 16, 2015 Intellectual Formation, Moral Action No comments

As recently discussed here and here, the craze for redefining our humanity is picking up steam (I use craze in the proper etymological sense of “crazy”).  One trend is to add a Q to the end of the LGBT acronym.  This is not for the nemesis of the Star Trek Next Generation crew (would that it were), but for Queer or Questioning.  It is sort of an “all other” category.  Consider it another weight added to the soap box racer speeding to the bottom of Humanity Hill – the destination is the same, we just keep going faster. Last week

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Do No Harm: More Evidence of the Slippery Slope

January 25, 2015 Moral Action 6 comments

In his most recent post, Didymus shared these words from the Old Testament’s Book of Sirach: “The path of sinners is smooth stones that end in the depths of the nether world” (Sir 21:10). Conservatives are often mocked by their opponents for citing the proverbial slippery slope to rationalize not budging on key issues: if any  seemingly little thing changes, the culture will slide into the abyss and civilization as we know it will be in danger. This “sky is falling” characterization is true at times and might be humorous if the abyss were not yawning before us as we scramble for a foothold. Last

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More Than One Resurrection of the Body

June 6, 2013 Intellectual Formation One comment

When a body of work is republished for a new audience, that is a resurrection of sorts.  I’m thrilled that Ignatius Press has released a new edition of Frank Sheed’s terrific 1953 book Society and Sanity.  Written 60 years ago, the book is brilliantly insightful about the nature of the right ordering of relationships between individuals, families, society and the state, and the inevitable consequences if Caesar usurps roles that are not rightly his.  If that sounds dry, it means that you have never read anything by this masterful wordsmith and thinker, who never wrote a dull sentence in his life.

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