Learning to Fail Well by Dan Horan (Dating God)

Dan Horan explores both anecdotal and experiential examples of the modern phenomenon of parents trying to protect their children through adulthood from any experience of failure, which often results in children living with an abject fear of failure and an inability to stretch themselves creatively.  As he notes, “It’s not so much that one’s inability to cope with the disproportionate anxiety from fear of failure makes somebody unintelligent or stupid, it’s that it makes them uncreative because they can never take the risk that comes with creativity.”  He goes on to challenge parents to let their children fail – which ultimately allows them to grow and “to become the beautiful creation intended from the beginning.”

The church needs to decide if it is all in or all out politically by Morna Murray (NCR Today)

Morna Murray takes on the disproportionate focus on the HHS mandate in the Bishops’ reaction to the Affordable Care Act: “In short, the adversity, distraction, rhetoric and polarization created by this issue has dramatically outweighed its importance in the overall effort to implement healthcare reform and improve the quality and access to affordable health care in this country.”  Healthcare reform was badly needed and it is essential that it remains in place and truly meets the needs of all.  And this must go hand-in-hand with efforts to reduce federal deficits while protecting the social safety net for the most vulnerable – all of which the Church could significantly impact if it would use the pulpit to cry out for the most vulnerable and confront those who hope to ignore them.

Who Needs to Win to Win by Jonathan Chait (New York Magazine)

In this lengthy but worthwhile article, Jonathan Chait examines how Republicans are trying to recoup their political losses by playing games — and changing the rules — within the American political system.  Partisan redistricting, efforts to change the way the Electoral College works, attempts to require voter identification, increasing restrictions on early balloting and registering new voters, employing the Senate filibuster in new and unprecedented ways, and turning the court system into a resource for political activism for laissez-faire economic policies have been strategies used to undermine the majority and manipulate the system to gain wins that undermine the majority will.  As Chait notes, “The tradition of expanding the scope of American democracy commands all the retrospective historical glory. But the counter-democratic tradition—a concerted advocacy not of dictatorship but of restraints to prevent the majority of citizens from exercising political power—runs just as long and deep.”

Give it Up by the Editors (America Magazine)

As we prepare for the season of Lent, this article reminds us of the three standard practices that should be our focus during this holy time: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  As the editors note, these practices are closely intertwined: “A deeper relationship with God leads to growing solidarity with the poor, a desire to imitate Christ in his poverty and a hope to be freed from the snares of our consumerist culture.”  They go on to further suggest creative ways to approach these three pillars as we strive to “awaken a deeper reliance on God.”

And a few bonus articles to check out in the wake of Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement:

What Is Pope Benedict’s Legacy in America? by MSW (The New Republic)

Practicing the Self-Gift of Lent: The Resignation of Benedict XVI by Timothy P. O’Malley (Oblation)

The Pope’s Legacy by James Martin, SJ (America Magazine)

Pope Benedict leaves behind legacy full of ups and downs by John Allen (National Catholic Reporter)

Benedict’s Legacy by Drew Christiansen (America Magazine)

Why Benedict Resigned By John Garvey (National Review Online)