“Only two things are certain in this life,” said Benjamin Franklin—“death and taxes.” And when this time of year rolls around, there are plenty of people who begin to wonder if they wouldn’t prefer the former to the latter. The headaches begin with organizing all the necessary forms, records, and paperwork. Then comes the aggravation… Read More A Reason to Look at Taxes Differently This Year
The modern world view, marked by a suspicion of anything not empirical, skeptical to the possibility of transcendence or mystery, is our age’s default perspective. What exists beyond the data points of observable human emotion and action? Our society has no answer. Modernity is the air we breathe, the language we use, the habits we… Read More Beyond Textbooks: Awakening Students to the Transcendent
For decades students and visitors who ascended to the 13th floor of the Hesburgh Library at Notre Dame would find a scene seemingly as constant as the library itself. Emerging from the elevator and passing straight ahead through the stacks, they would come to a glass door. Stepping inside, they would be warmly greeted by… Read More How We Can All Live Like Fr. Ted: Remembering Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC
This post by Brendan Busse, SJ is also featured on The Jesuit Post. At the end of the 5-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Martin Luther King, Jr. noted that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Some days we may feel the curve of this arc but many days… Read More How Long? Not Long: Our Need of Rest and Renewal
A common refrain among Catholics who believe that abortion should be legal is that “no one is pro-abortion.” That’s just not true. This is not a disagreement between culture warriors and those who prefer a different approach. It is between those who can accept reality and those who won’t. Some people simply have no moral… Read More The Promise and Limits of Finding the Common Ground on Abortion
A popular trend in recent years has been to do something positive for Lent rather than to give something up. This ranges from the very challenging (see Kerry Weber’s Mercy in the City) to the more basic (to choose kindness in our daily actions). This seems to align with Pope Francis’ call to give up… Read More You’re Not Too Holy to Give Stuff Up for Lent
Two weekends (and two blizzards) ago, famed Catholic theologian Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J., delivered a presentation for the Boston College Lumen et Vita Conference entitled “Christ and the Pelican Chick: A Hope Renewed?” Johnson’s image of the pelican chick was a provocative one. In her presentation, she explained that pelicans typically give birth to multiple chicks… Read More The Tragic Case of the Pelican Chick: Nature’s Cruelty and God’s Compassion
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