tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21546458211048739712024-03-14T07:06:03.255-07:00Brotherhood of the Common Life+20+C+M+B+13+ A Chronicle of the Catholic Ordinary True, Good, and BeautifulBrother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-39951300715724875912013-10-18T03:59:00.004-07:002013-10-18T04:00:05.069-07:00Phillip Rivers: A Family Man to Admire...<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
From <a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2013/10/17/espn-fires-off-question-to-pro-life-qb-philip-rivers-attacking-his-large-family/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifenews%2Fnewsfeed+%28LifeNews.com%29">Lifenews:</a></div>
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<a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9540219/san-diego-chargers-qb-philip-rivers-answers-fans-questions-espn-magazine" style="color: #154e70;">ESPN Magazine</a> fired a number of questions from fans at San Diego QB Phillip Rivers. One of them is wildly inappropriate.</div>
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Rivers, you may know, is a pretty serious Catholic. He’s got six kids and I think I remember reading that he’s got one on the way. But check out this question that critiques Rivers for having so many children. Now, you can question the fan’s idiocy but what kind of jerks work for ESPN that they would pick this question out of the hat to present to Rivers.</div>
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<a href="http://lifenews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/philiprivers.jpg" style="color: #154e70;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-59808 alignright" src="http://lifenews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/philiprivers.jpg" height="213" style="border-style: none; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 1em 1em;" width="356" /></a>Six kids? Regardless of your profession, it’s impossible to be a good parent to six kids. Not enough hours in the day.<br />
– From TheBigLead.com comments</div>
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It’s a two-year rotation: Once the diapers come off of one, we usually have a newborn. And we have another one on the way, due in October. I help when I can, but my wife, Tiffany, is the key. My big, growing family keeps everything balanced and grounded. My oldest is 11 now, and the kids are getting into football. They’re Daddy’s biggest fans, and they don’t get on you as bad as most fans. If you throw an interception, they still love you.</div>
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That’s a heckuva’ answer to a completely inappropriate question pushed by ESPN.</div>
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Rivers is a class act to respond in that way. Good guy.</div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-88261957194109656562013-08-28T19:17:00.001-07:002013-08-28T19:17:20.674-07:00The Art of the Beautiful<h2 class="title" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Palatino, serif; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 21.59375px;">The</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 21.59375px;"> </span><a href="http://www.catholicartistssociety.org/" style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 21.59375px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Catholic Artists Society</strong></a></span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 21.59375px;"><span style="font-size: small;"> and the Thomistic Institute</span><span style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"> are pleased</span></span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21.59375px;"> </span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21.59375px;">to announce a 6-part lecture series on the nature, purpose and value of the arts…</span></h2>
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<span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable" style="display: block;"><a href="http://www.thomisticinstitute.org/nyartists/2013/7/29/the-art-of-the-beautiful.html"><img alt="" src="http://www.thomisticinstitute.org/storage/TheArtoftheBeautiful_medium.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1375110406592" style="border: 0px none;" /></a></span></div>
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Click on Image to go to the Thomistic Institute Website</div>
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The monthly, Saturday-night series will take place in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village at the <a href="http://www.catholiccenternyu.org/" style="color: #2b2b2b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="NYU Catholic Center"><strong>Catholic Catholic Center at NYU</strong></a>, and will feature talks by six renowned philosophers, theologians and artists. It is directed to professional artists in all disciplines, students and patrons of the arts, and to all those who take in interest in culture and artistic endeavor. Each lecture will be followed by a reception and the liturgy of sung <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04187a.htm" style="color: #2b2b2b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Compline</strong></a>.</div>
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Attendance is free but space will be limited. For more information, please contact catholicartistssociety@gmail.com or visit www.thomisticinstitute.org/nyartists</div>
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Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-60687544211629687872013-08-28T18:58:00.005-07:002013-08-28T18:59:20.817-07:00Pope Francis: “Three Desires”: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth.<br />
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<a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-tells-young-people-to-make-noise">2013-08-28 Vatican Radio</a></div>
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday afternoon met with a group of about 500 young people from the Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio in St. Peter’s Basilica. The youth are on a pilgrimage which is part of their diocesan celebration of the Year of Faith.<br />
The Pope began his greetings by explaining why he agreed to the meeting.<br />
“I did it for selfish reasons, do you know why? Why I like being with you? … Why I like being with young people?” the Pope asked. “ Because you have in your heart a promise of hope. You are bearers of hope. You, in fact, live in the present, but are looking at the future. You are the protagonists of the future, artisans of the future.”<br />
<b>Explaining what he meant, Pope Francis said young people have “three desires”: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth.</b><br />
“And these three desires that you have in your heart, you have to carry them forward, to the future,” he said. “<b>Make the future with beauty, with goodness and truth</b>. Do you understand? This is the challenge: your challenge…you can do it: you have the power to do so. <b>If you do not, it is because of laziness. … I wanted to tell you: Have courage</b>. <b>Go forward. Make noise</b>.”<br />
He said making noise means going “<b>against this civilization that is doing so much harm. Got that? Go against the tide, and that means making noise. Go ahead. But with the values of beauty, goodness and truth.”</b><br />
The bishop of the Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, Gianni Ambrosio, told Vatican Radio what he hoped the youth would get out of the meeting.<br />
“I told the young people that this experience must first light our path: knowing that our path is lit and there are many people who have gone before us, who gave us the light of faith,” Bishop Ambrosio said. “Not only that, but also we are accompanied by the presence of the Risen Christ who is in our midst, and the Church continues the mission of Jesus, which is to give the children of God the possibility of a way that leads to the goal, to salvation.”</div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-64379251364217222672013-08-17T08:30:00.002-07:002013-08-20T16:38:25.518-07:00The Harrowing of Hell<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnEzUto-Yz7YsmunXIxKKoY4hyphenhyphenrJifQrC2ZgtqRuWeAeXcJDv0IAw4HrHu0R3zwngG86cIF954UW_U8JzSO99A3FEHvRNyaUeHmUUksMVjXkIhYGo1B2B8Psl32zoo5Gt0pnAWIHBs7BE/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnEzUto-Yz7YsmunXIxKKoY4hyphenhyphenrJifQrC2ZgtqRuWeAeXcJDv0IAw4HrHu0R3zwngG86cIF954UW_U8JzSO99A3FEHvRNyaUeHmUUksMVjXkIhYGo1B2B8Psl32zoo5Gt0pnAWIHBs7BE/s1600/download.jpg" /></a><b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">A good friend of mine</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is a cloistered
monk of an Eastern Rite Byzantine Monastery, and every few months, they
send out a periodical with a few theological writings or meditations and I was
recently taken with a particular piece that was done on a lost piece of art and
a very infrequently taught piece of tradition and scripture. I will
attempt to summarize it here for you, for you will quite likely find it
intriguing and poignant for today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One of the most uncommon
Resurrection icons is that of the "Harrowing of Hell". Though
this has been commonly held by Christians since very early times, it is only
mentioned in scripture vaguely (cf. Eph 4:9, I Pet. 3: 18-20). Though
this would have been a common theme in Medieval times, now it is only
occasionally encountered by students of literature or historians of art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rest of us may be surprised at
how separated we are from this teaching and especially the art. When the
definition of the word "harrow" is looked up, you will find that
farming is the central theme of the word. It means to break up the soil,
pulverize, and level the ground after plowing. Basically it give the idea
of breaking up large clods of soil, or in a like manner, to lacerate, torment,
or harass. The Hell being referenced here would not be the place of
eternal damnation, but the place to which Christ descended in the Apostles
Creed. It would be the abode of the dead, referred to by Jesus in the
Gospels (cf. Mt. 25:10, Lk. 13:29; 14:15; 16:22; 23:43). This would have
been known to the Greeks as Hades, and to scholastic theologians as the
"Limbo of the Fathers".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">God created man for
happiness with Himself and placed him in Paradise, but through sin, man chose
another option and broke that relationship, subjecting all descendants to the
death of sin- even the just would be subjected to it and be deprived of the
vision of God. They would remain imprisoned until the Savior would come
to release them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Through the Precious
Blood of the Cross, Christ Jesus died so that the keys to the realm of death
would be stolen, the sting of death would be vanquished, and the bars of Hell
would be shattered. As the soil may be harrowed to allow for new growth,
Christ has Harrowed Hell so that life might spring forth. Death would no
longer have power over mankind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the picture above
known as "The Harrowing of Hell", it represents the effect of Christ
rather than the event. Christ is portrayed not coming from the tomb, as
we are used to in Resurrection art, but Himself raising us from the dead.
Standing victorious on the demolished gates of Hell, he is forcefully
pulling Adam and Even from their tombs. Prophets, Patriarchs, kings, and
Righteous men of old stand in awe, witnessing His saving power. Scattered
below him are the broken locks and bolts- He has destroyed our prison of sin
and death, and we have been set free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The grip of this world
and its securlarist movement seems powerful and almost an unstoppable force,
but what is not often remembered by Catholics today is that what Christ did
once, he does for all time. Through the Sacraments and Spiritual Weapons,
such as the Rosary, we invoke Christ's power to "Harrow" that which
threatens us. He tramples and pulverizes the soil ahead of us so that the
seeds of the Springtime may be planted. We only need to remember this
when faced with uneven turf ahead, or rocks in the soil, or underbrush in the
way. Christ can and will Harrow the death that faces us eye to eye so
that we need not fear. Ploughshares in this sense are still the weapon
they were fashioned from- to destroy the gates of Hell and to shatter death, so
that Christ may Reign!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">+Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-31561822277793943682013-08-17T04:37:00.001-07:002013-08-17T04:39:26.064-07:00The Flight From ConversationThe following is an article penned for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">New York Times back in April of 2012</a> by a psychologist, author, and professor at M.I.T. named Sherry Turkle, who I have been following with interest. She is quite divergent from her colleagues in her views on technology and the dangers they are posing right now to humanity. <br />
Some time ago, she was on the other side of the fence in praising the advances of technology, but now she is singing a quite different tune. She has been outspoken on the topic of why our technology is making us less human and is actually changing who we really are as people.<br />
She has been featured on ABC, CBS, NPR, and TED talks as well. She by no means has the agreement of others in her field, but she continues her line of thinking with gusto, which is why I like her. Here's her piece:<br />
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The Flight From Conversation</h1>
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<span style="font-size: large;">WE live in a technological universe in which we are
always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere
connection. </span></div>
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At home, families sit together, texting and reading
e-mail. At work executives text during board meetings. We text (and shop and go
on Facebook) during classes and when we’re on dates. My students tell me about
an important new skill: it involves maintaining eye contact with someone while
you text someone else; it’s hard, but it can be done. </div>
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Over the past 15 years, I’ve studied technologies of
mobile connection and talked to hundreds of people of all ages and circumstances
about their plugged-in lives. I’ve learned that the little devices most of us
carry around are so powerful that they change not only what we do, but also who
we are. <br />
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We’ve become accustomed to a new way of being “alone
together.” Technology-enabled, we are able to be with one another, and also
elsewhere, connected to wherever we want to be. We want to customize our lives.
We want to move in and out of where we are because the thing we value most is
control over where we focus our attention. We have gotten used to the idea of
being in a tribe of one, loyal to our own party. </div>
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Our colleagues want to go to that board meeting but
pay attention only to what interests them. To some this seems like a good idea,
but we can end up hiding from one another, even as we are constantly connected
to one another. <br />
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A businessman laments that he no longer has colleagues
at work. He doesn’t stop by to talk; he doesn’t call. He says that he doesn’t
want to interrupt them. He says they’re “too busy on their e-mail.” But then he
pauses and corrects himself. “I’m not telling the truth. I’m the one who doesn’t
want to be interrupted. I think I should. But I’d rather just do things on my
BlackBerry.” <br />
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A 16-year-old boy who relies on texting for almost
everything says almost wistfully, “Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I’d
like to learn how to have a conversation.” </div>
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In today’s workplace, young people who have grown up
fearing conversation show up on the job wearing earphones. Walking through a
college library or the campus of a high-tech start-up, one sees the same thing:
we are together, but each of us is in our own bubble, furiously connected to
keyboards and tiny touch screens. A senior partner at a Boston law firm
describes a scene in his office. Young associates lay out their suite of
technologies: laptops, iPods and multiple phones. And then they put their
earphones on. “Big ones. Like pilots. They turn their desks into cockpits.” With
the young lawyers in their cockpits, the office is quiet, a quiet that does not
ask to be broken. <br />
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In the silence of connection, people are comforted by
being in touch with a lot of people — carefully kept at bay. We can’t get enough
of one another if we can use technology to keep one another at distances we can
control: not too close, not too far, just right. I think of it as a Goldilocks
effect. <br />
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Texting and e-mail and posting let us present the self
we want to be. This means we can edit. And if we wish to, we can delete. Or
retouch: the voice, the flesh, the face, the body. Not too much, not too little
— just right. <br />
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Human relationships are rich; they’re messy and
demanding. We have learned the habit of cleaning them up with technology. And
the move from conversation to connection is part of this. But it’s a process in
which we shortchange ourselves. Worse, it seems that over time we stop caring,
we forget that there is a difference. <br />
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We are tempted to think that our little “sips” of
online connection add up to a big gulp of real conversation. But they don’t.
E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, all of these have their places — in politics,
commerce, romance and friendship. But no matter how valuable, they do not
substitute for conversation. <br />
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Connecting in sips may work for gathering discrete
bits of information or for saying, “I am thinking about you.” Or even for
saying, “I love you.” But connecting in sips doesn’t work as well when it comes
to understanding and knowing one another. In conversation we tend to one
another. (The word itself is kinetic; it’s derived from words that mean to move,
together.) We can attend to tone and nuance. In conversation, we are called upon
to see things from another’s point of view. <br />
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FACE-TO-FACE conversation unfolds slowly. It teaches
patience. When we communicate on our digital devices, we learn different habits.
As we ramp up the volume and velocity of online connections, we start to expect
faster answers. To get these, we ask one another simpler questions; we dumb down
our communications, even on the most important matters. It is as though we have
all put ourselves on cable news. Shakespeare might have said, “We are consum’d
with that which we were nourish’d by.” <br />
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And we use conversation with others to learn to
converse with ourselves. So our flight from conversation can mean diminished
chances to learn skills of self-reflection. These days, social media continually
asks us what’s “on our mind,” but we have little motivation to say something
truly self-reflective. Self-reflection in conversation requires trust. It’s hard
to do anything with 3,000 Facebook friends except connect. <br />
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As we get used to being shortchanged on conversation
and to getting by with less, we seem almost willing to dispense with people
altogether. Serious people muse about the future of computer programs as
psychiatrists. A high school sophomore confides to me that he wishes he could
talk to an artificial intelligence program instead of his dad about dating; he
says the A.I. would have so much more in its database. Indeed, many people tell
me they hope that as Siri, the digital assistant on Apple’s iPhone, becomes more
advanced, “she” will be more and more like a best friend — one who will listen
when others won’t. <br />
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During the years I have spent researching people and
their relationships with technology, I have often heard the sentiment “No one is
listening to me.” I believe this feeling helps explain why it is so appealing to
have a Facebook page or a Twitter feed — each provides so many automatic
listeners. And it helps explain why — against all reason — so many of us are
willing to talk to machines that seem to care about us. Researchers around the
world are busy inventing sociable robots, designed to be companions to the
elderly, to children, to all of us. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
One of the most haunting experiences during my
research came when I brought one of these robots, designed in the shape of a
baby seal, to an elder-care facility, and an older woman began to talk to it
about the loss of her child. The robot seemed to be looking into her eyes. It
seemed to be following the conversation. The woman was comforted. <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
And so many people found this amazing. Like the
sophomore who wants advice about dating from artificial intelligence and those
who look forward to computer psychiatry, this enthusiasm speaks to how much we
have confused conversation with connection and collectively seem to have
embraced a new kind of delusion that accepts the simulation of compassion as
sufficient unto the day. And why would we want to talk about love and loss with
a machine that has no experience of the arc of human life? Have we so lost
confidence that we will be there for one another? <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
WE expect more from technology and less from one
another and seem increasingly drawn to technologies that provide the illusion of
companionship without the demands of relationship. Always-on/always-on-you
devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we
can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be
alone. Indeed our new devices have turned being alone into a problem that can be
solved. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
When people are alone, even for a few moments, they
fidget and reach for a device. Here connection works like a symptom, not a cure,
and our constant, reflexive impulse to connect shapes a new way of being. <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Think of it as “I share, therefore I am.” We use
technology to define ourselves by sharing our thoughts and feelings as we’re
having them. We used to think, “I have a feeling; I want to make a call.” Now
our impulse is, “I want to have a feeling; I need to send a text.” <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
So, in order to feel more, and to feel more like
ourselves, we connect. But in our rush to connect, we flee from solitude, our
ability to be separate and gather ourselves. Lacking the capacity for solitude,
we turn to other people but don’t experience them as they are. It is as though
we use them, need them as spare parts to support our increasingly fragile
selves. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We think constant connection will make us feel less
lonely. The opposite is true. If we are unable to be alone, we are far more
likely to be lonely. If we don’t teach our children to be alone, they will know
only how to be lonely. <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I am a partisan for conversation. To make room for it,
I see some first, deliberate steps. At home, we can create sacred spaces: the
kitchen, the dining room. We can make our cars “device-free zones.” We can
demonstrate the value of conversation to our children. And we can do the same
thing at work. There we are so busy communicating that we often don’t have time
to talk to one another about what really matters. Employees asked for casual
Fridays; perhaps managers should introduce conversational Thursdays. Most of
all, we need to remember — in between texts and e-mails and Facebook posts — to
listen to one another, even to the boring bits, because it is often in unedited
moments, moments in which we hesitate and stutter and go silent, that we reveal
ourselves to one another. <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I spend the summers at a cottage on Cape Cod, and for
decades I walked the same dunes that Thoreau once walked. Not too long ago,
people walked with their heads up, looking at the water, the sky, the sand and
at one another, talking. Now they often walk with their heads down, typing. Even
when they are with friends, partners, children, everyone is on their own
devices. <br />
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
So I say, look up, look at one another, and let’s
start the conversation. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Here's more from Sherry on this topic: http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/techself/</div>
</div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-44505457993383392872013-08-15T14:13:00.000-07:002013-08-15T15:39:44.202-07:00Part II: Interview with Howard Clark, President of the Gregory the Great Academy<br />
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<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: center;">INTERVIEW: Part II</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: Where is current public
and Catholic education headed right now?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: It is difficult to generalize about where all public
and Catholic education is headed. While most education is in a state of
decadence, there are signs of health in both public and Catholic education. In
public education the charter school movement is giving parents back the control
that is rightfully theirs and greatly improving the quality of school
curricula. In spite of this, it must be said plainly that all public education
is a poor second to a truly integral Catholic education. All education that is
integrally true is integrally Catholic because the Catholic faith is integral
truth. It is the whole truth about God, man and the world. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In Catholic education there are
many schools, both diocesan and private, that are striving to reestablish
orthodoxy in doctrine and excellence in teaching and curricula. A big
difficulty that everyone faces is that the decadence we are fighting is deeply
rooted. In many ways we are like men living among magnificent ruins without
even an idea of what they were, or men searching for the lost key that would
open the door of wisdom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At Gregory the Great Academy we
realize that there is much work that still needs to by done. An essential
principle of the poetic approach to education is that there is a knowledge
deeper than reason which is not to denigrate reason, but simply to state a fact
realized by the great poets and philosophers. (One thinks of Paul Claudel's <i>Parable
of Animus and Anima</i> and St. Thomas' distinction between <i>ratio</i> and <i>intellectus</i>,
a distinction that is not unique to him.) If the fledgling renaissance in
Catholic education is to take root and flourish this principle and its
consequences have to be acknowledged. A blind and reactive insistence on a kind
of rationalist fundamentalism may be attractive in the short term, but will
ultimately lead to failure because it does not speak to what Scripture calls
the heart, the deepest spring of reason and desire. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: Is Gregory the Great
Academy model what is needed on the whole in education today, or is it possible
to bring modern public education out from the dredge into which it has steadily
fallen?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: When we consider all the aspects of the model of
Gregory the Great Academy, we can't say that it should be the model for all of
education. After all, girls need to be educated too, and there is a place for
day schools. However, if we consider it more formally, i.e. if we consider
whether poetic education should be the model for all education, I would say,
yes it should. A short route to why this is so is by way of the liberal arts
tradition. If we agree that all education worthy of the name follows this
tradition, then we must affirm that all education should be poetic or, in a
broad sense, liturgical or musical. The cultures of Greece and Rome and
Christian Europe that gave us the liberal arts were deeply imbued with this
ethos, some principles of which I have already tried to give. They did not
teach the liberal arts in isolation from one another, nor in the cultural and
religious impoverishment characteristic of today. The people of those times
lived and learned in what might be called a liturgical or poetic culture. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: So many Catholic
families have had to resort to homeschooling in the absence of any real, viable
Catholic school option - why has it gotten to this point and is it possible for
parents navigate the waters of educating their children in the same way that
the Academy does?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: In his Templeton address, Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
recalls that when he was young, the older Russians would explain the calamity
of Revolution with the simple but profound explanation: “Men have
forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” It is the same for us. All of our problems
stem from the same cause: we have forgotten God. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There are many things that
parents can do to educate their children the way the Academy does. They can
follow the principles that I talked about in reply to your first question. Also
the books I mentioned above will help, especially the two by Stratford Caldecott,
which are more practical, then the others. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But finally I think that a good
school can do a better job of educating than homeschooling. The homeschooling
movement itself points to this. Homeschooling companies function to some extent
as remote schools by providing curricula, advice and grading. In addition
homeschooling families tend to pool their resources by forming co-ops that are
a step in the direction of a school. The problem is that it is difficult for
one person (usually the mother) to master all the subjects and keep children on
task. This tends to become more difficult as children get older. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But all of this is a matter of
balance. For many families homeschooling is the best option. The homeschooling
movement, the liturgical movement and the plethora of good microbreweries are
some of the most hopeful signs in our mostly bleak culture. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: What role does the
liturgy play in a solid education for Catholic children, especially boys?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: Thinking again of Solzhenitsyn's diagnosis, the
liturgy is the place where man remembers God. Like the monastery of which it is
the heart, the liturgy is a “school for the service of the Lord,” a school of
Christian life. So the role of the liturgy in Catholic education is central. It
is the school within the school. As I've tried to indicate already, because the
liturgy represents the presence of the divine world in our world, it witnesses
to our world's incompleteness, and thus to the relevance and need for the
liberal arts. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: Do you feel as though
vocations to the priesthood are more likely in an environment such as the
Academy and if so or if not- why?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: A vocation to the priesthood is a grace and call from
God, but God always works through mediation. (Priests themselves are
mediators.) In our world that means mainly other human beings. Thus the key to
cultivating vocations is the example of the priest. Boys need a model that they
are attracted to and want to emulate. They need to see the job of the priest as
important, serious, and worth-doing. No boy that is worth anything aspires to
the life of an ineffectual nice guy. In the boarding school this means that the
example of the chaplain is all-important. A chaplain that is manly and truly
dedicated to God and the good of others can plant seeds that will come to
fruition years later as a boys matures and thinks more seriously about the
direction his life will take. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: Great historians and
cultural thinkers such as Christopher Dawson have stressed that the
foundational piece to culture is religion. What must accompany a solid
religious experience in order to foster a truly Catholic Culture?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: There are a number of things. Two that are very
important are care for the natural world and the cultivation of language. The
world of human culture is built on the natural world even as the plants the
farmer cultivates depend on good soil. Continued misuse and disregard for God's
creation cannot help but undermine this foundation of human culture. Language
is even more central to culture than the natural world, and like the natural
world it too is being degraded. The source and re-generator of language is
poetry. The poets are the ones that coin the new worlds and phrases that
maintain the freshness and vitality of a culture's language. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: How can adults live and
foster the same spirit of education embodied by Gregory the Great Academy in
their own, everyday lives?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: There are both negative and positive things that can
be done. In his essay “Learning to See Again” (collected in <i>Only the Lover
Sings</i>) Josef Pieper addresses the problem of distraction and the way it has
undermined our ability to perceive the world around us. This very short essay
is well worth reading and meditating on. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In a similar vein, my teacher
John Senior offers some tonic advice in his book <i>The Restoration of
Christian Culture</i>:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“First, negatively, smash the
television set. The Catholic Church is not opposed to violence; only to unjust
violence: so smash the television set. And, positively, put the time and money
you now spend on such entertainment into a piano so that music is restored to
your home, common, ordinary Christian music, much of which is very simple to
play. Anybody can learn the songs of Steven Foster, Robert Burns, the Irish and
Italian airs, after even a few hours' instruction and practice. And then
families will be together at home of an evening and love will grow again
without thinking about it, because they are moving in harmony together. There
is nothing more disintegrating of love than artificial attempts to foster it at
encounter groups and the like: Love only grows; it cannot be manufactured or
forced; and it only grows on the sweet sound of music.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: Do you mind if we ask
what is on your current reading list?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: Currently I am rereading Stratford Caldecott's <i>Beauty
in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education</i> and Sister Miriam
Joseph's <i>The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric</i>.
On a different register I'm working on <i>The Moviegoer</i> by Walker Percy.
Last, but certainly not least, <i>The Bible</i>, an inexhaustible source of
wisdom, which I try to read everyday. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Books that I hope to read soon
include: Stratford Caldecott's latest book, <i>The Radiance of Being: Dimensions of Cosmic
Christianity</i>; <i>The Progymnasmata</i>; and <i>The Golden Key</i> by George
Macdonald. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: How can interested
persons best assist you and the Academy in your efforts?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: There are three things that I would ask of
anyone who is interested in our mission: pray for us, spread the word amongst
your acquaintances, and—if you are able—give us your financial support. Anyone
interested in donating or downloading admissions information can find more
information by visiting our website at www.gregorythegreatacademy.org<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BCL</b>: What parting thoughts
would you like to share with those who are reading this interview?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Howard Clark</b>: Perhaps I could end the interview by going back to
your first question about the uniqueness of Gregory the Great Academy. I find
that there is an element that I didn’t mention and that I would like to bring
up here because of its importance: the mode of discipline used at Gregory the
Great. St. John Bosco made a distinction between repressive system of
discipline and the preventive system. The repressive system is the one used by
most schools and other organizations. It consists in publishing rules, waiting
until the rules are broken and then punishing the ruler breakers. (The
headmaster in the French movie <i>Les Choriste</i>
often hilariously portrays this system<em>. </em><em><span style="font-style: normal;">His motto for discipline is “action-reaction.”) The preventive method
is much more difficult to implement, but much more effective in the long run.
The key component in this method is that those in charge of the boys must
constantly be with them, sharing in their life in a friendly way, guiding them,
reasoning with them, showing them the goodness of following healthy rules so
that they are prevented from ever breaking them. While this method is very
difficult and is sometimes misunderstood by outsiders, it is far more
effective. <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>I would like to thank Mr. Howard Clark, Mr. Sean Fitzpatrick for
facilitating the setup of the interview, and the Gregory the Great Academy for
all they are doing for Catholic Culture and Education!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-56753597516652425162013-08-13T17:49:00.002-07:002013-08-13T17:58:39.712-07:00Upcoming Interview: Most Rev. James D. Conley, S.T.L., Bishop of Lincoln Nebraska<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am please to announce that Bishop Conley has agreed to an interview with this publication. Bishop Conley gave a very wonderful Eulogy for Dr. Dennis Quinn's Funeral and was directly impacted by the Integrated Humanities Program. I will be asking him a wide range of questions on the topics of the Liturgy, Education, Family, the Priesthood, Homeschooling, and more. Stay tuned...</span></div>
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"In his 23 years as a priest, Bishop James D. Conley has served the Catholic Church in a wide variety of ways—as pastor, college campus chaplain, director of Respect Life ministries, theology instructor, Vatican official and bishop. In all of these tasks, he has seen his life as a priest as a call to service and complete surrender to “God’s providential hand.” For his episcopal motto, Bishop Conley, a convert to the Catholic faith, chose the same motto as the great 19th-century English convert, John Henry Cardinal Newman, “<em>cor ad cor loquitur</em>,” which means “heart speaks to heart.”</div>
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While in college, he studied in the University of Kansas’s Integrated Humanities Program, a well-known classical great books program. During his junior year, he converted to the Catholic Church on Dec. 6, 1975. His mentor and teacher in the Integrated Humanities Program, Professor John Senior, was his godfather" <a href="http://www.dioceseoflincoln.org/Pages/announcement.aspx">(From the Diocese of Lincoln Website)</a></div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-89264658432418094872013-08-06T11:51:00.000-07:002013-08-07T15:25:38.763-07:00Interview with Howard Clark, President of the Gregory the Great Academy<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
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<o:p>In desire to spread the message of the work of the <a href="http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/">Gregory the Great Academy</a> and speak also on the topic of Catholic Education, Mr. Howard Clark has agreed to a two part interview with this publication. We thank him for his thoughtful and relevant responses.</o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><u>INTERVIEW: Part 1 </u></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>BCL</b>: F</span>or those unfamiliar with the school, Gregory the Great
Academy is a school unlike most, if not all, other Catholic schools- what makes
the Academy so distinct in its nature and aim?</div>
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<b>HC</b>: I think we can talk about the distinctiveness of GGA
from two perspectives: first, from the perspective of its structure or outward
make-up, and second from a perspective that looks more to its interiority or
vision<i>. </i>For the more metaphysically inclined these two perspectives are
roughly equivalent to the matter and form of the Academy. </div>
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So beginning with the make-up: the Academy is <i>somewhat</i>
distinctive in three ways (the real distinctiveness comes with the informing
vision, but the the vision and the make-up are intimately related): it is a
Catholic, all-boys, boarding school. The movement from Catholic to boarding
school is a movement from less distinctive to more distinctive in the sense
that there are more Catholic schools than there are Catholic all-boys schools
and more Catholic all-boys schools than there are Catholic all-boys boarding
schools. </div>
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The vision that informs the school has often been called
“poetic education”, but it can be given other names as well, for example,
“education according to the Muses.” The first thing to note about this kind of
education is that it is an approach to the liberal arts. What is essential to
education in the liberal arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, and music) is that it aims to produce a free man (The Latin <i>artes liberales</i> means arts befitting a
free man.) In this context, the
“freedom” being sought after is a freedom from the constraints of
worldly ends, or, stated positively, a freedom to pursue man's ultimate end or
goal which is eternal beatitude. </div>
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Poetic education differs from other kinds of liberal arts
education in a number of ways, but I want to focus on three that interpenetrate
and reinforce each other: First, it gives precedence to synthesis over
analysis, in other words, it values the whole over the part. This may seem like
common sense, but in fact most schools, at least implicitly, value the part
over the whole. They do this by emphasizing the acquisition of analytical
skills which allow their possessors to break down wholes into comprehensible
parts. The unspoken premise is that truth is to be found in the part, or, more
fundamentally still, that matter is higher than form or that form does not even
exits. </div>
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Of course it is necessary to acquire analytical skills, and
the Academy teaches such skills. The problem lies not with analyzing, but with
taking analysis as the end of the activity of knowing. In coming to know, we
only distinguish in order to unite. Analysis must have a complementary and
completing movement which re-situates and views the analyzed parts in the
context of the whole. The human mind naturally desires to see the whole, that's
why there are scenic overlooks on the side of highways. As St. Augustine said,
“Our whole reward is seeing.”</div>
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A second way that poetic education differs from the usual
liberal arts curriculum is in the precedence it gives to experience over what
might be called “remoteness.” This remoteness takes any number of forms, but
three examples are textbooks, scientific experiments, and the increasing use of
communications technology in the classroom. </div>
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Textbooks are an attempt to present complex, wide-ranging
and difficult subjects in an attractive and easily accessible form. The problem
with this is that it short circuits the learning process and often deceives the
student as to the true nature of the subject. It is far better for the student
to wrestle with <i>Hamlet</i> or the <i>Odyssey</i> in all their difficulty,
profundity and beauty than to encounter them predigested and excerpted in an
anthology. This principle applies across the curriculum. Better to study the
daises in your own backyard than to read about the exotic orchids that only
grow half a world away.</div>
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Experiments have their place in an advanced science
curriculum, but they cannot replace a basic experience of the natural world. A
moment’s reflection reveals how ridiculous it is to dissect embalmed frogs in a
lab when the student has never experienced a living frog in its environment.
What does he really learn about frogs from such an activity? Experiments are
designed to isolate the experimenter, his tools, and his subject from the world
at-large. However, the results of the experiment only have meaning when they
are interpreted in terms of the very world from which they have been isolated. </div>
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Many different kinds of digital technology are being
enthusiastically introduced into schools. Most of this is communications
technology, or what is called “media.” It is important to remember that all
human knowing is mediated, and therefore, in some sense uses “media.” Our
senses mediate between their objects and our brains, and our bodies mediate
between the world around us and our souls. Further, Our Lord Jesus Christ
mediates between the Church and Our Father in heaven. So there is no question
of rejecting mediation in general. </div>
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However, it is important to critically examine the
messenger, in other words, we must ask, “does this communications technology
communicate?” In the case of the computer, which is the most prevalent form of
communications technology being used in schools, there are serious problems.
When we look at the computer, as it is functions in the “real world”,
day-to-day life of the school, what jumps out is its power to distract. Thus,
even before we question the capacity of the computer to mediate objects
effectively, we see that its versatility as a platform for many kinds of tasks
makes it an ideal tool for never getting
to those objects, for never completing a given task. This power to distract
strikes at the very heart of education which is concerned to build up a <i>habitus,
</i>whether a science or moral virtue, through a continual engagement with a
given object. </div>
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A third characteristic that distinguishes poetic education
from other liberal arts education is the centrality of the liturgy. (As Jean
Leclercq notes in his book, <i>The Love of
Learning and the Desire for God</i>, the liturgy itself is a kind of poem.)
There are many ways to look at the liturgy and many things we can learn from
it. Being a work of the Holy Spirit it is inexhaustible and of a transcendent
integrity that resist all analysis. So what I have to say is in no way
exhaustive, I just want to point out two things. </div>
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First, the liturgy is the end or purpose of the Christian
life made present in time, or, looked at in another way, the liturgy brings us
into the presence of the end of the Christian life; it is a participation,
already on earth, in the life of the blessed. Now, as I’ve already mentioned,
the end of the liberal arts is to free men from the seeming urgency and
finality of worldly ends so that they may pursue beatitude. Thus the liturgy is
intimately connected to the liberal arts. (Historically this is the case since
the tradition of the liberal arts began with Plato’s Academy, and the Academy
was an association established to worship the Muses.) It has an irreplaceably
centrality in a liberal arts school since only the liturgy can open the school
to the divine world, thus protecting it from the everyday world which
continually threatens to enclose it. </div>
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A second thing to note about the liturgy is that it is a school
of praise. The book of the Apocalypse, which lifts the veil on the heavenly
liturgy, gives us a glimpse of the praise of the angels and saints. They praise
God as both creator and redeemer of the world.
The philosopher Josef Pieper entitled one of his books, <i>Only the Lover Sings</i>, taking the phrase
from St. Augustine. What does the lover sing? He sings praises. He praises God
and his whole creation—women, wine, the deeds of great men, dappled
things—everything under the sun and above the moon. It is here that we are
closest to the heart of poetic education. All the great poets are lovers. It’s
their love that gives them eyes to see and tongues to sing with. Poetic
educations aims to open its student’s eyes to the True, the Good and the
Beautiful, not as dead subjects in a textbook, but as objects worthy of praise.
</div>
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<o:p> <b>BCL</b>: </o:p>Why have just boys, and why have it be a boarding type
school? </div>
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<b>HC</b>: There is a long tradition of single sex education.
This wisdom teaches us that boys and girls fare better when they are educated
separately especially after they reach adolescence. This is both because they
are different and deserve different approaches, pacing and even different
courses of study, and because when educated together they greatly distract one
another. This is especially true for boys. </div>
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Boarding schools are especially appropriate for boys since
the male trajectory involves breaking away from home to search for adventure
and to make a way in the world. Chesterton tells the story of the man who left
England on a great sea-faring adventure and found himself on the shores of a
strange and wonderful island. The island turned out to be England but he only
came to see it in all its truth and beauty by leaving it. </div>
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<b>BCL</b>: Do those two elements specifically play into the nature of
what you are doing?</div>
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<b>HC</b>: A boarding school works well for poetic education
because it allows for a certain withdraw from the surrounding culture and the
creation of a new culture reinforced by peers. As I’ve already emphasized,
poetic education aims to educate the whole man. To do this effectively there
has to be a certain asceticism, a withdraw from technology, media, and popular
culture in general. Music is especially
important since it speaks to the heart. </div>
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Certainly the parents are the primary educators of their
children and the home and family provide the first culture of the child. A
boarding school cannot replace this, but it can complement and complete it to
some extent. When children become adolescents they become much more aware of,
and in need of, the social life of their peers. At its best a boarding school
provides a wholesome “micro-culture” in which students reinforce each other in
the formation in virtue given by the school. This prepares them to enter the
wider culture outside of the school. </div>
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<b>BCL</b>: Why is this mode of education and its content so vital to
the future of the Catholic child?</div>
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<b>HC</b>: To say that poetic education is “vital to the future
of the Catholic child” is to make quite a claim! This type of education is not
a substitute for mother’s milk or the Eucharist. However I would say that there
is a need for the positivity and hope of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful
that poetic education provides. Children can only grow and thrive when they are
given high ideals and the hope that they can brings these ideals into being in
their world. Neither careerism nor the sly cynicism and nihilism of the culture
of death provide this. </div>
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<b>BCL</b>: Where should the Catholic men of tomorrow (the children of
the Catholic families today) take our Culture, Country, and Church? </div>
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<b>HC</b>: That’s a big question! If I could adequately answer
it I would probably quit my job and run for President. Generally I would say
that in all of these areas there is a need to return to the wisdom of
tradition. Doing this does not mean holding on to particular historical forms, but recovering
what is essential in historical forms, returning to eternal principles. For
example, the same truth can be expressed in many different languages, in many
different places, at many different times. Of course some languages may express
this truth better than others, but still the same truth is expressed. </div>
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In popular culture today there is a continual polemic
against tradition and authority. Often this is cloaked by a storyline or by the
sheer repetition of these themes, but the message is communicated on the level
of images and attitudes. Against this we need to defend the wisdom of tradition
and show its relevance, beauty and vitality. </div>
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<b>BCL</b>: What people, experiences, and texts have shaped the way you
think and speak about Catholicism, Education, and Culture?</div>
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<b>HC</b>: Gregory the Great Academy has its roots in the
Integrated Humanities Program at The University of Kansas. The leading lights
of this program were professors John Senior, Dennis Quinn and Frank Nellick.
Three of Dr. Senior’s books have been especially influential in forming the
philosophy of Gregory the Great Academy: <i>The
Death of Christian Culture</i>, <i>The
Restoration of Christian Culture</i>, and <i>The
Restoration of Innocence: An Idea of a School</i>. (This last text was never
published.) Late in his life Dr. Quinn published a book, which summed up a lot
of his thought, called <i>Iris Exiled: A
Synoptic History of Wonder</i>. </div>
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These three professors occasionally talked about books that
greatly influenced them and the program they founded. Leaving aside the
classics such as Plato’s <i>Republic</i>,
the <i>Rule of St. Benedict</i>, and the <i>Bible</i>, three come to mind: <i>The Love of Learning and the Desire for God</i>
by Jean Leclercq, O.S.B. (which I’ve already mentioned); <i>Leisure the Basis of Culture</i> by the German Thomist, Josef Pieper;
and Werner Jaeger’s <i>Paideia: The Ideals
of Greek Culture</i>.</div>
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In addition, there are two recent books by Stratford
Caldecott that recommend a kind of
education very similar to what we are doing, but which also offer fresh
approaches and resources. These are: <i>Beauty for Truth Sake: On the
Re-enchantment of Education</i> and <i>Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the
Foundations of Education</i>. </div>
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PART 2 of the Interview is forthcoming...</div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-19191514919591401262013-07-23T18:18:00.000-07:002013-08-06T18:03:15.101-07:00"Restoring the Seven-Storied Tower"<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://clearcreekmonks.org/_images/redtile-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="clear-creek-abbey-redtile-300" border="0" src="http://clearcreekmonks.org/_images/redtile-300.jpg" height="200" width="194" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Lady of the Annunciation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">A Catholic Cultural Legacy- </span>by Br. Phillip Anderson, Abbot [Part 1]<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">FORWARD:</span></div>
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From August 11<sup>th</sup> to 14th, 2011, Our Lady of Clear
Creek Abbey, in Hulbert, Oklahoma, hosted the <i>John Senior Colloquium</i>. More
than two hundred attended the Colloquium during which a number of conferences
and other addresses were presented. We have collected in this book the written
texts of the principal interventions.
The entire Colloquium was recorded (audio) and can be purchased in MPG3
format from Clear Creek Abbey (www.clearcreekmonks.org).</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In Plato’s famous—and no doubt
greatest—dialogue, the<i> Republic, </i>there
is a telling moment, when Glaucon, who is discussing with Socrates the ideal
form of government as an image of the just man’s soul, makes a rather shrewd
comment, saying:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You mean the
city whose establishment we have described, the city whose home is in the
ideal, for I think that it can be found nowhere on earth (IX, 592).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This could have been the <i>critique </i>that demolished in an instant
the whole thrust of Socrates’ line of reasoning, since a perfect city existing
merely in the ideal, but not in reality, would have little importance in the
end. But Socrates, far from being disconcerted
by Glaucon’s observation, --on the contrary--makes use of it as a platform from
which to raise the dialogue to heights hitherto unattained. His reply seems almost to anticipate the
Christian view of things held by a Saint Augustine, not to mention Saint John
in the Apocalypse:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Well…perhaps
there is a pattern of it laid up in heaven for him who wishes to contemplate it
and so beholding to constitute himself its citizen (ibid.).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> In
many ways the Catholic cultural ideal expounded so brilliantly by John Senior
after his conversion to the Church, especially during the years of the <i>Pearson Integrated Humanities Program</i>
(later simply the <i>Integrated Humanities
Program, </i>or “IHP”), was like the Republic described by Socrates: to be
found “nowhere on earth”. How many of
his students, having become teachers at some level once they graduated from the
University of Kansas, set themselves courageously to implementing the
principles of education they had learned from him, without ever quite
succeeding in re-creating the enchantment of the IHP? How many heroic but tragic (or, perhaps,
comic) failures occurred as others strove to establish the true Catholic
village, in the wilds of Canada or in rural America? Nor have we monks attained the ideal once set
down by John Senior, when he declared with all the seriousness in the world
that “real monks should only ride donkeys”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> However,
the very fact of your presence here tonight bears witness to the many fruits
that the teaching of John Senior has borne, even if the earthly realization
never equaled the “pattern of it laid up in heaven”. As we look back now, forty years ago exactly,
to the official opening of the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program at the
University of Kansas, we can, perhaps, make a certain assessment of all that
has been accomplished through the work of “Dr. Senior” (as we respectfully and
affectionately used to call him), the teacher and the man of profound faith. The ever-quotable G. K. Chesterton reminds us
that “something worth doing is worth doing even badly”. Thus our poor efforts may have had some
purpose after all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Of
course, to speak of John Senior is to evoke at the same time the other two
figures that made up the ineffable <i>triumvirate</i>
of the Pearson lectures. When Mr. Tim
McGuire first spoke to me of the possibility of organizing a symposium of some
sort centered on John Senior—an idea that corresponded to something I had
carried in my heart for some time—Dr. Dennis Quinn was still of this
world. It did not seem appropriate to
include in this symposium, or “colloquium” as we finally called it, a man whose
waning moments demanded our respectful discretion. Likewise, the “shade” of Dr. Franklin Nelick
might have taken offence somehow (Heaven help us!) should we have dared to
include him without his inseparable Dennis.
So we are gathered here for several days to appreciate the legacy of
John Senior, but the other two, both united with him now—as we firmly hope—in that
“upper pub” we call Heaven, will in no way be left out of the conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If you do not
know me, I am Father Abbot Philip Anderson.
On behalf of all the monks of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey, I welcome
you to this John Senior Colloquium, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary
of the official beginning of the <i>Pearson
Integrated Humanities Program</i>, that great educational “adventure in
tradition” as it has been called, whose first regular class began in September
of 1971 at the University of Kansas. As
you know from the program you received, these days are organized around seven
principal lectures, two <i>colloquia </i>(discussion
groups: from the Latin <i>cum, loqui, </i>“speak
together”) and several other presentations and events that you will discover
with joy as we proceed. It is my hope
that many other discussions—outside those planned—will occur as we go forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Although I am
not here to present anything quite so learned as a lecture, I <i>would</i> like, in all simplicity, to touch
upon some of the aspects of John Senior’s legacy that would seem to have a
particular importance. In so doing it is
my hope to “open the door” as it were for all that will follow, like the monk
who greets the pilgrims and guests at the monastery gate, according to the Rule
of Saint Benedict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-68821483168888259032013-07-23T18:14:00.000-07:002013-08-06T18:03:45.054-07:00"Restoring the Seven-Storied Tower"<span style="font-size: large;">A Catholic Cultural Legacy-</span>by Br. Phillip Anderson, Abbot [Part 2]<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 20.0pt;">*******</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 20pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The
great poet Dante had his own idea of the ideal republic or city that transcends
this world. Like Socrates, he esteemed
that that life worth living must include a contemplative gaze in the direction
of a better place. The king or political
head of the Catholic Christian state must, he thought, be able to see beyond
the limited horizons of this present existence.
Thus Dante spoke in his <i>Purgatorio</i>
(XVI, 95-96) of “…a ruler, one that could and should glimpse the true City or <i>at least the tower</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Dr.
Senior seemed to have glimpsed that tower.
It was in reference to this figure of the tower that he wrote a most
memorable description of medieval education through the liberal arts<i>. </i>Many
of you have probably read this passage of <i>The
Death of Christian Culture </i>(chapter 6) more than once since the day it was
first published. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
famous picture, writes John Senior, coming down to us in different versions
from the Middle Ages, illustrating education.
It depicts a several-storied tower into which the schoolboy with his
satchel and his tablet enters on the ground floor, greeted by the stern <i>magister, </i>who has merry eyes, a big
stick called a <i>baculum, </i>and a book
called the <i>Donatus </i>from its author,
the fourth-century grammarian. Next,
through the window of the second story, we see the boy progress to Aristotle’s <i>Logic, </i>and at the third window up to
Cicero’s <i>Rhetoric.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The point this passage of <i>The Death of Christian Culture</i> makes is
that, in contrast to the modern university, this older vision of liberal
education is characterized by a true <i>integration
</i>of knowledge (thus the Pearson <i>Integrated</i>
Humanities Program) and a vertical progression of the liberal arts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[The] liberal
arts, continues Senior, differ from one another vertically. You rise from one to the other, not by a
horizontal extension, but a vertical ascent to a different level of
understanding that includes the lower ones, analogous to the relation of part
to whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A little further along in the chapter he
draws the conclusion of this view of education, beginning with a question:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What is the integer? </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If a student
forgets everything he learned at school or college, he had best remember this
one question. It will be on the very
final examination that his own conscience will make at the last hour of his
life: In the pursuit of horizons—of horizontal things—have you failed to raise
your eyes and mind and heart up to the stars, to the reason for things, and
beyond, as Dante says at the top of the tower of his poem:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To the love
which moves the sun<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And all the
other stars?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I am sure we
will be pondering this very question in the days to come. In any case, whatever else John Senior may
have been, he was first of all, for most of us, an extraordinary university
professor, one who, in defiance of the prevailing trends in higher education,
proposed to his students the <i>Perennial
Philosophy, </i>the doctrine, which, according to Etienne Gilson, “has the
unfortunate destiny ever to bury its would-be undertakers”. Together with Doctors Quinn and Nelick, he
brought to the University of Kansas, for a few years at least, that great
conversation of the perennial wisdom, shared by a cohort of authors, from Homer
to Saint Augustine, from Cicero to Dostoevsky, whose thoughts and deeds are
recorded in the Great Books, which were the only curriculum of the IHP. Thus the tower of the university—at least as
described in this integrated vision of education—pointed in some way to the
tower of the heavenly Jerusalem, to the City of God and beyond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So, the story we
are retracing began with a special program of studies at a Midwestern state
university, the University of Kansas.
But it all led to much more. There is the “tower”, you see—but then
there is the rest of the city. There are
the liberal arts, but then there is the panorama of all that constitutes
civilization in its noblest sense. The unique educational career of John Senior
was destined to introduce him into many other areas of influence. As the Great
Books were read and the great ideas discussed, the need to consider this
integrated knowledge of the university within the greater context of an
integrated <i>culture</i> was felt. And for John Senior that meant the truly
Catholic city, such as it once existed—imperfectly, but really--in Europe. This line of thought found its way eventually
into the two books John Senior is best known for, <i>The Death of Christian Culture </i>and <i>The Restoration of Christian Culture.</i> Although he never referenced
it to my knowledge, there is a short text of Pope Saint Pius X that I think Dr.
Senior would have readily recognized as a most happy expression of the truth
considered in the two books. In a letter
to the French episcopate in 1925 the pontiff wrote these words:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">No, civilization
is no longer something to be invented, nor is a new city to be built in the
clouds. That city has existed; it still
exists; it is Christian civilization, it is the Catholic city. All that has to be done is to reestablish it
and restore it unceasingly on its natural and divine foundations…<i>omnia instaurare in Christo</i> (Lettre on
the Sillon, August 25, 1910).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">However, rather than pretending to build
even this Catholic city mentioned by Pope Pius X, John Senior, in his very
humble way, thought merely to start—or, better, to <i>restore</i> a Catholic village somewhere. In the third chapter of his <i>Restoration of Christian Culture </i>he
outlines in this sense some of the main features of what he calls the “Catholic
Agenda”, recommending E.F. Schumacher’s book, <i>Small Is Beautiful</i> and Hilaire Belloc’s <i>The Restoration of Property </i>among other possible sources of
inspiration. There appears here the idea
of a <i>return to the land</i> and to a
saner way of life that might happen in such a village.<i> </i>Today there seems to be, in fact, an ever increasing desire among
many Americans to accomplish this return to the land. Many of the people I meet, who, although they
were never students of John Senior, have become interested in his work, fall
into this category. As a matter of fact,
in the very neighborhood of Clear Creek Abbey you might be surprised to find
the beginnings of such a village. You
might encounter a truly “un-modern” house or two, along with other signs of the
reemergence of <i>rural mirth and manners,</i>
to quote a line from the poet Goldsmith<i>.</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now a most important part of this
catholic agenda contemplated by John Senior as a bulwark of Christian culture
and society was the monastic life. In
preparing a program for this <i>John Senior
Colloquium </i>I thought very much about a lecture on “The Spirit of the Rule”
and on the monastic adventure that several of the students of the Integrated
Humanities Program embarked upon, leading eventually to the establishment of
this very monastery. However, better
than any lecture, the very fact of your <i>being</i>
at the monastery and, perhaps, participating in some of the Divine Office and
Holy Mass, is no doubt the best possible education in the matter. In the fifth chapter of <i>Restoration </i>Senior describes a visit to Fontgombault Abbey in
France, where some of us became monks many years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">…[W]e were
standing with our suitcases in the dust before a massive stone wall with high
towers and roofs exactly as travelers stood a thousand years ago here by the
lovely Creuse where the hermit Pierre de l’Etoile prayed, died and was
buried…And then, without transition, as in dreams (but this is absolutely not a
dream; this is the point, that it is all real) I am in the care, it almost
seems the arms, of a zealous, smiling, slightly aging angel, greeting me with
such affection, right out of the Rule, so solicitous of me I might have
thought, if I didn’t know better, that I was Christ! The Rule is not a book. It is a fact at
Fontgombault.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Except for the stone walls—which we do
not have, but which we are beginning to build—the very same scene could take
place here at Clear Creek Abbey. Not a
single point of monastic observance, that is to say not a single custom or rule
has been changed in our way of life since the time John Senior made that
memorable visit to Fontgombault Abbey across the Atlantic. We still practice exactly the same life as at
the abbey that founded us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The point is not
to brag about the monks of Clear Creek, but rather to underscore the fact that
John Senior succeeded—with the help of many others, it is true, but this really
came from out of his own heart—he succeeded through the vocations of his former
students in bringing a somewhat neglected form of monastic life, as he had experienced
it at Fontgombault, to America. He once
said in a lecture before the students of the Integrated Humanities Program,
that if the whole program led to nothing else but to a couple of vocations to
the monastic life it would have been well worth it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A little further
along in the same chapter five of <i>Restoration
</i>cited above, Senior continues his description of his visit to the French
abbey, speaking in particular of the Guest-master at Fontgombault:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And there he is
like one of Fra Angelico’s angels, with a certain sweet reserve as if he knew
some secret I was about to discover to my great good and delight, all exactly
as St. Benedict specified and which I had always thought to be some ideal
Republic like Plato’s and never, not even in the Middle Ages and certainly not
a present, reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And so it was that John Senior looked
upon the “spirit of the Rule” as the ‘secret soul’ as it were of this great
thing he contemplated and referred to as Christian Culture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> We
must not exaggerate, however, this happy picture; we must not overemphasize the
luminous portions of the landscape, failing to recognize the drama that marked
this Catholic life and legacy of the great teacher who was John Senior. He describes in poignant pages—almost as a
helpless witness-- the dark onslaught of the <i>perennial heresy</i> against the Christian culture of the Western world
and against the Church herself. It seemed that the errors he had escaped upon
entering the Catholic fold had chillingly sneaked into the City of God like
some diabolical Trojan horse, that the negation of all that is true and good
and beautiful had all of a sudden reappeared, “smiling in the sanctuary”. There is, in fact, a persistent bent of mind that
seems to span the intellectual history of modern times. The founder of our monastic family of Solesmes,
Dom Prosper Gueranger, called it (as did churchmen in his time, in the 19<sup>th</sup>
century) “naturalism”. Saint Pius X,
speaking more or less of the same reality, termed it “modernism”. In more recent times we have heard it named
“relativism” and “secularism”. This is
no mere skirmish on the sidelines of history, but is about total warfare. The
Church is up against a kind of synthesis of all the heresies and errors of past
ages rolled into one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now as we look
back upon the whole system in one glance as it were, wrote the saintly Pope
Pius X, no one will be surprised when we define it as the synthesis of all
heresies. (<i>Pascendi, </i>DZ 2109)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">John Senior took stock of what was at
stake, and the fight certainly took its toll on him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If we once knew
the energetic and enthusiastic John Senior of the first years after his
conversion, we have also known the worn and somewhat discouraged figure of
later years. In a letter to one of the
American monks at Fontgombault in the late seventies he was already
speaking—referring to the Integrated Humanities Program and his growing concerns
about so many things, quoting Shakespeare as he often did—of the “winter of our
discontent”. The anguish of it all eventually
caused his health to decline.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In John Senior’s
mind the synthesis of the very best that the Western world ever produced was
crystallized in the Latin Mass (Tridentine rite). The fight for Christian culture centered on
restoring this great liturgical rite. He
lived to see a certain vindication in this area, but not the more complete
restoration we have seen since the beginning of the pontificate of His Holiness
Pope Benedict XVI. The dramatic story of
what has been called the “crisis of the Church” after the Second Vatican
Council, the “Dark Night of the Church” as Senior termed it, is an ongoing saga,
one that cannot be documented here. But
this story certainly conditioned much of John Senior’s own spiritual itinerary,
as I am sure we will see in some of the lectures to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The one
perfectly divine thing,” quipped the English Catholic jester already cited,
“the one glimpse of God’s paradise on earth, is to fight a losing battle—and
not lose it.” One of the great—and quite surprising—inspirations of the whole
Integrated Humanities Program was the significance attributed to—of all
persons—Dom Quixote de la Mancha. English
professors and the man-in-the-street alike tend to see in this character born
of the fertile imagination of the Miguel Cervantes, an amusing madman, who,
having read too many stories about the chivalrous deeds of yore and lost
himself in an ideal past. On the
contrary, John Senior intuited a sort of superior wisdom there. In the context of the challenge facing the
university students of the late-twentieth century, the <i>Knight of the Woeful Countenance </i>came to symbolize the unequal but
glorious combat of every human being against the ineluctable hegemony of
technology and dehumanizing standardization. I believe that, despite the
bitterness of the fight, John Senior never lost that kind of “hope against all
hope”, that quixotic valor that I would call <i>wonder unconquered. </i>As many
of you well know, the motto of the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program was <i>Nascantur in admiration, let them be born in
wonder.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But I promised
merely to open the door. The rest is up
to you. I would simply like to express
the wish that everyone here might find his or her way to the top of the “seven-storied
tower” as least for a few moments, during this John Senior Colloquium. May Our Lady of the Assumption, whose feast
we will be celebrating in just a few days, assist you in this noble endeavor,
and may Saint Benedict teach us all to “prefer nothing to the love of Christ”. Of course, we also hope to take something
“practical” away from the Colloquium, as life on earth cannot long remain on
such heights. Someone once summed this
up remarkably well, I think:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yet it is not
our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the
succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields we
know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">May our enduring love and appreciation
of John Senior help us all in this humble and exalted task.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I
thank you for your kind attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-11049883753379634662013-07-04T10:45:00.000-07:002013-08-06T18:04:23.747-07:00Cardinal Burke Decries Secularism and Lauds Traditional Families<div id="primary">
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Cardinal Burke addresses Dignitatis Humanae Institute’s
2nd Annual International Conference on Human Dignity</div>
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<br />
<a href="http://www.dignitatishumanae.com/">DIGNITATIS HUMANAE
INSTITUTE</a><br />
SECOND ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HUMAN DIGNITY<br />
CASINA PIO IV, VATICAN CITY STATE<br />
28 JUNE 2013<br />
KEYNOTE ADDRESS<br />
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Good evening to you
all.<br />
It is a pleasure to participate in tonight’s special dinner in the
magnificent environs of the Casina Pio IV, in order to celebrate of the work of
the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, an organization which exists to witness to the
unique and immeasurable good of human life, of the human person. Why is this so
important? Precisely for the reason articulated in the Universal Declaration of
Human Dignity: “[I]t is the recognition of the dignity of Man that is most
lacking in our society, not rights, and that this imbalance must be
redressed.”[1] It is precisely to support the redressing of the imbalance that
we have gathered this evening.<br />
Promoting human dignity necessarily means respecting all human beings without
exception, men and women equally, from conception to natural death. It is
learned in the home, founded on the model of the strong,
traditionally-understood family, whose members mutually support and love one
other. The Dignitatis Humanae Institute, our host tonight, exists to promote
human dignity based on the recognition that each one of us is made in the image
and likeness of God.<br />
At the heart of the commitment to safeguard and promote the fundamental good
of human life is our faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel which guides us all on
the pilgrimage of our daily living. It is the faith which believes the words of
Our Lord in the Beatitudes.[2] It is the faith of the Virgin Mary who trusted
that God’s promises to her would be fulfilled.[3]<br />
But the truth regarding the inviolable dignity of every human life is under
constant attack in an ever-more secularized world. One only has to read the
daily newspaper or turn on the television for the evening news to know that the
Christian’s holding to the truth of the moral law is no longer tolerated by
many, and that the secularist agenda never ceases in its efforts to overshadow,
drown out, and intimidate the witness of faithful Christians. The goal is to
silence the Christian witness. But we cannot succumb to such tactics. I urge all
who are here this evening to stand firm in your witness, knowing that it is
indeed the Lord’s work and that He will never fail to accompany you. Tonight,
the Vigil of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, two of the greatest saints
who are venerated by all Christians, gives us particular inspiration in our
steadfast witness to the inviolable dignity of innocent human life. Tomorrow, we
will celebrate their martyrdom in Rome for love of Christ and in faithful
witness to His Gospel. We trust in the intercession of the Prince of the
Apostles and of the Apostle of the Gentiles, even as we recognize that the
persecution which they suffered is not only a reality recorded in books of
history but continues in our own time.<br />
Even as we gather to celebrate the work of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute,
we are conscious that Christian persecution is sadly at a high point throughout
the world. We read every day of such persecution, for example, in Syria, Egypt,
Eritrea, Nigeria and Indonesia, but we also see examples in our own nations,
which have a rich Christian heritage and yet have turned their back on the very
foundational truths taught by the Christian faith.<br />
Political leaders in my home country, the United States, are relentlessly
advocating further liberalization of any restriction upon procured abortion.
They are backed by powerful lobby groups with vested interests, such as Planned
Parenthood and Marie Stopes International. Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, we
have witnessed a Gay Marriage Act, forced through Parliament in spite of
considerable opposition with little consideration of its legal impact upon the
Catholic Church and society, in general. The secular form of coercion can also
be seen in the United Nations which makes its support for third-world countries
dependent upon the provision of contraception and abortion. A thinly-disguised
population control agenda is steadfastly at work in the sheep’s clothing called
“maternal health.” The agenda, in fact, has nothing to do with maternity and
nothing to do with health. We cannot be deceived. There is no greater issue
facing human dignity today than the relentless attack on human life, the
integrity of the human body. It is the plight of those who are born into a
twofold poverty, the poverty of their personal circumstances and the poverty of
the developing world.<br />
As these examples teach us, laws and policies are being employed to further
the secular agenda, yet with little reflection upon the sort of “brave new
world” which is thereby developed. Without a careful articulation of the
inviolable dignity of innocent human life, society’s only measure of the good of
an individual human life is what the person possesses or produces. It is the way
of moral relativism which indeed, in the words of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is
a tyranny based on the supremacy of the strong and the neglect of the weak and
vulnerable.[4]<br />
The rapid moral decline of society has resulted in what Blessed Pope John
Paul II correctly called the “culture of death.”[5] We must recognize that the
culture of death advances in good part because of a lack of attention and
information among the public. It is all too easy, with the intensity of the
modern world and the preoccupation with our own lives and their struggles, to
overlook a pervasive and negative trend of our society. Ignorance and lack of
attention of the public is what allows the culture of death to continue and
become ever more pervasive. We cannot allow this culture of death to increase
and to snuff out our Christian way of life.<br />
How can we ensure that the culture of death will not dominate our lives and
our society? First of all, those of us who are Christians must all be attentive
to laws that safeguard the dignity of the human person. We must support just
laws which respect the inviolable dignity of human life. And we must support the
political leaders who work for such legislation. Similarly, it is essential that
we become aware of the laws and policies which are attacking human dignity and
the goods of our Christian faith, some of which I have mentioned earlier.<br />
In addition to the enhanced awareness of public policy, we must work toward a
new evangelization regarding human life. We have the magna charta for such a new
evangelization in the Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae of Blessed Pope John
Paul II. The transformation of hearts by which one truly believes in the dignity
of all men, without boundary, is the most fundamental means of a new
evangelization.<br />
The new evangelization flourishes when we as Christians proclaim the Gospel
of life, a message that God calls us to promote everyday in our thoughts, in our
words, and in our actions. At the core of this Gospel of life is the sacredness
and dignity of human life. Acknowledging, safeguarding and promoting the
sacredness and dignity of human life is fundamental and irreplaceable to the
seeking of the common good. If people do not acknowledge the dignity of all
human beings without exception, the common good, authentically understood, can
never thrive.<br />
An essential way in which we can proclaim the Gospel of Life is through
strong, supportive, and traditional families with a mother and father who love
their children unconditionally. Children witness the Gospel of Life in the
relationship of their parents with one another and in the relationship that
their parents have with them. The solid relationships between parents, and
between the parents and their children, based on respect for human life, leads
to a transformation of hearts in which the gospel of life is learned and
lived.<br />
Additionally, healthy families depend on a new proclamation of the truth
regarding women and motherhood that upholds the virtues of purity, chastity and
modesty, and respect for the integrity of marriage and the family. These goods
are also under attack. We cannot permit such attacks to continue. The family
shapes society, and by advocating for and promoting strong, traditional family
life, we will continue to replace the culture of death with the culture of life
and love for which God calls us to work, even as He gives us the strength to
accomplish the work.<br />
Despite the virulent strains of secularism, there are millions of Christians
across the world who have risen up in response to the culture of death with
their own manifestations of support of the culture of life, in their work place,
and in the public square. What we have recently witnessed in France is an
eloquent example. Just two weeks ago, 40,000 people gathered in Dublin to march
against a government bill to legalize abortion. This rally was the largest in
the history of the country and showed the public’s desire to safeguard the life
of both the mother and the child. In Brazil, talk show host and pastor Silas
Malafia recently led another march of at least 40,000 people against proposed
laws to legalize abortion and so-called “gay marriage.” And in the United States
a new pro-life coalition called Stop the Gosnells was recently formed to prevent
from occurring in the future crimes like those committed by Dr. Kermit
Gosnell.<br />
I cannot fail to mention that we have in our presence tonight one of the
great world leaders of such popular movements, Luca Volontè, the Chairman of the
Dignitatis Humanae Institute. Luca finished his term of office today as
President of the European People’s Party in the Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly in Strasbourg. He has been a guiding force behind the Manif pour tous
in France. I recall his words to the thousands who rallied in Paris in defence
of the traditional marriage. He declared that their witness was “the most
beautiful surprise of Europe this year” in the battle for a civilization of
life.<br />
Seeing hundreds of thousands unified in witnessing to the Gospel of life
gives hope that a new evangelization regarding human life and the dignity of
human life will continue and develop, leading our culture along the right path,
the path that leads to true freedom and, therefore, lasting peace. These
manifestations of faith truly give me hope and inspiration. So, too, does your
presence here tonight. A most significant event has taken place here today
because leaders from across Europe and beyond Europe have gathered to discuss
the fundamental importance of human life and dignity.<br />
All of you here tonight are working toward the goal of a new engagement and a
new energy in safeguarding and promoting the inviolable dignity of innocent
human life. In the name of the Church, I thank you. It is because of leaders
like yourselves that the new evangelization continues and grows. It will
continue to spread so long as we work together and let our Christian faith guide
us.<br />
Finally, I want to say on a personal level how happy I am to be with you
tonight, in order to show my support of this initiative which my brother, His
Eminence Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, has been promoting for the last few
years with the good results which all can see. Most people in the secular world
nurture the ambition to retire at the age of 55. Cardinal Martino, who reached
the age of 80 last year, is going as strongly as ever. In many ways, Your
Eminence, your work as Honorary President of this Institute ties together the
main themes of all your major accomplishments, from your work at the United
Nations for which you were the Papal Nuncio for 16 years (during which you led
the successful resistance at Cairo in 1994 to stop the UN from promoting
abortion as a method of family planning) to your overseeing of the publication
of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,[6] in which you most
rightly take great pride. I pay tribute to you tonight, Your Eminence. I am
proud as a member of the Sacred College of Cardinals to see one of my brothers
so ably demonstrating the very highest dedication to one of the most fundamental
of our important responsibilities. May God grant you many more years of fruitful
service as Honorary President of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, energetically
endorsing what the British Parliamentarian Lord Alton of Liverpool said about
the Institute: It is indeed the most important organization promoting human
dignity in the world today.<br />
Thinking specifically about the Universal Declaration of Human Dignity which
the Dignitatis Humanae Institute exists to promote, I compliment the Institute
for its excellent service in bringing the Church face to face with the secular
ambient, so that this important document will be more fully understood and
appreciated. There are few other institutions with the call to promote human
dignity, which fulfill that mission as authentically and comprehensively as does
this Institute. I wholeheartedly encourage you, and I commend your work to the
protection of Mary Immaculate, to whom this Institute was consecrated at its
foundation. As the Founding Patron of the Institute, Rocco Buttiglione, likes to
say: we can always pray to the Madonna for her intercession; but we must always
pray to her for her protection.<br />
Thank you for your attention to these words. I wish for you every good
success in your important mission. May God – the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit – bless you and all your labors.<br />
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE<br />
[1] Cf. http://www.dignitatishumanae.com/index.php/declaration/, p. 2.<br />
[2] Cf. Mt 5, 3-12.<br />
[3] Cf. Lk 1, 45.<br />
[4] Cf. Ioseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “Initium Conclavis,” 18 Aprilis 2005, Acta
Apostolicae Sedis 97 (2005), p. 687.<br />
[5] Cf. Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Litterae encyclicae Evangelium vitae, “De
vitae humanae inviolabili bono”, 25 Martii 1995, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 87
(1995), 424-428, nos. 21-24.<br />
[6] Cf. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,</div>
</article></div>
</div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-85897907495114753902013-07-03T15:15:00.001-07:002013-08-06T18:04:46.354-07:00Passing the Torch<br />
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Update from the St. Gregory Academy:</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dear Friends,</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I moved to Pennsylvania 19 years ago, I expected to be
here for one year. God is gracious, St. Gregory's thrived, and I am
grateful to have played a part in its growth. Now the school is
moving to a different stage; this new endeavor will take vision and energy.
Vision I can supply - but I am no longer a soldier. I have moved into the age
Shakespeare calls "The justice...with eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
full of wise saws and modern instances."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After much prayer and reflection, I have decided it is time
to move back home to Kansas. I am glad to have such able successors as Sean
Fitzpatrick and Luke Culley to whom I can entrust the school. As President of
Gregory the Great Academy, I will still be involved with Gregory the Great
Academy.Though not on site, I will always be available to give advice; it is
also my intention to visit the new school several times during the school year.
My work with the Clairvaux Institute, of course, will continue apace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God has richly blessed me with many friends through my work
with St. Gregory's. I will miss all of you and pray for your intentions daily.
Please, pray for me and if you are ever near Wichita, Kansas, plan to visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Christ, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Howard Clark<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/coa_250w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/coa_250w.jpg" height="192" id="_x0000_i1025" style="display: block; margin-top: 20px;" width="250" /></a></div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-51778363363540566332013-06-26T16:47:00.001-07:002013-08-06T18:06:23.524-07:00The Care of the Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhod2f6JvaRhM2CjxhG-4bALBI1fPOK07i65njN2sQ_qfAbs7vwItFqXvhn4dhKR6qji_jYMdYuaeHpXnpWcywWRojkS8nYnnpoK8meFVRdBggUZ5gIiDfzsx7ByvRvfILxzFwJ51mSLGvZ/s1600/home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhod2f6JvaRhM2CjxhG-4bALBI1fPOK07i65njN2sQ_qfAbs7vwItFqXvhn4dhKR6qji_jYMdYuaeHpXnpWcywWRojkS8nYnnpoK8meFVRdBggUZ5gIiDfzsx7ByvRvfILxzFwJ51mSLGvZ/s1600/home.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The care of the home us not unlike the care of the soul in
relationship to the body. The soul
houses the body, but the soul is hidden.
It is interior life. As such, the
interior life of the home must be kept in order for the exterior to be well,
just as with the human person. If the
home is to be where the kingdom of God dwells, then God’s kingdom should be
clean, kept, and well represented. For
just as in the care of the human soul, when one cares for his or her soul, he
cares for the body just as much and when he cares for the body, he cares for
the soul. For as St. Bonaventure states,
“The soul is not a person, but the soul is joined to the body- is a person”
<b>1</b>. The neglect of the soul is neglect of
the body and vice/versa. St. Chrysostom
states, “For not to the soul alone are the pleasures hurtful, but to the body
itself, because from being a strong body it becomes weak, from being healthy,
diseased, from being active, slothful, from being beautiful, unshapely, and
from youthful, old.” <b>2</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, no one wants a home that is sick weak, unshapely, and
diseased. For it can be said that to
care for the home itself is to care for the interior life of the home: the life
lived daily. In life, however, there are
those who take good care of the body but neglect the soul and also in
reverse. We have all seen the obese nun
or priest! Both must be considered in
order to be well. As Bl. John Paul II
the Great states, “ The home is a great good for man! It is a place of life and love! It is in a certain sense, our human Lareto…”<b>3</b>. Because the home is this great good it must
be regarded with great good. Much in the
way of formation of spouses and children depend on the proper care of the
home. Proper care of this place of “Life
and Love”. Proper care can lead to the
desired outcome of heavenly virtue in a more complete way. We have all experienced trials with and in
the home, but the home is where the seedbed is laid for the souls of childhood
to flourish. “The home, though it suffer
want and hardship in this valley of tears, may become for the children in its
own way a foretaste of that paradise of delight in which the creator placed the
first men of the human race.” <b>4</b>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, how then to care for this place which is so crucial to
the formation of the Christian man and his Kin and kith? There are a number of aspects to which our
care should be directed, but I will outline them here first and explain each
one in more detail in successive articles:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">1) Cleanliness inside and out</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">2) Structure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3) Infrastructure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4) Maintenance- corrective and preventive</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5) Adornment and decorum</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today I will begin with #1 and will proceed in weeks ahead
with the others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cleanliness Inside
and Out<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are right to know that the liturgical life of the church
must be carried out over and into the home and lived everyday within the
home. For as Bl. John Paul II the Great
states, “What happens in the liturgy must be carried over into daily life. It must be lived in the home. Then the home will become the place where
life in Christ grows to maturity. Such a
home is a real expression of the Church” <b>5</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But what I think is often
forgotten is the external expression of this truth. Which, is curious since we as Catholics and
religious people live by outward expression of our faith; i.e. sign of the
cross, genuflection, kneeling, Ad Orientem, etc. The liturgy is ordered- it carries with it a
modus which says “a place for everything and everything in its place”. It must be clean and ready to be a worthy
presentation to and for the Lord and his people who come to worship him
there. If there is chaos and disorder,
then the God of order (look to the universe!) is slighted. Further, there is real symbolism to the
placement, positioning, and well keeping of all vessels, art, statues, and
items of worship. Liturgical life lived
in the home must also branch into its presentation to its people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We must turn our home (its cleanliness)
toward the Lord- “Ad Orientem” as it’s said- liturgically “East”. I must face all aspects to Him and order them
to the “Cult” so to speak, of the home.
The Culture of a home must be cultivated in order to serve him well,
just as it is in the Church. “Man comes
to a true and full humanity only through culture- that is through the
cultivation of the goods and values of nature” <b>6</b>. Just as a farmer must cultivate his land so
that it may bear fruit, so too the home will not bear fruit unless it is “kept”
and cultivated. There is a reason why
culture and cultivation find a common root in the Latin word “Cultus”. It means “Labor, care, husbandry, discipline,
care, way of life, refinement, honoring, reverence, adoration, veneration”.
<b>7</b>. If the home is a place of worship to
Christ through the everyday Catholic living of life, the domestic church, the
home itself must adore Christ. This is
what you find in the traditionally adorned churches which are spaces made to
lead man to worship God. The current
state of church architecture is abysmal and does more harm than good to man’s
understanding of worship and the cosmic reality in which the Liturgy finds
itself, as so clearly laid out by Pope Benedict XVI in “The Spirit of the
Liturgy”. The outward expression is a
manifestation of the unseen inward reality.
When done properly, it can lead man to a more full expression of worship
and entering into God’s eternal mystery.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All through the scriptures, that which is “ugly” is usually
depicted as an outward expression of an inward sin or wretchedness. <b>8</b>. An unkempt home is just plain “ugly”. It is poor to the eye and displays a form of
wretchedness. I once heard a protestant
woman speaker talking about how great she feels when she goes over to a friend’s
house and sees it in a messy state. She
said it relieves her that someone who she admires as a Christian has either a
messier home than hers or just as messy.
She referred to it as the “ministry of mediocrity”! What an oxymoron…what Christian should ever
aspire to mediocrity? What ministry is
there to be found in mediocrity? The
words of Bl. John Paul II the Great echo again when he said “Do Not Be
Afraid! Do not be satisfied with
mediocrity”. Mediocrity is nothing more
than acceptance of that which is effortless and sub-par. A common and consistent blandness and
satisfaction with the banal. This is
truly dreary! The ministry that woman should
have participated in was that of charity.
To reach out to that friend and offer to help her in her obvious work
waiting for her could have edified and uplifted that woman!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To be sure, a home is also useful and is not a museum. It should be lived in and should serve us-
not the other way around. So what
balance is there then? Think again to
the liturgy. During the liturgy, much is
used and brought out- at times even to the fullest extent. In Solemnities more is brought out than
usual. But in all instances, all is put
back and made ready to be used for next time.
The dignity of the space and the liturgy is kept in this way and
regard. Dignity would lack if the finest
of all items in the sacristy were not used, especially and good and useful
things. On the flip side, if they are
not taken care of, the dignity owed to the space and items is diminished.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To conclude, care ought to be taken to use a home well, but
keep it too so that its dignity is maintained and it serves the liturgical life
and aspect well. It ought to be
vacuumed, dusted, organized, free from pests, picked up, useful, and not
restrictive or pent up. When a home is
warm when it should be warm, and cool when it should be cool, and when a home
is washed and put together, it is an outward expression to all of an inward,
hidden, reality. Life!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">FOOTNOTES:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1) St. Bonaventure, De Assumptione</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">B Mariae Virginis, Sermo. 1.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> 2) Catena Aurea- Commentary on Luke 12, St. John
Chrysostom</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> 3) Bl. John Paul II The Great- Adress to University
of Rome, Dec. 12, 1995</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> 4) Pope Pius XI- Casti Connubii- preparation for marriage</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> 5) Bl John Paul II The Great- Homily given to
Pontifical Athenaeum, Feb. 10, 1986</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 6) Gaudium et Spes, Part II, Chptr. II</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> 7) Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 8) Rev. 16,2. Sirach 20, 24. Gen. 41, 3&4</span></div>
Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-21591649690323272702013-06-25T18:37:00.001-07:002013-08-06T18:05:51.059-07:00A Brotherhood for Today<br />
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<a href="http://prayerfoundation.org/favoritemonks/favori22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://prayerfoundation.org/favoritemonks/favori22.jpg" height="200" width="123" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For those who may not know the history of the Bretheren of the Common Life (namesake of this site) it was a formation of Geert DeGroot in the 14th century to "<span style="background-color: white;">cultivate the interior </span><span style="background-color: white;">life</span><span style="background-color: white;">, and they worked for their daily bread...</span><span style="background-color: white;">the </span><span style="background-color: white;">Brethren</span><span style="background-color: white;"> of the </span><span style="background-color: white;">Common</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Life</span><span style="background-color: white;"> had studded all </span><span style="background-color: white;">Germany</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and the </span><span style="background-color: white;">Netherlands</span><span style="background-color: white;"> with </span><span style="background-color: white;">schools</span> <span style="background-color: white;">in which the teaching was given for the </span><i><b><span style="background-color: white;">love</span><span style="background-color: white;"> of </span><span style="background-color: white;">God</span></b></i><span style="background-color: white;"><i><b> alone</b></i>. Gradually the course, at first elementary, embraced the humanities,</span><span style="background-color: white;">philosophy</span><span style="background-color: white;">, and </span><span style="background-color: white;">theology</span><span style="background-color: white;">." (New Advent) </span><span style="background-color: white;">Some of the more noted students and people who were influenced by the following were Pope Adrian VI, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, </span>Thomas à Kempis, and Erasmus. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our current situation needs a kind of radical normal which finds Catholics who are willing to live the life of a martyr through their <i>everyday life</i>- in a sense, to be taken to the cross by the common life and the mundane. This is where the true calling lies. Most live lives looking for the extraordinary, when the ordinary is where Christ can be most often found, and frankly, where the true Christian goes to die to self. This takes "Communio"- a joining of minds and hearts to be of one sense and make this struggle together. Family- both vocational and cultural. This is the place where the true "education of happiness" exists. This happiness is lived out best when wrapped around that which is good and true- the humanities, philosophies, and the love and learning of God through His Church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recently, Pope Francis, in his address to the faithful during the Angelus, he emphasized the need for modern day martyrs who are proud to "go against the current". He mentioned what modern day martyrdom looks like: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"</b></i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i><b>Today we have more martyrs than in the first centuries! But there is also the daily martyrdom, which doesn't result in death but is also a 'losing of one's life' for Christ: doing one's duty with love, according to the logic of Jesus, the logic of giving and sacrifice. Think how many fathers and mothers put their faith into practice every day, offering their lives for the good of the family! … How many priests, brothers, and sisters generously carry out their service for the Kingdom of God. How many young people give up their own interests to dedicate themselves to children, the disabled, the elderly... These too are martyrs! Everyday martyrs, martyrs of everyday life! And there are many people, Christians and non-Christians, who 'lose their own life' for the truth. Christ said 'I am the truth', so those who serve the truth serve Christ."</b></i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">He went on to say, </span><i><b><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Don't be afraid to go against the current, when they want to steal our hope, when they propose rotten values to us, values like food that has gone bad—and when food has gone bad it makes us sick, these values make us sick. We have to go against the current! And you, young people, be the first: Go against the grain and be proud of going against the grain. Go on, be brave and go against the current! And be proud of doing it!"</span></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: justify;">In a way, this is the most heroic way we can live- to die to ourselves in the everyday inglorious, repetetive motion of the life God has given. But if we can do this...if we can persevere in this small, diminutive duty on the ship of the Holy Roman Church, as large as the ship may be and as small as our task is, there will be a birth of what is good in those around us- true human happiness and the flourishing of all that is beautiful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">In his conclusion to the prologue in the Rule of Life, St. Benedict best says what kind of a trial a school of life will be and how the journey will look when taken together as a brotherhood: <b><i>"</i></b></span><b><i><span style="background-color: white;">And so we are going to establish</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">a school for the service of the Lord.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matt. 7:14).</span><span style="background-color: white;">For as we advance in the religious life and in faith,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">our hearts expand</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">and we run the way of God's commandments</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">with unspeakable sweetness of love.</span><span style="background-color: white;">Thus, never departing from His school,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">but persevering in the monastery according to His teaching</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">until death,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13)</span><span style="background-color: white;">and deserve to have a share also in His kingdom."</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This ought to hang in our minds as men, women, and families as we set about our work in the vinyard of life. Remember, a vinyard is nothing but dirt, bugs, mud, and good, hard labor. But when done in great love, though a small thing (nod to St. Therese), it can not be anything but GRAND! And Jesus said, "<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will <b><i>save it</i></b>."</span></span></div>
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Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-50448940314215905472013-06-12T17:53:00.002-07:002013-08-06T18:06:09.346-07:00A BAROQUE ART RENAISSANCE IS NEEDEDBaroque style art was the most important expression of the Counter-Reformation. <b>A new "<i>Baroque style"</i> is needed!</b><br />
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Below is a small sampling of works that portray the Christian Humanism that was needed at the time, just as it is needed now in the battle against Secularism. <b><i>Send links of works that you have found or done that are of the same mode and they will be posted.</i></b> See more <a href="http://spanishbaroqueart.tumblr.com/post/33724916502/jusepe-de-ribera-saint-joseph-ca-1635">HERE</a>.<br />
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<u><b><br /></b></u><img src="http://www.viuzza.net/art/popular-artists/rembrandt_christ_in_the_storm_on_the_lake_of_galilee_1633b.jpg" height="200" width="162" /> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEiCs9Ve-Gv-YtO9ObmhTKX-urv4hW7KN1FWYs-70d-3T9WlySjFgiV7hWRbSrTBDqpxcnD1mUa9NgMjeK2sw7cnYEhy8HdZ2_Z7vf3gIIPZ18HvayZu8qn9gcuJW6FNNH8amH84MWA1A/s200/New_1_DSCF4898.JPG" height="200" width="197" /> <img height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTtJVGJrXk32DvVsSgcs5mPMwWuGnJ2m4QlWKCmEIjGCNshAciE" width="176" /><br />
<img src="http://www.wga.hu/art/c/caravagg/08/52david.jpg" height="156" width="200" /> <img src="http://www.toffsworld.com/images/stories/art/caravaggio.jpg" height="141" width="200" /> <img src="http://www.schloesser-schleissheim.de/bilder/n_schloss/rundgang/raum39b_maria.jpg" height="200" width="127" /><br />
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<br />Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-11575641309729599362013-06-12T17:52:00.001-07:002013-08-06T18:06:40.873-07:00A POETRY RENNAISANCE IS NEEDED<span style="font-family: inherit;">John Ruskin, William Wordsworth, John Donne, George Herbert- these are the names of some of the great poets. The people who, through written and verbal expression are able to take us into the imaginitive wonder which glorifies the nature of creation. A re-surgence of this kind of expression is needed in the battle against Secularism. </span><b><i>Send links of works that you have found or done that are of the same mode and they will be posted.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b><b><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Suprised by Joy"</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"> by William Wordsworth</span></u></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Surprised by joy -impatient as the wind</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">I turned to share the transport -Oh! with whom</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">That spot which no vicissitude can find?</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind - </span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">But how could I forget thee? Through what power,</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Even for the least division of an hour,</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Have I been so beguiled as to be blind</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">To my most grievous loss? -That thought's return</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">That neither present time, nor years unborn,</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333;">Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.</span></span>Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-89684734164138233962013-06-12T16:28:00.000-07:002013-08-06T18:07:01.998-07:00Forthcoming Interview with Mr. Howard Clark<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWcCAw6QFvMjvJ4Sf7llP1CxAf5lU-kWxMsXjarhVArSGPzcKTsOz84Qyy2OrMpSbf-GSkz4RXghAqnbRWUDMpQORAIdoeyXyRD_jZkY_XQHt6PvKVfOUtnj9VQgDJf0u4_AoFwR1VbwO/s1600/howarddesk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWcCAw6QFvMjvJ4Sf7llP1CxAf5lU-kWxMsXjarhVArSGPzcKTsOz84Qyy2OrMpSbf-GSkz4RXghAqnbRWUDMpQORAIdoeyXyRD_jZkY_XQHt6PvKVfOUtnj9VQgDJf0u4_AoFwR1VbwO/s1600/howarddesk.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>
Mr. Howard Clark of St. Gregory's Academy for boys and head chair of the Clairvaux Institute has agreed to an interview with the Brotherhood of the Common Life on the topic of the academy, and education on the whole. We are very excited for this and grateful for the acceptance. This interview is now forthcoming and will be posted once complete. Stay tuned.Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-63086234630570104582013-06-12T15:42:00.000-07:002013-08-06T18:07:35.140-07:00The Innocence of Childhood and The Poetic Mode <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFDsAYnYWMuE_NbrNhgsAnNMGLYbMtSRxawVVMrbFIMO-EaRhs1jW_F1SdM8iDmgiKmRmF4MRmEEy5e3SgaxzwnQnU6dRuRqGuev1dUssar0t29mVDhn2KYmS63kaE5Mj5vp6NnmHt8qJ/s1600/Pope+F.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFDsAYnYWMuE_NbrNhgsAnNMGLYbMtSRxawVVMrbFIMO-EaRhs1jW_F1SdM8iDmgiKmRmF4MRmEEy5e3SgaxzwnQnU6dRuRqGuev1dUssar0t29mVDhn2KYmS63kaE5Mj5vp6NnmHt8qJ/s1600/Pope+F.png" height="200" width="173" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, the <a href="http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2013/06/francis-serene-childhood-is-right-and.html">VIS (Vatican Information Service)</a> posted an excerpt from Pope Francis' Wednesday Catechesis marking the World Day Against Child Labour. I'll post their article, then thoughts I have on the topic: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 24px;">Wednesday, June 12, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2013/06/francis-serene-childhood-is-right-and.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0a5296; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -1px;">FRANCIS: SERENE CHILDHOOD IS A RIGHT AND OUR DUTY</a><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Vatican City, 12 June 2013 (VIS) – At the end of his catechesis, the Holy Father launched an appeal for the protection of children, noting that today marks the World Day Against Child Labour, which is focusing particular attention on the exploitation of children in domestic work, a deplorable situation that is constantly increasing, especially in many of the poorest countries. The Pope called upon the international community to take more effective measures against “this real plague”.</i></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“There are millions of children,” Francis said, “mostly girls, who are victims of this hidden form of exploitation that often involves abuse, mistreatment, and discrimination. It is real slavery. … All children should be able to play, study, pray, and grow, in their own families and in an atmosphere of harmony, love, and serenity. It is their right and our duty. A serene childhood allows children to look with confidence towards life and the future. Woe to whomever stifles within them their joyful enthusiasm of hope!”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In his final greetings, the Holy Father addressed members of the International Committee of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul who were present in the Square. They are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of their founder, Blessed Frederic Ozanam. “God is stronger than evil,” Francis told them. “In a world that is difficult at times, be bearers of God's hope and love.”</span></i><br />
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This I think speaks to a larger issue at the fore that goes beyond just child labor and is captured, in essence, in the title of the article- "Serene Childhood".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">In the Poetic Mode of learning and education, children are able to discover nature through wonder. This "mode" of learning incites wonder about the nature of people, creation, and ideas or concepts. So much of what "today's child" is taught to need is intrusive, abrasive, disjointed, and confronts the natural senses with an inundation of information, technology, and general white "noise". This, to me, is an affront to a "Serene Childhood". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When Pope Francis says<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI'; font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">, "</span>All children should be able to play, study, pray, and grow, in their own families and in an atmosphere of harmony, love, and serenity" he is getting at a larger idea than just a lowest common denominator of not being sold into slavery or child labor. He is speaking to what is at the heart of what God created a family to be- a physical reality of an unseen truth- the Trinity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our final end with God is to contemplate Him. The pre-cursor to contemplation is knowledge, and the pre-cursor to knowledge is wonder. This gets to the very heart of what it means to engage a child in the Poetic Mode. It is to star gaze, walk among forests, explore stories and unfold them in the mind through talking about them, hear a sonnet and think about it or learn it by heart, or just sing a song for the love of singing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This mode cannot be found within a smart phone, laptop, television, or email address. The only things to be found in these places is constant streams of information, and un-real communication that misses the key element- the other person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Poetic Mode requires interaction with everything that is real, true, good, and beautiful. Nature shows the grandeur of God all on it's own in every form. Children only need be led to it and then taught to wonder, and carry that wonder in their heart and mind with them all day long. In short, to "waste time" (so to speak) and give them avenues to get lost in a story, nature walk, nighttime sky, or a poem is to give them what is "pre-moral" and the stage before knowing right from wrong, good from bad, and so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are a couple fantastic links to read further on this topic:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/what-is-poetic-knowledge"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is Poetic Knowledge? </span></a></div>
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<a href="http://classicalhomeschooling.com/classical-homeschooling-fourth-issue/the-restoration-of-christian-education-poetic-knowledge/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is the Poetic Mode?</span></a></div>
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Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2154645821104873971.post-89419987763474544072013-06-05T18:12:00.000-07:002013-08-06T18:08:24.145-07:00The Re-Birth of St. Gregory's Academy <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/coa_250w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/coa_250w.jpg" height="192" id="_x0000_i1025" style="display: block; margin-top: 25px;" width="250" /></a></span><span style="font-size: large;">The re-<span style="font-family: inherit;">resurgenc</span>e of St. Gregory's academy gives me hope. </span> This is an institution worth considering. From 1993-2012, it was an <span style="font-family: inherit;">"'<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><i>experiment in tradition' that began when the Fraternity of St. Peter hired Mr. Alan Hicks as the founding headmaster in 1993. In 2003 the leadership of the school passed to Mr. Howard Clark.</i>" </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(from their previous website)</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"> </span>Below is an update that was sent out to all those on the mailing list. It was encouraging to say the least. Here is a link to the academy's website: <a href="http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/">http://gregorythegreatacademy.org/press/</a><br />
<br />
I will be doing my best to attempt an interview from Mr. Howard Clark in the near future. Until then, here is the update:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Dear Friends,<br />
<br />
By now you have all heard the news that Gregory the Great Academy will open its
doors this fall. We stand in humble gratitude to Our Lord for this gift, and to
all of you for your wonderful support. As you can imagine, many challenges lay
before us to get ready for the school year, and we are beginning to take them
on with cheer and faith.<br />
<br />
Here is some more information about our situation:<br />
<br />
The facility we have secured is the main lodge at a Pocono family resort called
Chestnut Grove. The building is about 8,000 square feet and has several large
country-style inn rooms that can house 15-20 students and 5 resident dorm
fathers and teachers. There is a large industrial kitchen, an airy dining room,
and a common area. The lodge stands on the resort’s property of about 20 acres,
including a soccer field, tennis and basketball courts, a pond, and other
amenities that our students will be able to take advantage of during recreation
and study. The resort is about 30 miles from Scranton in Swiftwater, PA.<br />
<br />
As Mr. Clark mentioned in an earlier correspondence, this location is not
ideal—but it does offer us a suitable place to become established and keep our
traditions alive. We are all very excited to undertake this project and thank
you for your continued support.<br />
<br />
We are beginning to assemble the faculty and staff for the upcoming year. Many
familiar faces will be a part of this start-up project, although given the
limitations in student numbers and the budget, the staff will be a small,
tight-knit team. That being said, it will be a strong team, able to offer
substantial academic courses and an organized athletic program. As soon as
matters in this area have been ascertained, we will announce the members of our
new faculty and staff.<br />
<br />
Regarding athletics, we will be coordinating with Coach van Beek to involve our
students in several different programs. Track and field is an area that Coach
van Beek has expressed enthusiasm for, along with participating with indoor
soccer clubs. Every effort will be made to patch a rugby team together, and a
possibility exists of entering Division 2 in the local league. Besides these
more competitive endeavors, the students will have ample space and opportunity
to enjoy intramural sporting activities.<br />
<br />
Mr. Clark and I had a very favorable interview this week with Fr. Michael
Salnicky, a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic priest whose parish church of St.
Nicholas is only a short drive from the resort. Fr. Michael has agreed to enter
into negotiations for his involvement as chaplain for the academy, providing
the sacraments on a regular basis and religious instruction. Fr. Michael is a
very interesting and engaging individual, with many fascinating experiences and
hobbies that include firefighting, scuba diving, caribou hunting, sailing, and
flying aircraft. Most importantly, Fr. Michael seems a very devout man, who
works hard to do the work of Our Lord and to celebrate his ancient rite with
beauty and reverence. We look forward to continuing our conversation with him.<br />
<br />
The plan to begin on October 15th remains in place, with a detailed
correspondence course for the first six weeks to compensate for this loss of
time. An Academic Calendar shall be forthcoming. The possibility also exists
that we will gather our students together on October 1st for a 2-week
pilgrimage over the Appalachian Trail. Again, as we finalize these plans, we
will inform all of you.<br />
<br />
Once again, we are very grateful for your prayers and support throughout this
year of development. Thanks to you we are now all looking forward to our maiden
voyage as an independent institution. Please continue to remember us in your
prayers and your charitable giving—we will need both to make this year a
success. Also, please spread the word about Gregory the Great Academy among
people you know who may be interested in our mission.<br />
<br />
You shall hear from us again soon.<br />
<br />
In Christ,<br />
Howard Clark and Sean Fitzpatrick<br />
GGA Development Committee<o:p></o:p></span>Brother Of The Common Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10736300358698850882noreply@blogger.com1