by Jay Hooks | Apr 22, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 2min
There’s something about conversion stories that grabs us. Paul, Augustine, Merton and Day all deserve the honor they get for their accomplishments as actual members of the Church. But isn’t it true that the stories of their entrances into the fold tend to garner the...
by Sam Sawyer, SJ | Apr 20, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 3 mins
Editor’s note: We’ve been holding off on running this post given this week’s events in Boston — but perhaps it’s time for some more hopeful news from Boston, even as we continue to pray with and for everyone who’s suffering. News flash: Catholic university asks people...
by Joe Simmons, SJ | Apr 19, 2013 | Blogs ~ Approx. 3 mins
There’s a queasy, sinking feeling that settles in the gut as we learn more details about Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev – the brothers who claim responsibility for Monday’s bombing and Thursday’s shootings in Boston. As a nation we’ve been glued to...
by Vinny Marchionni, SJ | Apr 18, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 1 min
This Throwback Thursday will strike a somber note. Historically, April has been a month of outbreaks of violence in the United States. This week’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon has sadly joined an infamous list of April devastation. In the past twenty years, April...
by Jayme Stayer, SJ | Apr 18, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 4 mins
Anyone who has read Elie Wiesel’s Night or heard Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw has experienced the unsettling feeling of being moved by Holocaust art. What is disturbing — morally and emotionally — is that such works are highly controlled, artistic...
by Matthew Dunch, SJ | Apr 17, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 2 mins
Can one be a thinking person and a Christian? A Catholic? Plenty of people, starting with “the new atheists,” would have us say no. Their arguments tend to be shrill, superficial, and increasingly passe. For the believer, polite trivialization of faith is a far more...
by Ryan Duns, SJ | Apr 16, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 2 mins
Living, as I do, in Boston it’s no surprise (it’s actually a source of gratitude) that over the past day I have received texts, tweets, and Facebook messages inquiring into my safety. I was not, thankfully, either a spectator or participant in the Boston...
by Keith Maczkiewicz, SJ | Apr 15, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 3 mins
A few years ago I was sent to work as a chaplain intern at a women’s prison in New England. It was with nerves on edge and jugular vein jumping in my throat that I arrived at the prison gates. It was right there that I met Sister Maureen, a short nun, full of fire...
by Brian Konzman, SJ | Apr 15, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 2 mins
Warning: Before writing what will generally be a positive review of HBO’s Game of Thrones, it’s necessary to make one thing clear. This series is not for children or those easily scandalized by violent and sexually explicit material. HBO apparently decided that the...
by Quang Tran, SJ | Apr 15, 2013 | Uncategorized ~ Approx. 4 mins
At one time, specifically during the French Revolution, the guillotine was the iPad of instruments of death. It was a clean, efficient, humane method of decapitation. Though no killing machine could replace the personal touch of a live executioner with an axe to...
