Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Getting the boot as a commencement speaker is becoming quite fashionable these days: The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday joined an élite group—those whose plans to give commencement addresses this graduation season were derailed by student or faculty protests. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, was scheduled to speak this coming …
Continue reading "Just Mail Us Our Diplomas and Be Done With It"
It's not quite a follow-up to this earlier post, but this interesting nugget from St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae, 3 q. 72 a. 2) puts the issue in an interesting light: Christ, by the power which He exercises in the sacraments, bestowed on the apostles the reality of this sacrament, i.e. the fulness of theHoly Ghost, without the sacrament itself, because they …
Continue reading "The Apostolic Charisms and the Sacraments"
For the entire work and an interactive table of contents, click here. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of …
But as East Carolina University, that's not necessarily the case: In an email obtained by Campus Reform, Assistant Professor Eli Hvastkovs, who teaches chemistry at East Carolina University (ECU), instructed his students to prepare a “family friendly” 35 word personal statement that mentions future plans or “thanks someone.” The students, however, were explicitly forbidden from thanking …
Continue reading "Everybody at a University Needs to be Able to Thank God"
And his own "marriage" is on the rocks: The former Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt Rev. V. Gene Robinson, announced today that he is divorcing his spouse and partner of 25 years, Mark Andrew. Writing in the Daily Beast on 3 Mary 2014, Bishop Robinson stated: “All of us sincerely intend, when we take our wedding …
Continue reading "Marriage is the leading cause of divorce. Just ask Gene Robinson."
In the midst of our family's recent sad event, we found closure on yet another family tragedy that came from World War II. As I noted in my 2011 Fourth of July piece: This year, however, I’ve picked something a little closer to home: the aviation service during World War II of my uncle, Don …
Continue reading "Closure for One World War II Tragedy, Hope for Another"
For the entire work and an interactive table of contents, click here. In the year 334 B.C. Alexander the Great, having subdued the Greek states, began his conquest of the Persian Empire. In less than eleven years he succeeded in doing just that he would have gone further into India if his weary army had …
Continue reading "Born to be Alive: Before the Second Chapter"
While passing through Holy Week and Easter, on Low Sunday our family had another passage: the death of my wife's mother, Ruby Foister. The photo/video presentation the funeral home put together is below. The other arrangements are here. "Saint" is a good term for my mother-in-law. The Scripture quotation in the title--taken from Psalm 116:15--is …
Continue reading "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints…"
From time to time I've made many disparaging remarks about the Scots-Irish, some of whom I count as ancestors. These range from their inauspicious (but prophetic) arrival in this land to discussing Grady McWhiney's research, which I find priceless. I think that understanding this ethnic group is crucial to understanding these United States more than …
Continue reading "Messing With a Celtic Agenda Isn't a Good Idea"
A really nice Easter sermon. The sermon itself starts at about 50 minutes into the video.
Positive Infinity 