This is the fifth in a sporadic series on the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The previous post was Confirmation or Chrismation? In the previous piece we discussed the chrism, or anointing immediately after baptism. Discussing this to the newly baptised and chrismated, Cyril makes a very bold statement: Having therefore become partakers …
In the Middle East, Tensions Really Don't Rise at Times Like This
The Wall Street Journal, eminent publication that it is, is misleading people with opening lines like this: Rising tensions in the Mideast cast a shadow over the start of the first direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in nearly two years Wednesday, and leaders at the Washington summit vowed to press on with negotiations. "Rising tensions" imply …
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If I Told You Where My Palm Beach House Is, I'd Have to Kill You
But now it can be known: Bernadette Casey Smith, daughter of the late former CIA director William Casey, has sold Estrella del Mar, her family’s North End oceanfront house at 1240 N. Ocean Blvd. for $6.8 million, according to a warranty deed filed Thursday afternoon. Most recently listed for $8.5 million, the 10,000-square-foot Spanish-style main …
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Confirmation or Chrismation?
This is the fourth in a sporadic series on the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The previous post in the series is here. One of the significant differences between the “Western” Churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican) and their “Eastern” counterparts (Orthodox, Chalcedonian and otherwise) is the varying practice of what is done to Christians …
On the Road to Middle East Peace, the Devil is in the Details
Detail #1 is the fact that President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas doesn't have the authority with his own people to make it stick: Whether these talks succeed or collapse, this will probably be the last task for the aging Palestinian leader, also known as Abu Mazen. At 75, Abbas, chairman of …
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What do you expect us to do with it, give it to the poor?
This priceless anecdote, from a recent conversation re confirmation on StandFirm: Another move, no LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod), no CRC (Christian Reformed Church), but an invitation to teach Adult Bible Class at the Episcopal Church (dismal failure; Episcopalians generally have little interest in reading, mush less studying, the Bible). This was before the 1979 …
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Élite Panic: A Lesson From Katrina, A Lesson for Today
Rebecca Solnit at The Nation may have unwittingly stumbled upon something in her fifth anniversary article on Katrina: Those in power, on the other hand, often run amok. They did in San Francisco in 1906, when an obsessive fear that private property would be misappropriated led to the mayor's shoot-to-kill proclamation; a massive military and …
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National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal: Newsletter, June-August 1981
In digging through some archives, I've put together three issues of the newsletter of the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for June-August 1981. There was nothing special in the selection, just what I had available. There is one noteworthy event covered in the June issue: the meeting of Ralph Martin and other …
Book Review: Andreas Killen's 1973 Nervous Breakdown
The New York Times' Maureen Dowd's recent comments about the US having a nervous breakdown with the widespread reaction to Barack Obama, the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy and the like makes me think of an era when the country had a real nervous breakdown: the 1970's. In the wake of the 1960's, with all of …
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Obama Becomes Nixon: Going After WikiLeaks
It's amazing what happens when the shoe is on the other foot: Pentagon lawyers believe that online whistleblower group WikiLeaks acted illegally in disclosing thousands of classified Afghanistan war reports and other material, and federal prosecutors are exploring possible criminal charges, officials familiar with the matter said. A joint investigation by the Army and the …
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Positive Infinity 