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On conversion, CWR, journalism, Pope Francis: My recent interview on EWTN

On conversion, CWR, journalism, Pope Francis: My recent interview on EWTN | Carl E. Olson | The Dispatch at CWR

This past Monday I was at EWTN to guest on "At Home with Jim and Joy". I always enjoy my time at EWTN: the folks there are warm and down to earth. Plus, I get to spend some time with Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, who I first got to know in the late '90s, when he taught several courses in the University of Dallas MTS program I was in from 1997 to 2000. On this visit, Fr. Mitch cooked me some venison steak, told me some new hunting stories, and shared his wise observations on a whole host of current events.

The Pintos are salt of the earth folks. Converts from Episcopalianism (actually, I think Jim said he's a revert, having been raised Catholic), they've been running a crisis pregnancy center in Birmingham for many years. And as good as I think our on-air conversation was (see below and judge for yourself), the off-air conversation was even better.

Anyhow, we discussed a number of things: how my wife and I became Catholic, my work as an editor and author, Catholic World Report, journalism in general, and Pope Francis. Here it is:

Mother Angelica: America’s Nun

Mother Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network, is pictured in a 1992 photo. She died March 27 at the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration monastery in Hanceville, Ala. She was 92. (CNS files)

Mother Angelica: America’s Nun | Paul Kengor | CWR's The Dispatch

If we’re looking for the most influential American Catholic at the turn of the century, and at least into the young 21st century, male or female, I would vote for Mother Angelica.

The first time I encountered the unforgettable person of Mother Angelica was the mid-1990s. I was in graduate school, a former Catholic-turned-agnostic, but searching. I was coming back to the Catholic faith, it would turn out, but first through the arms of Protestant Evangelicalism.

Whether in my car or living room, I would flip through the channels on my radio or TV in search for Christian programming. As for the radio, there were no Catholic stations. Not one. They were all “Christian” stations, meaning Evangelical. As for TV, there were, much like still today, “Christian” stations comprised of a vague Protestant programming, most of it very poor quality and extremely loose theology—often wild, embarrassing, and thoroughly unconvincing (if not repellent) to a skeptic searching for answers. In fact, to this day, when you check your DirecTV or Dish Network guide, you can find a half-dozen or so such stations (all non-Catholic), which my Protestant friends and colleagues are embarrassed by.

And then one day I found Mother Angelica on my TV. She had a strikingly blue-collar style, reminding me of my Western Pennsylvania/Italian family roots. That was fitting, really, since she was raised not too far from me. I’ve driven through her so-called Akron-Canton region many times. This folksy nun from the town that houses the NFL Hall of Fame was tough. She was no sophisticate. That wasn’t her desire or approach—quite the contrary. That’s a bit ironic, because the television and larger media network that she was growing is today very sophisticated. The EWTN media conglomerate is distinctly theological, thoughtful, orthodox, polished, high-brow—from the TV channel to the mass network of radio affiliates, which I can pick up in the car almost anywhere, or via Sirius radio, my computer, and my phone.

That was what this little nun from Canton bequeathed. And it is no small achievement.

Today, I watch EWTN television more than any other channel.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

The Spiritual Legacy of Mother Angelica

Mother Angelica, founder of Eternal Word Television Network, died at age 92 March 27 at the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration monastery in Hanceville, Ala. She is pictured in an undated photo. (CNS photo/courtesy EWTN)

The Spiritual Legacy of Mother Angelica | Bishop Robert Barron | Catholic World Report

While the critics of the founder of Eternal Word Television Network have largely faded away, the impact and influence of the nun from Canton, Ohio are incontestable.

Mother Angelica, one of the most significant figures in the post-conciliar Catholic Church in America, has died after a fourteen-year struggle with the after effects of a stroke. I can attest that, in "fashionable" Catholic circles during the eighties and nineties of the last century, it was almost de rigueur to make fun of Mother Angelica. She was a crude popularizer, an opponent of Vatican II, an arch-conservative, a culture-warrior, etc., etc. And yet while her critics have largely faded away, her impact and influence are incontestable. Against all odds and expectations, she created an evangelical vehicle without equal in the history of the Catholic Church. Starting from, quite literally, a garage in Alabama, EWTN now reaches 230 million homes in over 140 countries around the world. With the possible exception of John Paul II himself, she was the most watched and most effective Catholic evangelizer of the last fifty years.

Read Raymond Arroyo's splendid biography in order to get the full story of how Rita Rizzo, born and raised in a tough neighborhood in Canton, Ohio, came in time to be a nun, a foundress, and a television personality. For the purposes of this brief article, I would like simply to draw attention to three areas of particular spiritual importance in the life of Mother Angelica: her trust in God's providence, her keen sense of the supernatural quality of religion, and her conviction that suffering is of salvific value.

The accounts of the beginning of EWTN read like the stories of some of the great saintly founders of movements and orders within the Church. Mother had a blithe confidence that if God called her to do something, he would provide what was needed.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

The Divine Physician and the Doctor

The Divine Physician and the Doctor | John Herreid | IPNovels.com

…for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
—2 Corinthians 12:10

He’s back. My favorite recent incarnation of the alien Time Lord known as the Doctor arrived again this month, sonic screwdriver (or sunglasses) at the ready. Peter Capaldi’s portrayal of the Doctor is prickly, intelligent, standoffish, and alien in ways that harken back to the first decade of Doctor Who. It’s worth pondering that on a series fifty years old, sometimes a return to origins feels fresher than “new” directions, which often end up taking a show in the same direction all the other shows are going. In the opening two-parter The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar, the Doctor once again faces Davros, the maniacal creator of the Daleks, in what may be the best use of the character since Tom Baker’s Doctor faced him when he was first introduced in Genesis of the Daleks (1975).

In these two opening episodes of the series, the Doctor is facing not only two of his oldest enemies: Davros and the Master (now regenerated into female form as the Mistress)—but also the question of whether his own weaknesses may be his ultimate downfall.

—

What some people call NuWho, the show since it’s revival after a long hiatus, has been hit and miss. But so was the original. The budget has increased vastly since the original run of Doctor Who, which at times had the homespun charm of watching a community theater production. I can remember as a child realizing that various monsters were made of such things as bubble wrap and tape. Unlike slick Hollywood productions, on Doctor Who the seams were all visible: a rampaging robot might brush a “metal” wall and make the whole set wobble. But the actors playing the various incarnations of the Doctor, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker especially, had a charisma that could make you forget the low budget. As an adult, I began to delve further back into Doctor Who, back to William Hartnell’s crotchety First Doctor and Patrick Troughton’s Chaplinesque Second Doctor.

In the 1980s Doctor Who began to misstep. Stories began to be cynical and dark, and often complicated and confusing. Though Peter Davison, who played the Doctor in the early 80s, was a dashing figure, his replacement was Colin Baker, written as a garishly dressed (even by Who standards) and aggressively unpleasant Doctor. The show never really recovered from this, though Sylvester McCoy, who followed Colin Baker, starred in a series of episodes that showed a great deal of improvement. The television show was suspended in 1989. In the 90s an attempt was made to revive the series with a television movie co-produced by American investors, starring Paul McGann as the Doctor (very good) and Eric Roberts (wait, what?!) as his nemesis, the Master. It failed to jump-start a revival.

It was in 2005 that Doctor Who came back starring Christopher Eccleston and garnered a new generation of fans. Modern Whovians glommed on particularly to David Tennant, the Doctor from 2005 to 2010, whose portrayal of the Doctor was probably the most human of all the incarnations. He was followed by my son’s favorite Doctor, the Eleventh, played by Matt Smith, who departed in 2013. Which brings us back to Peter Capaldi.

My oldest son, who is on the autism spectrum, was upset at first when he heard that Matt Smith would regenerate into a new Doctor. He went so far as to write a letter to Smith, giving him the heads-up that “you will regnrat in to Petr Capaldy.” It was touching then, to see Peter Capaldi take some time to speak to another young fan with autism in the UK, reassuring her that it was okay with Smith that he was the Doctor now. Capaldi also filmed a special message for a nine-year-old boy with autism whose grandmother had just died, helping the boy process his feelings. It made me a bigger fan of his work than ever before.

—

The Doctor values humanity. He sees the rights of the downtrodden and steps in to aid them whenever he can. His gruff or frivolous or snarky behavior (depending on his incarnation) is just a mask for the deep generosity of his character. And it’s here that I want to go a bit deeper.

Continue reading at IPNovels.com.

Former atheist Jennifer Fulwiler on the the witness of C.S. Lewis, praying for Tupac Shakur, and...

... the hardest thing about being a Catholic:

Jennifer is a popular Catholic blogger and homeschooling mother of six who writes about faith, family, media, and culture at her website, Conversion Diary. Fulwiler's memoir about her spiritual journey from atheism to Catholicism is titled Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It, published earlier this year by Ignatius Press.

CWR interviewed Jennifer in April:

CWR: Let’s start with the title of your book, Something Other Than God. Where did the title come from and why did you choose it?

Jennifer Fulwiler: The title came from this wonderful C.S. Lewis quote, which is particularly meaningful because C.S. Lewis is also an atheist-to-Christian convert. The full quote says, “All that we call human history…is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” And the reason I chose that is because at first, I thought this story was just a standard conversion story, but as I got into the writing I realized this was more of a story of a search for happiness. So that’s why I chose that quote, because it talks about how we’re all searching for what will really make us happy, and we can only find that in God.

CWR: In the book you describe the very intense, almost arduous intellectual process you went through of coming to understand Christianity and what Christians believe. During that time what was your attitude toward “cradle Christians” or those who believed in Christ in a perhaps somewhat unreflective—or at least less intellectually rigorous—way?

Fulwiler: It changed over time. When I was younger, because I had had some bad experiences with Christians, I was very disdainful of “cradle believers” and just thought that they bought into these lies for self-serving reasons. As I got older, though, I began to see it as just a cultural thing. I didn’t think that people’s religion actually meant anything to them; I thought that’s what they did because it was the tradition in their family, or whatever.

Read that entire interview.

John Paul II and the Death of the Faith

A Swiss Guard stands in front of a painting of St. John Paul II as Pope Francis leads his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 22. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

John Paul II and the Death of the Faith | K. V. Turley | CWR blog

The "wisdom" of the second half of the 20th century answered by the wisdom of a sainted pope, an American friar, and a British genius

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

It will not survive; it will die.

That was the view of the Faith when I was younger. Now, over 40 years later, I can only but agree: it will die.

Growing up in the 1970s, the pervasive view was that religion was an embarrassment, a throwback to an age of superstition whilst all around the white heat of technological progress burned ever brighter. The then Pope, Paul VI, old and frail, appeared to have all but “lost” to the so-called Sexual Revolution that seemed to permeate everything—or so we were told by the media, leaving us with the feeling that everyone, save a few Catholics, had moved on from religion. It was to be a different era now; we were moving into a future that promised to be as contrasting as it was to be momentous, and with the certainty that there was no room for Catholicism.

Television domininated the 1970s, and it had a monopoly on our young minds; the secular agenda set by television shaped our worldview, forming one with no relationship whatsoever with the teachings of the Church. Like most of my contemporaries, we lapped up any televised cant (as long as it sounded plausible), from “experts” and the favored intellectuals of the day, believing, as we did, that such men knew “something” about “everything”. And, all the time, joined in this communal mind control, there were those around us decrying Catholic education's wholesale “brainwashing”. Looking back now, the assertion seems utterly preposterous, especially given the fact that many of those attending and teaching in such schools either misunderstood the Church's teachings or already rejected them outright.

It was clear this state of affairs couldn't continue. The Faith just couldn't survive, and not only in the British Isles, but all across the West. Nevertheless, as an adolescent, I wondered where it was all going to end; that said, one thing was patently clear: the Faith would die.

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Fast forward some 30 years to November 2006.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Watch: Fr. Robert Dodaro interviewed on EWTN about Kasper proposal, "Remaining In the Truth of Christ"

Fr. Robert Dodaro, O.S.A, editor of Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church, is interviewed on "The World Over" (EWTN) by Raymond Arroyo:

More about the book:

Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church

Edited by Robert Dodaro, O.S.A

• Also available in Electronic Book Format

In this volume five cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Walter Cardinal Kasper for the Church to harmonize "fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people". The contributors are Walter Cardinal Brandmüller; Raymond Cardinal Burke; Carlo Cardinal Caffarra; Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, C.S.; Robert Dodaro, O.S.A.; Paul Mankowski, S.J.; Gerhard Cardinal Müller; John M. Rist; and Archbishop Cyril Vasil', S.J.

Cardinal Kasper appeals to early Church practice in order to support his view. The contributors bring their wealth of knowledge and expertise to bear upon this question, concluding that the Bible and the Church Fathers do not support the kind of "toleration" of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper. They also examine the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as "mercy" implying "toleration") in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic Communion. The book traces the long history of Catholic resistance to this practice, revealing the serious theological and pastoral difficulties it poses in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

As the authors demonstrate, traditional Catholic doctrine, based on the teaching of Jesus himself, and current pastoral practice are not at odds with genuine mercy and compassion. The authentic "gospel of mercy" is available through a closer examination of the Church's teachings.

"Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the Church remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth, pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment."
- St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

 

Bp. James Conley: New Ignatius Press book "provides a blueprint to proclaim the beauty of the family"

From Bishop Conley's review of The Hope of the Family: A Dialogue with Cardinal Gerhard Müller, newly published by Ignatius Press:

The Church soon begins  the synod on the family, an Oct. 5-19 meeting at the Vatican of bishops from across the world who are discussing the meaning of family life in the contemporary world.

Accommodation to secular culture has been the dominant media theme surrounding the meeting. Will the Church change her teaching, her pastoral practice, her disciplines or processes? Will the Church endorse new ideas about family life? Or will she oppose the “progressive” march of Western culture?

Many of these questions are unreasonable — silly, really.

The purpose of the synod is not to change the Church’s teachings. The purpose is to understand family life more clearly, to support it more faithfully and to present it more robustly, more persuasively and more enthusiastically. The purpose of the synod is to witness to the rich beauty of Christian family life.

As a blueprint for this witness, the Church needs to look no further than Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s book The Hope of the Family. Cardinal Müller is the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — an expert and authority on the doctrinal teachings of the faith. He is also a pastor — for 10 years, he served as bishop of Regensburg, a beautiful Bavarian diocese that is a repository of Catholic life and culture.

In Hope of the Family, Cardinal Müller draws from his experience and insight to point to the needs of contemporary families, their role in the life of the Church and the beauty and richness they can offer to the world.

The book is written as an interview, in a style similar to Pope Benedict XVI’s famous Ratzinger Report. And it might be seen as a complement to that book — like the Ratzinger Report, Hope of the Family provides the honest and insightful evaluations of a thoughtful disciple of Jesus Christ.

As a matter of timing, the book is important. Published in anticipation of the synod, Hope of the Family offers a valuable resource for parents, pastors and for the bishops at the synod.

In substance, the book addresses several major topics. On the matter of doctrine, Cardinal Müller defends the unchanging teaching of the Church in a way that is palatable and persuasive. The faith, he says, cannot be “transformed into a new, politically correct civil religion, reduced to a few goals that are tolerated by the rest of society.”

Read the entire review on the National Catholic Register website.

Justice and the Kingdom

"The Grape Harvest" by Henri-Edmond Cross (1856-1910) [WikiArt.org]

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for September 28, 2014 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Ez 18:25-28
• Psa 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
• Phil 2:1-11
• Matt 21:28-32

Growing up I heard countless admonishments from my parents—all of them deserved, I readily confess. One that has stuck with me is a simple, commonsensical remark made many times by my mother: “Life is not always fair.” A variation of this was, “You don’t always get what you want.” And, sure enough, I didn’t always get what I wanted.

As a parent, I sometimes think of those remarks when my young son says, “That’s not fair!” This is usually uttered with great frustration and often after some conflict with his older sister. And she, of course, often responds in kind: “It’s not fair that he gets to play with that toy!”

Our sensitivity—or hyper-sensitivity, as the case might be—to being treated unfairly hardly diminishes as we grow up and become adults. On the contrary, we often develop more elaborate and sophisticated ways of discovering real or perceived injustices. We recognize that today’s reading from the prophet Ezekiel offers a true picture of the human condition and complaint: “The Lord’s way is not fair!” How often do we think that God is being unfair to us, even unjust? Are we occasionally tempted to mutter to ourselves, “It’s not fair that God is putting me through this difficult situation”?

It has been rightly noted by many wise men that there are two ways to approach God and reality. We can either try to conform them to ourselves and our desires, or we can conform ourselves to God and reality. Put another way, we can ask, as God did of the house of Israel, is it God’s way that is unfair, or rather, are not our ways unfair?

Jean Cardinal Daniélou (1905-1974), a French theologian much admired by John Paul II and Benedict XVI, once wrote that “God’s justice, according to the Bible, has nothing in common with the communicative justice that governs relationships between men, and the mistake lies precisely in wishing to apply such a criterion to the relationship between God and men” (God and the Ways of Knowing, [Ignatius Press, 2003], 96). One the lamentable errors often made by man is thinking that he deserves to have rights before God. This is not to say that God’s justice arbitrary or malleable. On the contrary, the Catechism reminds us, “In God, power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom, and justice are all identical. Nothing therefore can be in God's power which could not be in his just will or his wise intellect” (CCC 271).

The parable of the two sons, proclaimed in today’s Gospel, reveals this truth in a simple, powerful manner. To work in the vineyard is to pursue the will of God, to strive for holiness and to pursue justice. One son says he will not work the vineyard, but then changes his mind; the other son gives lip service, but fails to enter the vineyard. This is a picture of the Pharisees—who said the right things but failed to do them—and those sinners who acknowledged their need for God and acted accordingly. It is also a depiction of each one of us, who are sinners. We are invited by the Father to work the vineyard, to enter the Kingdom of God. What will we say? More importantly, what will we actually do? “Words are not enough,” the Catechism pointedly explains, “deeds are required” (CCC 46).

“Justice and the Kingdom,” wrote Daniélou, “are one and the same thing.” Why? Because both are gifts from God drawing us into His fatherly love. “God’s justice is not defined with reference to man. It is the faithfulness of love to itself.” Human justice will sometimes fail and life will in fact often be unfair. We won’t always get what we want.

But, then, the question for us should be different: What does God want for us and from us? And what should we, children born of grace, say in return? Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the September 28, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Fairest Daughter of the Father: On the Solemnity of the Assumption

Fairest Daughter of the Father: On the Solemnity of the Assumption | Rev. Charles M. Mangan

The Solemnity of the Assumption, celebrated annually on August 15, presents a golden opportunity to reconsider the person of the Ever-Virgin Mary and her singular mission in the Church. We often contemplate the relationship between Mary and her Son; this reflection will focus on the relationship which Our Lady enjoys with the First Person of the Most Blessed Trinity.

Mary has been hailed as the "first-born" daughter of the Father. This reality is evident if one remembers that God--and in a specific way the Father--has created Mary, just as He has created us. She is "one of us" because she is fully human. We are children of the Almighty in a similar vein in which she is His daughter. As we rely on God for our very existence, so, too, does our Immaculate Mother.

What do the Father and His sinless daughter share? Venerable Pius IX (1846-1878), in his Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus (December 8, 1854) in which he once-and-for-all defined the truth of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, wrote: "To her did the Father will to give His only-begotten Son--the Son Whom, equal to the Father and begotten by Him, the Father loves from His Heart--and to give this Son in such a way that He would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The Father gave many overwhelming spiritual riches to Mary to strengthen her in her inspiring vocation as the Mother of His Son. Yet, He gave no greater gift than that of the Lord Jesus. Mary, in turn, imitated the Father in raising Jesus from before infancy to manhood. Jesus knew well the best of all gifts which His Mother faithfully imparted: the boundless love of His Beloved Father. Now, as the Son of Mary, Christ came to experience the love of His Mother which was patterned after that of His Father.

One may rightly assert that Jesus Christ is the link between the Father and Mary. We often claim that children receive much of their identity from their parents. Eye color, physical build and even disposition are often traced from the child back to its parents. Truly, the offspring rely on their father and mother for multiple and varied things. (And, of course, the Messiah willed to come forth from Mary and be dependent on her and Saint Joseph.) However, the Holy Family of Nazareth is a different case. Mary and her loving husband discovered their purpose in the Divine Child. In Jesus, they found their identity--unto everlasting life!

"Symbolon": Teaching for Conversion | An interview with Dr. Edward Sri

Dr. Edward Sri is the director of Symbolon, a new catechetical program produced by the Augustine Institute (Denver).

Symbolon: Teaching for Conversion | CWR Staff | Catholic World Report

A new catechetical program from the Augustine Institute provides a comprehensive, orthodox, systematic presentation of the faith, while alos highlighting the beautiful, organic unity of the faith

Symbolon is a new catechetical program produced by the Augustine Institute of Denver, focused on providing a beautiful and systematic presentation of the Catholic Faith. It was filmed on locations in Rome, the Holy Land, Calcutta, and elsewhere, and features nationally-known teachers and scholars, including Edward Sri, Tim Gray, Curtis Martin, Mary Healy, Teresa Tomeo, and many others.

Dr. Edward Sri, Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture, Theology, and Catechetics

Chancellor at the Augustine Institute, is the director of the Symbolon program. He recently spoke with CWR about Symbolon, its focus and goals, its contents and approach, and how it works.

CWR: In a nutshell, what is Symbolon, and who is it for?

Dr. Edward Sri: Today, many people have a fragmented understanding of the Catholic faith. We might know there are 12 apostles, 10 commandments, 7 sacraments, and 3 persons of the Trinity. But we have almost zero understanding how it all fits together and what difference it makes for our lives.

We at the Augustine Institute wanted to build a program that walks through the entirety of the Catholic faith, so that people can know their faith, understand how to live practically, and be able to articulate it to others. Symbolon is that program. It’s a video series for adult faith formation that was filmed on location in Rome, the Holy Land and Calcutta and in the Augustine Institute studios in Denver. It features dozens of teachers who explain the Catholic faith simply and in an engaging, life-transforming way.

CWR: What was the genesis of Symbolon, and how did the program come about? Who are some of the folks involved in producing the program?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

 

The Arts—Agents of Change and Source of Enchantment

The Arts—Agents of Change and Source of Enchantment | Carl E. Olson | CWR

Dana and Ted Gioia discuss literature, music, education, business, culture, and the Catholic Faith.

Dana and Ted Gioia (pronounced JOY-uh) are authors, musicians, composers, critics, educators, and businessmen. They are also brothers, born and raised in Hawthorne, California, in an Italian-Mexican, Catholic family. Although both have been interviewed numerous times over the years, this marks the first time they have been interviewed together, answering the same questions.

Dana Gioia (www.DanaGioia.net), the eldest, is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet, and the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He received a BA and an MBA from Stanford University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. He has published four full-length collections of poetry (and several shorter collections), and the collection Interrogations at Noon won the 2002 American Book Award. His poetry has also appeared in numerous anthologies. His 1991 book, Can Poetry Matter?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award. His poems, translations, essays, and reviews have appeared in many magazines, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Dana has written three opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German. Renominated in November 2006 for a second term and once again unanimously confirmed by the US Senate, he was the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He left his position as Chairman in 2009, and in 2011 he became the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California, where he teaches each fall semester. He is also a member of the College of Fellows at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Berkeley). Dana has been the recipient of ten honorary degrees and has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Laetare Medal from Notre Dame. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons, and he divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California.

Ted Gioia (www.TedGioia.com), seven years younger than Dana, has published eight non-fiction books, most recently the bestselling The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire.  His book The History of Jazz was selected as one of the twenty best books of the year in 1997 by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post, and was chosen as a notable book of the year in The New York Times. His 2008 book Delta Blues was also selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 most notable of the year, and was picked as one of the best books of the year by The Economist. In 2006, Ted published two books simultaneously, Work Songs and Healing Songs, and both were honored with a special ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. His 2009 book, The Birth (and the Death) of Cool, was a work of cultural criticism and a historical survey of hipness, and his concept of post-cool, outlined in this work, was highlighted as one of the “ideas of the year” by Adbusters. Ted’s writings have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Salon, American Scholar, Hudson Review, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. Ted received a degree in English at Stanford (graduating with honors and distinction), served as editor of Stanford’s literary magazine, Sequoia. He also worked extensively as a jazz pianist during that time, and designed and taught a class on jazz at Stanford while still an undergraduate. After graduation, Gioia received a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, where he graduated with first class honors. He then received an MBA from Stanford University. Ted has also consulted to Fortune 500 companies, and has undertaken business projects in numerous countries on five continents. In the 1980s he established a formal jazz studies program at Stanford, and served on the faculty alongside artist-in-residence Stan Getz for several years. His first book, The Imperfect Art, published in 1988, was awarded the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award and was named a “Jazz Book of the Century” by Jazz Educators Journal. Ted has recorded several jazz albums, including The End of the Open Road, Tango Cool, and The City is a Chinese Vase.

Carl E. Olson, editor of CWR, interviewed Dana and Ted over the past couple of months, asking each the same questions about their childhood, their faith, literature and music, education, American culture, and the role of the Church in supporting the arts.

CWR: Is it accurate to say that two influences profoundly shaped your childhood years: your family’s Catholic faith and your uncle, Ted, who died before you had a chance to know him? What role did each play in your intellectual and cultural formation? What other influences are noteworthy?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Piers, Penn, and the Essence of Catholicism

by Brian Jones | CWR blog

At the end of a Wednesday evening class last semester, one of my students approached me to ask a question. After hesitating somewhat, he proceeded in the following manner: “Professor, I really have enjoyed your class, but you always teach as though Catholicism is true. You rarely talk about other religions, of which I was actually hoping to learn more about.” I reminded the troubled young man that he should re-read the syllabus, since “Teachings of the Catholic Church” is actually the official course title. The humorous encounter reminded me of Walker Percy’s response to the question of why he became a Catholic: “What else is there?” How ironic, yet typical of most university students, that someone would be taking a course on Catholicism and simultaneously be disgruntled that this is precisely what he is getting. 

The history of Catholicism has thankfully shown us that there is a tremendous pedagogical character regarding the nature of error: it helps us achieve greater clarity on a particular matter that may have, up to that point, been otherwise. Moreover, error also helps us to see whether or not the one committing it has willfully chosen it. It would be safe to say that the latter is a hallmark of many post-modern Catholics. The student mentioned in the beginning was, in my estimation, suffering from a high degree of excusable ignorance; he did not have a full grasp of what he was asking, and seemed more the result of a cultural that had groomed him to accept relativism a priori. Others, have fallen away from the faith, not by an excusable ignorance or happenstance, but by a mode of living that refuses to conform itself to the demands of the faith.  

These preliminary points came to mind last week as I watched the brief exchange between Piers Morgan and Penn Jillette (easily accessible on YouTube). 

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Deacon R. William Steltemeier, Jr., Requiescat in pace

by Carl E. Olson

I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting a bit with Dn. Steltemeier on my trips to EWTN, and he was always very gracious and encouraging. May God grant him eternal rest.

From EWTN News:

Deacon R. William Steltemeier, Jr., founding president of the Eternal Word Television Network, died in Hanceville, Ala. on Feb. 15 at the age of 83 after a lengthy illness.

Michael P. Warsaw, current network president and CEO, called Deacon Steltemeier “a man of incredible faithfulness,” noting that only EWTN founder Mother Angelica was more closely associated with the network.

“As a husband, a father, an attorney and in his vocation as a permanent deacon, Bill always remained focused on serving God and serving others,” Warsaw said.

“He devoted himself totally to Mother Angelica’s mission and sacrificed all he had to help her build EWTN into the tremendous vehicle for evangelization that it has become.”

Warsaw added: “While we mourn his passing, we take comfort from his own example of faith and are confident he has heard those words from the Gospel of Matthew, 'Well done good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your master.'”

Deacon Steltemeier was born in Nashville, Tenn. on June 6, 1929. He married Ramona Schnupp on Aug. 22, 1953. He graduated from Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt Law School before entering the U.S. Army and serving for two years in France.

He co-founded the law firm of Steltemeier & Westbrooke in Nashville in 1960. The firm specializes in bankruptcy and commercial law and continues to operate today.


Bishop Joseph A. Durick of Nashville ordained Steltemeier to the diaconate on April 26, 1975. He was among the first American men ordained to the permanent diaconate. 

Read more.

2012 Napa Institute Conference presentations to air on EWTN

From an e-letter sent by Luke Nicholas Miller, the Conference Director for The Napa Institute:

Dear Friends of the Napa Institute,
 
Beginning tomorrow, Saturday, October 6, excerpts from our 2012 Napa Institute Conference will be broadcast as part of the "EWTN On Location" series shown in the US and Canada on Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific time! Tomorrow's broadcast will feature a keynote on Catholic Education by Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.
 
To find out how to access EWTN in your local area, simply click on http://www.ewtn.com/channelfinder/ and enter your zip code. The schedule for future broadcasts of the Napa Institute are as follows:
 
October 13, 2012:  Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. and Hugh Hewitt

October 27, 2012:  Frank J. Hanna, III
 
November 3, 2012:  Fr. Robert Barron (Catholic Education)
 
November 10, 2012:  Bishop Robert C. Morlino
 
November 17, 2012:  Peter Kreeft
 
November 24, 2012:  Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.  (Reason & Faith)
 
December 1, 2012:  Fr. Robert Barron (Reason & Faith)
 
Napa Institute DVDs
 
DVDs from our Second Annual Napa Institute Conference are now available on the EWTN Religious Catalogue Website! On this 12-disc set you can watch keynotes, breakouts, and highlights from Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Fr. Robert Barron, Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Peter Kreeft, Tim Gray, Frank J. Hanna III, Hugh Hewitt, and more!
 
Other News
 
The Napa Institute staff has been working with a website developer on revamping and relaunching of our website. The new website is slated to be relaunched by the end of next week!
 
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone
 
On Thursday, October 4th, on the Feast of St. Francis, His Grace, the Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone was installed as the ninth Archbishop of San Francisco. Archbishop Cordileone attended our first two Napa Institute conferences and celebrated the Solemn Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form each year. We prayerfully congratulate Archbishop Cordileone on his installation and look forward to his participation at our 2013 Conference!

The 2013 Napa Institute Conference will take place on August 1-4, 2013, at The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, California.

Behold the Olympics!

by James V. Schall, S.J. | Catholic World Report

Watching the Olympic Games on NBC has been more than frustrating. The actual events are cleverly isolated midst ad after ad, and chatter after chatter, on the screen. In frustration, I turned to a Spanish station that showed soccer, boxing, and races that were not yet available on NBC, which seems exclusively interested in what Americans do at the Games. No doubt, Ethiopian, German, or Chinese television networks feature their respective athletes.

I suppose that if I were in London, the logistics of getting to where separate events were actually happening would be daunting. No one could see everything as it was happening. And while each event has its own history and fascination, some people will be bored by swimming and others enthused by shooting or the pole vault. But, no doubt, something worth watching can be found in any event.

In the course of two weeks, we see boxing, rowing, equestrian events, track, shooting, jumping, vaulting, diving, swimming, weight-lifting, judo, volley ball, field hockey, basketball, soccer, wrestling, ping pong, gymnastics, badminton, hurdles, and marathons. The only things missing are football (American, Australian, Irish, and Canadian), sailing, baseball, poker, golf, lacrosse, hunting dogs, cock fights, bass fishing, auto racing, tractor pulls, and horse shoes. We see the world's fastest men and women, as well as the strongest, the most agile, and the most enduring. When we finally are allowed un-interruptedly to watch a complete event, it is precisely a spectacle, something to behold, to watch, fascinated.

Aside from the occasional athlete who blesses himself before a race, the heavy garb of some Muslim women, and the "God" when "God Save the Queen" is sung in honor of some British gold medalist, we see or hear no indication of religion, aside from shots of Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's. The opening and closing ceremonies feature no blessings. Perhaps it is just as well. Security is difficult enough as it is.

Yet, the Olympics did have religious origins in their Greek beginnings. Mt. Olympus was the home of the gods.

The idea that men did their best before the gods is not to be ignored. And what could men do? Were there any limits? Is there something finite about us?

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Michael Hesemann to guest on CatholicTV on Tuesday, May 29th

WATERTOWN, MA (May 25, 2012) – Michael Hesemann to Appear on Live Talk Show of the CatholicTV® Network

On Tuesday, May 29, 2012, Michael Hesemann, who worked with Msgr. Georg Ratzinger on the book My Brother, the Pope, will be featured on the CatholicTV Network’s nationally broadcasted live talk show; This is the Day.

Michael Hesemann has become one of the most important religious historians in the world. Accredited as a journalist by the Holy See Press Office, he is one of few academic historians who have been granted access to the Vatican Secret Archives for research.

Born in Duesseldorf, Germany, he studied history, cultural anthropology and journalism at Germany’s Goettingen University. Hesemann has written more than 30 books, and has been involved in the production of a number of documentaries throughout his career.

In “My Brother the Pope,” Msgr. Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI’s older brother, gives insight to the Ratzinger family, and the close friendship two brothers developed early and have maintained for more than 80 years.

Msgr. Ratzinger became an accomplished musician and, while his younger brother was becoming known in German academic circles as a brilliant young professor, he would become the director of the world-famous cathedral choir of Regensburg, Germany, the Regensburger Domspatzen. The Ratzingers endured the difficult period of National Socialism in Germany, and the brothers went on to become priests and leaders, with one of them, ultimately, Pope Benedict XVI.

Msgr. Ratzinger recalls their lives in intimate detail, and warmly. In the process, he paints a beautiful portrait of Catholic family life and, in the most literal sense, of enduring fraternal charity. The words are seasoned and complemented by many photographs in black and white and color.

“My Brother the Pope” is available in hardcover and eBook format for the Kindle, Nook, iPad and more from Ignatius Press. Ignatius Press is among the largest U.S. publishers and distributors of Catholic books, magazines, videos, DVDs, and music. It is the primary English-language publisher of Pope Benedict XVI’s books.

For more information visit: www.ignatius.com/promotions/my-brother-the-pope.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan guests on "Face the Nation (Shaped by JFK's 1960 Speech)"

Cardinal Timothy Dolan was a guest on "Face the Nation" on Easter Sunday and the host, Bob Schieffer, immediately got to the issue that is weighing on the hearts and minds of every serious person in April 2012: Camelot! Well, sort of:

BOB SCHIEFFER: I want to talk a little politics with you, your eminence back in 1960.

CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN: I'm not surprised.

My guess is that Cardinal Dolan figured there were three places the interview could go: down the "Why does Catholic Church hate women?" highway, up the "When will the Catholic Church catch up with the times?" river, or over to the "Didn't President Kennedy establish for all eternity the Catholic understanding of 'State first, Church silent'?" grill. Considering Kennedy was murdered nearly fifty years ago and that his already flimsy reputation as upstanding, morally superior politician/POTUS has been badly bruised in recent years, the third option was likely the best for Schieffer to pull out of his fraying bag of journalistic talking points. And so he did:

BOB SCHIEFFER: When John Kennedy became the first Catholic President, he made a speech during the campaign, because he said flatly, he wanted people to know and he wanted to assure them that he thought there was a separation between church and state. Here is the way he put it.

CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN: Yeah.

JOHN F. KENNEDY (September 12, 1960): I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Now people in both parties have referred back to that over the years as-- as a good definition of church and state, but during this campaign year, one of the Republican candidates, Rick Santorum, said this about it.

RICK SANTORUM (November 11, 2011): If I had the opportunity to read the speech, I almost threw up. He should read the speech. It's-- in my opinion it was the beginning of the secular movement of politicians to separate their faith from the public square. And he threw faith under the bus in that speech.

Which led to a good question from Schieffer: "Your eminence, where do you think the line should be between church and state? Is there, should there be a separation?" It was a wide open question, with many possible answers. Cardinal Dolan responded:

Contine reading on the CWR blog.

Just in: Cardinal Pell and Richard Dawkins don't exchange Christmas cards

The two men—one of the leading light of the Catholic Church in Australia and the other the most well-known of the so-called "new atheists"—met in a highly anticipated (and highly rated, as it turned out) televised debate one (or two?) days ago. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

It was a match-up made in Q&A heaven: two pugilists of opposing convictions going head-to-head in a debate about the existence of God.

Australia's highest-ranking Catholic and Sydney's archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, spent an hour with evolutionary biologist and celebrity atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins taking questions covering everything from evolution, resurrection and eternal damnation.

Frustration and something bordering on barely concealed mutual disdain boiled over more than once during the ABC television show.

The hour-long debate can be viewed online; the transcript is also available. Here is one exchange regarding the afterlife:

Read the entire post on the Catholic World Report blog.

File under: "For what will it profit a man..."

"... if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?", from the conclusion to an intriguing Hollywood Reporter article, "Whatever Happened To Ted Turner?":

Today, without Fonda, on some deep level Turner is alone — no matter his numerous loyalists, four girlfriends and dizzying accomplishments. It’s something he regrets, and that perhaps feeds his insecurity, evidence of which comes and goes throughout our conversation.

He constantly blurts out such things as, "I pushed up against the limits of what a human being could do. And look at my accomplishments. I mean, I won the America’s Cup; I won the World Series; I think I won over 1,200 prizes. I have 46 honorary degrees."

"He is very insecure,” Johnson confides. “After he was named something like Time’s man of the year, he held up the magazine in front of several people and said, ‘See, Dad, I made it after all!'"

It’s been nearly 50 years since his father died, and now Turner is starting to contemplate his own mortality. His daughter Laura says he speaks frequently of his funeral, repeatedly changing the plans — he’s talked of having Willie Nelson sing “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” or having his ashes scattered over his properties or being laid out Native American-style and “having the birds pick the skin from his bones.”

"Most super-achievers don’t make it to 73,” Turner reflects. Once virulently anti-religious, doubt rather than certainty defines his thinking now. He calls himself “a little bit religious — that says it pretty well. But I’d like to think there’s somebody looking after us."

Here is the entire article. Turner's business accomplishments are immense (he essentially invented cable television and 24-hour news). His wealth is still immense ($2 billion; he was once worth five times as much). He has been married three times. He owns 28 homes and 55,000 bison. He has four girlfriends (take that, Hugh Hefner!). And he comes off as lonely, unhappy, and without any sense of what it is all about. Here's hoping that he allows the Hound of Heaven to chase him down.