When Civilization Decays
When the class on the top cares only for money it does not care for culture.
Thoughts
52 posts
Talking Religion in Bars
Perhaps “doing” something can actually involve much less “doing” than people typically think.
Building Churches
Although the Church only commands the faithful to abstain from servile work and attend Mass and does not make it obligatory to attend Vespers, still She desires this and through out her history, She has repeatedly recommended it.
The Importance of Vespers
Although the Church only commands the faithful to abstain from servile work and attend Mass and does not make it obligatory to attend Vespers, still She desires this and through out her history, She has repeatedly recommended it.
The End of Education
There exists a robust and integrated philosophy of education that the Church has already developed which is almost entirely unknown to Catholics today.
Earth, the Body, and the Church
The legacy that Wendell Berry, the "ultimate Protestant," leaves for Catholics.
Remove the Smart Screens
The IKE “Smart City” Kiosks were lauded as a win: “technology to improve lives in cities.” They do not improve lives in our city.
Peak Suburbia?
While we have not yet reached it, I expect to see peak suburbia within my lifetime.
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
Communal dinner not only feeds your body, it feeds your spirit as well.
Sing a Round
Singing is a long loved tradition in our city. Can we love it again?
The Confusion of the American: Fighting for the Enemy
For in this our age, we are not being deprived of our rights, our freedom, or our humanity with the force of arms; jackbooted thugs need not prowl the streets to ensure ideological conformity or at least silence against the ideology of the day; no, for they attack us now with the blade of social media and the gun of isolation.
What is an American?
I have been asking what various people thought it meant to be an American, or what being an American meant to them. This is the result.
The Holy Neighborhood: The Subversive Joy of Embracing Parish Life
It is one of the peculiar failures of modernity that so many Catholics attend Mass but do not belong to their parishes. They slip in and out of pews like shadows, avoiding eye contact, avoiding conversation, avoiding community. St. Francis de Sales would gently chide them: “The secret to Christian devotion is not to withdraw from society, but to embrace it in love and humility.”
God Starts on Two
If God starts on two, so should we. For those who don’t know, this is a dancing reference—and, furthermore, the brief insight I’d like to share is a direct result of my own experience salsa dancing.
What Profit Have Workers From Their Toil?
When I use my washing machine or dishwasher, I should at least be aware that many people's work, many hours of their lives, were spent to make them. I should try to purchase things as well as I can that are made in places that uphold the dignity of the laborer and their labor. And I should consider whether I need to get off my butt and try doing some hard labor myself, because what else am I really doing with my time? What am I saving my labor for?
The Sacred Ordinary: On the Revolutionary Act of Staying Put
In an age of unprecedented mobility, when man can traverse continents in hours and switch careers as easily as he changes his gender, the most radical act has become the simple art of remaining still.
Reflections Upon <i>Irena’s Vow</i>
Last weekend, the Angelico Project staged three performances of the play Irena’s Vow at the Aronoff’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater. Each sold out—which almost never happens in that theater, according to staff. That is no small feat. So, amidst our discussions about the play itself, we should consider the greater implications of this achievement.
Dust to Dust on Corpus Christi
Before 7am on Thursday, they began to prepare 13th street. They chalked designs, carted bags of wood chips, and spread colors for 12 hours till the bells chimed for Mass and they rushed to wash their stained blue fingers, tie their hair into braids, and wash their perspired faces. An hour later, a crowd poured into the street, treading atop the hard day’s work and singing hymns as they followed the King and His canopy. Then it was finished, and the boys started shoveling it away. By midnight, only dull remnants of chalk were left, the choir’s echoes were gone like dissipated fog, and the street was ready for tomorrow’s business as usual.
Meditation on Language
As conversation of all kinds unravels in our world today, and words become unmoored from meaning, it is right and just, perhaps even our duty and ultimately our salvation, to reflect upon words and the Word.
Why are We Ignoring the Church's Teaching on Usury?
Of course, I never considered how odd (or recent) of a phenomenon the investment system was (money can just… make more money from itself? Reproduce, like plants?), and I certainly never considered how widespread usury might impact our economy and social structures on a macroscale.
Out of the Temple
Christ drove the money changers out of the Temple. But today nobody dares to drive the money lenders out of the Temple.
A Semi-Brief History of the Cincinnatian Industrial Revolution
In and among the Catholic young adult community in Cincinnati, there exists a prevalent attitude of negativity toward the Industrial Revolution. “Those pesky 1800s!” many will say, “All they did was disrupt the normal functioning of the world! If only we could return to a pre-industrial society, where everything was simpler.” This opinion, while valid in a few ways, considering especially the widespread environmental impact of factories, the woefully wasteful production methods, and the introduction of consumerism into the psyche of American people, ultimately fails to observe the American Industrial Revolution in the nuanced light that it both deserves and requires.
Those on Welfare Do Not Live Like Kings
The second paragraph of Blaise’s essay provoked my ire to a sufficient degree that I have decided to fire a shot across the bow. That being said, however, the rest of the article sufficiently mollified me so that I now offer more of a continuation - rather than a rebuttal - of his line of thought.
How Can We Objectively Tell If We’ve Made Any Progress?
GDP concerns itself with only goods and services, having no awareness for wellbeing. And, for that matter, it's a dubious measure of goods and services too… We need a new metric.
Multa Sunt
There are many things that stand out when reading of the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII of happy memory. For me, two points that come into greater focus are the venerable Pontiff’s stridency in exercising His teaching authority and His diagnosis that any “solution: will be useless without a restoration of Christian morals and life—Chistian culture—will prove useless.
Thoughts on Rerum Novarum
In the conclusion of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII makes the following remark: “Every one should put his hand to the work which falls to his share, and that at once and straightway, lest the evil which is already so great become through delay absolutely beyond remedy.”
Do We Trust the Invisible Hand?
“I, Pencil” is a short imaginative essay by Leonard Read about the production of a pencil–from the pencil’s point of view. Do we ever stop to think about how many factors come together to make a simple pencil? The graphite, the wood, the rubber; the carving, the molding–it’s a small act of wonder to stare at the pencil in your hand and contemplate all the societal structures, geopolitical journeys, and labor that happened for it to make it to your desk. The essay illustrates the fundamental “Invisible Hand Theory” of classical economics.
The Work of Rerum Novarum Remains Unfinished
Revisiting Rerum Novarum on its 133rd anniversary, I am struck by two related observations. First, by how familiar it sounds. If you set aside the clunky translation and 19th century writing style, it could have been written yesterday. Second, by Pope Leo XIII’s descriptions of how the unchecked personal greed of both capital and labor could produce a corrupted state and ruin our society. Would that we had listened to him!
Centesimo Trigesimo Tertio Anno
That the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science; in the changed relations between masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; the increased self-reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy.
Rethinking Lawns
We have an obligation to care for the land entrusted to us in such a way as to promote health, beauty, and community.
Letter to the Editor: Would the Saints Read Tolkien?
I believe Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings is not merely an “allowable” source of reading for Catholics, it is, particularly for the laity, a required piece of literature.
"Christian, Remember Your Dignity!"
The war between good and evil is real, but it is not in society. The culture war is a façade; the real war rages within.
Would the Saints Read Tolkien?
“It’s a waste of time to read The Lord of the Rings. You should read the Lives of the Saints instead.” Doubtless you could imagine my confusion after hearing these words. Why not read (and value) both?
Kindling (and Rekindling) Ohio's Faith
We should look to Bishop Fenwick and Archbishop Purcell. Our challenges are not precisely the same, the principle underlying their success is: Both uncompromisingly sought first the Kingdom of God.
Letter to the Editor: Will Beauty Save the World?
I want to offer some thoughts continuing the conversation on Gabriel’s article examining art as a way to evangelize. I happened to read his article right after listening to Bishop Barron’s interview with movie actors Ethan and Maya Hawke on art, grace, and Flannery O’Connor, which made me more open to Gabriel’s points than I think I was originally.
Man's End is Not Material
The same errors lie at the root of both communism and unchecked capitalism: the gross exploitation of human nature and the failure to understand man’s true end and purpose.
Kindling, and Rekindling, the Faith in Ohio
We should look to Bishop Fenwick and Archbishop Purcell. While our challenges are not precisely the same, the principle underlying their success is: Both uncompromisingly sought... the Kingdom of God.
Will Beauty Save the World?
There are many people today who view art and culture as a form of religion, because it offers a glimpse of transcendental reality. Beauty entices and ravishes one to a perception of truth. Yet truth in art is necessarily elusive, refracted, and cannot lend itself to a total integrity and self-giving, and can be no substitute for the transcendence of faith. Art and culture cannot pass for liturgy, any more than liturgy can dictate an aesthetic code for art. The worship of art constitutes an idolatry, which in turn produces banality and cultural stagnation.
A Brief Schema of the Person
Today, many seem to be confused about the exact point at which human life begins... Although science is a necessary part of the answer, a proper philosophy of nature that goes beyond the mere facts is needed, and who is better to turn to than Aristotle?
Political Success, Social Failure
In Ohio, the Republicans have been winning elections for decades, yet we stand on the precipice of enshrining a “right” to abortion in our constitution.
Think Smaller
As a people we have lost much of our common life and common culture. Without these foundations we cannot begin to work towards the larger goals above. We must first reestablish ourselves in our real lives and with our real work at a personal level.
For Politics
"Nevertheless there is a point that needs to be driven home: no community will survive long term if there is no, or very limited, involvement in electoral politics."
The Problem with Jordan Peterson
"Peterson focuses on the Cross, while ignoring the Resurrection... Peterson’s worldview, then, is not just incomplete—it’s problematic."
Letter to the Editor: Just Being Neighborly
I thoroughly appreciated Jenna Willett’s comments on the importance of neighborliness in “Just Being Neighborly.” Her article addressed a topic to which I have given considerable thought in the past weeks. Growing up in a semi-urban neighborhood in Cincinnati, my family has seen many neighbors cycle through the houses up and down our street.
Just Being Neighborly
Do you know your neighbors? Not just their names–do you know anything about the lives of the people next door? Let us take a step back into a warm Sunday afternoon from yester-year: front doors are unlocked, neighbors are visiting on front porches, children roam the neighborhood for playmates, and everyone goes about business expecting to be home for dinner.
Driving Ourselves Insane
As general anti-automobile sentiment spreads (though, I should note, is still far from dominant in our culture), and as my own convictions grow, it occurs to me to put down in writing what I have been ruminating upon ever since getting behind the wheel so many years ago (and which I think is something that rarely is brought up in discussions of driving). Driving doesn’t represent a merely generically unnatural sort of activity—an out-of-the-ordinary experience which takes some getting used to for certain kinds of people. Rather, I think we can make a bolder claim: driving is an activity in conflict with certain parts of human nature to the point that it inhibits good practical reasoning, and encourages a certain viciousness of the soul—and does both of these things with astonishing frequency.
In The Place I Was Fated
My generation is ungrounded, which makes for bad culture and unhealthy individuals. I propose a solution: a return to the idea of vocation of place. This means we need to dig roots into the places we have been given. We need to put home, neighborhood, and city higher on the list of factors we consider when making life decisions. And we need to commit to lavishing our energies on the community we have chosen.
The Man About Town
When looking upon the dim reflections of the bygone world, we should remind ourselves that along with the beautiful art and buildings, there were also persons, who were as elevated as the beautiful towers which once crowned the skyline. As you undoubtedly know from seeing antique photographs and films, the men in these photos presented themselves much differently than we men do today. It used to be that a man was not a man without his hat. He did not leave the house without a coat and tie; his hair was always clean cut; athletic wear was reserved for the gym; and shorts were for a day at the beach. There was a uniform for society and to be part of it, you had to wear your suit.
Billboards Are Evil
There’s a billboard about nine miles North of Cincinnati on I71 that advertises for Dusty’s, a store selling marital (hopefully) aids. It pictures the derriere of a woman sparsely clothed in lacey lingerie. It’s appalling. I for one thought surely we had better public decency laws. But I’m not writing to say we need to take down the asinine Dusty’s billboard specifically. We need to take down all billboards.
Against Politics
I write starting from the premise that we share the goal of restoring Christendom in and around Cincinnati. This Journal, in part, seeks to chart a course toward that goal. We all approach the question from different angles due to our different natures. I, rather than beginning with a positive vision, want to start by discussing a negative proposition: We will not restore Christendom at the ballot box, and attempting to do so undermines our efforts.
Chickens in the Yard or a Shark on the Roof?
You walk out to fetch the paper in a hillside neighborhood overlooking the city. You pause to appreciate the line of houses demurely separated from the street by ivy-covered fences. As your gaze travels up the hill, you stare. A pair of fins emerges just below the horizon, coming out of the shingles of a small Tudor. A sculpture of a life-size shark appears to have crashed into the roof, interrupting the skyline with a fishy posterior. You call the City Council. But the City Council is knocking at the Cape Cod one block over. A woman opens the door. “We’ve received a complaint that you hang your laundry outside to dry and that you have”—he raises his eyebrows—“chickens.” The woman pushes back a toddler wearing grass-stained overalls as she steps onto the porch.
Continuing the Conversation
Children learn to form letters, phrase sentences, then to write paragraphs, then essays. In the same way, we have watched our community learn to say hello, to small talk, then to gather and bounce around ideas. But it mustn't end there.