Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dying Daily . . .

Posting from the Notre Dame conference on "The Dialogue of Cultures," and with apologies for how rarely I have been able to post during the Emmaus Road Initiative sessions.

Writes Fr. Robert Sokolowski, professor of philosophy at The Catholic University of America, in the Eucharist we:
. . . anticipate our own death as to be joined to the death of Jesus. Our death becomes part of the divine mystery, part of the great saving action of God, because it can be identified with the sacrificial death of Christ. Even if our death is not to be especially heroic or memorable in the eyes of the world, it can become sanctified through the death of Jesus, through the action that he performed before the Father when he let himself be put to death. The celebrations of the Eucharist at which we assist are like so many rehearsals of the one transition, the one exodus that is reserved for each of us, the one offering in which we no longer sacramentally but bodily participate in the death of the Lord.

Friday, November 16, 2007

November Emmaus Road Initiative

The theme of the November Emmaus Road Initiative sessions is "What is happening in history? -- History and Hope."

The Emmaus Road Initiative schedule for NOVEMBER is as follows:

Washington, DC – Saturday, November 10th

Washington Theological Union
6896 Laurel Street NW
Washington, DC 20012
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. (Coffee at 9:15)

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Glastonbury, CT - Monday, November 12th

St. Dunstan's Church
1345 Manchester Road
Glastonbury, CT 06033
7:30 p.m.
For more information: 860-633-3317

MAP

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Seattle, WA – Tuesday, November 13th

St. Benedict's Catholic Church
1805 North 49th Street
Seattle WA 98103
7:30 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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San Diego, CA – Wednesday, November 14th

University of San Diego
Degheri Alumni Center

5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA
7:00 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP - Map to the Campus

MAP - Map of the Campus

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San Diego, CA – Thursday, November 15th

Immaculate Conception Church
2540 San Diego Avenue - Old Town
San Diego, CA 92101
10:00 a.m. (Coffee at 9:45)

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Santa Rosa, CA – Thursday, November 15th

Spiritual Enrichment Center

360 Farmers Lane
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
7:00 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Wheaton, IL – Monday, November 19th

St. Michael Catholic Church
310 S Wheaton Avenue
Wheaton, IL 60187
7:30 p.m.

For more information: 630 220-7329

MAP


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Houston, TX – Wednesday, November 21st

St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church
10503 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77042
7:30 p.m.

For more information: 713 789-1250

MAP

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Dallas, TX – Saturday, November 24th

St. Monica’s Catholic Church
9933 Midway Road
(at the intersection of Midway Road & Walnut Hill)
Dallas, TX 75220
10 a.m. to Noon

For more information: 972 416-5815

MAP

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Dallas, TX – Sunday, November 25th

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
600 S. Jupiter Road
Richardson, TX 75081
Noon to 1:30 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Dallas, TX – Monday, November 26th

University of Dallas
1845 E. Northgate Drive
Gorman Lecture Center, Room B
Irving, TX 75062
7:00 p.m.

For more information: Mrs. Suzanne Alexander: 972-721-5219

MAP - Map to the Campus
MAP
- Map of the Campus

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Saturday, November 10, 2007

The Funniest Journalist We Have . . .

Mark Steyn is the funniest journalist writing today.

This from his most recent:
Until this here Hollywood writers' strike came along, I had no idea so much of television was scripted. One charitably assumed it was the way it was because they were winging it. But across late-night the fastest wits in the West have fallen silent, apparently unable to produce a snide Dick Cheney crack without armies of accredited highly trained professionals. I haven't checked the Weather Channel lately but it wouldn't surprise me to find their photogenic meteorologists standing slack-jawed in front of maps of the Midwest, unable to decide whether to go for a high of 70 with a 25 percent chance of precipitation or vice-versa.
As I said earlier, I met Steyn briefly at a conference on the fate of Europe last summer, and he seems solid to me. Few manage to be both as well-informed and as funny as he is.

Back to the Cornerstone Forum business, click here for the November schedule of Emmaus Road Initiative sessions.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

November

I'm in Washington, DC to attend a Friday lecture by Robert Enright, entitled: "Forgiveness: The Missing Piece of the Peace Puzzle," sponsored by the Institute for Psychological Sciences on Friday, take part in this month's Emmaus Road Initiative session on Saturday at the Washington Theological Union, and join my old friend Ron Austin at a Sunday conference sponsored by Focolare on "Reclaiming Beauty: Media and the Arts," at which Ron will speak about his new book, "In a New Light."

A busy few days, after which I go back to Connecticut to continue the November rounds of E.R.I. sessions. If you're close enough to join us at any of them, I would love to see you.

Keep me in your prayers.

Gil Bailie

- - - - -

The theme of the November sessions is "What is happening in history? -- History and Hope."

The Emmaus Road Initiative schedule for NOVEMBER is as follows:

Washington, DC – Saturday, November 10th

Washington Theological Union
6896 Laurel Street NW
Washington, DC 20012
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. (Coffee at 9:15)

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Glastonbury, CT - Monday, November 12th

St. Dunstan's Church
1345 Manchester Road
Glastonbury, CT 06033
7:30 p.m.
For more information: 860-633-3317

MAP

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Seattle, WA – Tuesday, November 13th

St. Benedict's Catholic Church
1805 North 49th Street
Seattle WA 98103
7:30 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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San Diego, CA – Wednesday, November 14th

University of San Diego
Degheri Alumni Center

5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA
7:00 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP - Map to the Campus

MAP - Map of the Campus

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

San Diego, CA – Thursday, November 15th

Immaculate Conception Church
2540 San Diego Avenue - Old Town
San Diego, CA 92101
10:00 a.m. (Coffee at 9:45)

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Santa Rosa, CA – Thursday, November 15th

Spiritual Enrichment Center

360 Farmers Lane
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
7:00 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Wheaton, IL – Monday, November 19th

St. Michael Catholic Church
310 S Wheaton Avenue
Wheaton, IL 60187
7:30 p.m.

For more information: 630 220-7329

MAP


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Houston, TX – Wednesday, November 21st

St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church
10503 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77042
7:30 p.m.

For more information: 713 789-1250

MAP

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Dallas, TX – Saturday, November 24th

St. Monica’s Catholic Church
9933 Midway Road
(at the intersection of Midway Road & Walnut Hill)
Dallas, TX 75220
10 a.m. to Noon

For more information: 972 416-5815

MAP

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Dallas, TX – Sunday, November 25th

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
600 S. Jupiter Road
Richardson, TX 75081
Noon to 1:30 p.m.

For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Dallas, TX – Monday, November 26th

University of Dallas
1845 E. Northgate Drive
Gorman Lecture Center, Room B
Irving, TX 75062
7:00 p.m.

For more information: Mrs. Suzanne Alexander: 972-721-5219

MAP - Map to the Campus
MAP
- Map of the Campus

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Monday, November 05, 2007

Letting her hair down . . .

This thanks to Diogenes:
Hillary Clinton visited her alma mater yesterday to let her 40-year-old feminism out for a romp in safe territory, and to soak up a little adoration in the process. This being one of the few occasions where she can relate to her audience viscerally and intuitively, we're treated to relatively spontaneous remarks, perhaps the closest we'll get to an unscripted Hillary:

Clinton began her 40-minute speech by mentioning the old rules for young women that she helped abolish at Wellesley, and of which many of today's undergraduates were unaware. Boys were allowed to visit dormitory rooms only on Sunday afternoons, and couples had to keep at least two of their four feet on the floor at all times.

"Try it sometime," she deadpanned, to big laughs.
The “it” in Senator Clinton’s witty remark unquestionably alluded to the (or a) sexual act with two of the four feet on the floor. The punch line: "try it sometime," spoken like an experienced veteran.

Even if you’re asking to be elected to the most politically powerful position in the world, and you’re determined to project an image of moral seriousness, applause lines are hard to resist. Granted.

But, if I were one of the journalists asking questions at the next Democratic debate, this is the question I would ask:

Senator Clinton, you lived in the White House when American children were subjected to a lurid exposé of sexual misbehavior in high places. In light of that experience, can you tell us what your comment to an auditorium full of mostly single women says about your views on sexual morality generally and about the moral tone you would set as the first woman president in American history?

Little do the Wellesley undergraduates realize how empty and unsatisfying life can become when lived according to the sexual morality implied in Senator Clinton’s off-handed remark.

As Diogenes put it: “Hillary’s pleasantry about the by-gone dorm days is a signal that – regardless of the verbal compromises political expedience may require in the months to come – her heart is with those who’ve said their definitive good-bye to Christianity.”

Saturday, November 03, 2007

"inexorably slipping from memory" . . .

The Flight into Egypt

This from the (London) Daily Mail:
Christmas should be "downgraded"
to help race relations says Labour think tank

Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations, says an explosive report.

Labour's favourite think-tank says that because it would be hard to "expunge" Christmas from the national calendar, 'even-handedness' means public organisations must start giving other religions equal footing.

The report robustly defends multiculturalism - the idea that different communities should not be forced to integrate but should be allowed to maintain their own culture and identities.

"If we are going to continue as a nation to mark Christmas - and it would be very hard to expunge it from our national life even if we wanted to - then public organisations should mark other religious festivals too. We can no longer define ourselves as a Christian nation, nor an especially religious one in any sense. The empire is gone, church attendance is at historically low levels, and the Second World War is inexorably slipping from memory."
That sucking sound you hear is the "slipping away" of the spiritual life of British society. Into the vacuum will rush the forces that are now likely to overtake Europe unless it very quickly finds a way to reaffirm its religious foundations.

The slippery slope isn't only on the other side of the Atlantic. This from Lodi, California:
Too much time spent on teachings of Islam?
The parents of children at Houston Elementary School plan to complain to the school board about concerns they have with a seventh-grade history textbook, which they feel pays an undue amount of attention to the teachings of Islam.
When Jim Self asked his son last week what he was learning in school, he was surprised to hear his 12-year-old boy say that he was learning about the Prophet Muhammad.

That night Jim Self and his wife, Korina, flipped through their son's textbook, "History Alive!: The Medieval World and Beyond," and found at least three chapters dedicated to the Islamic faith, including an entire chapter dedicated to the Prophet Muhammad. . . .

Among the Selfs' concerns about the textbook is its definition of the word "jihad," which is described in the book as "the human struggle to overcome difficulties and do things that would be pleasing to God."

Other concerns stem from a passage on page 86 of the textbook, which quotes the angel Gabriel's words to the Prophet Muhammad.

The Selfs said the textbook mentioned Jesus only twice, and other major religions were only given a paragraph of explanation.