Why Pro-Lifers (and Everybody Else) Should Read G.K. Chesterton

From LifeSiteNews.com
By John Jalsevac

A few days ago a good friend of mine reminded me of a mildly amusing incident of some middling illustrative power. It happened late one night in Rome. The two of us (for he was my roommate at the time) were drinking cheap brandy in our room at the Christian Brothers monastery on the outskirts of the city, and writing.

During our three month stay in the Eternal City we had agreed to each write a biweekly column for our college newspaper about our experiences. Usually we procrastinated until the last minute, and leant heavily on the truth that cheap brandy can give one wings. Tuesday evenings (the eve of our deadline) were long, exhausting, intoxicating, and richly creative: for when one is in Rome, it is easy to write.

On this particular night I was pleased as punch, for I had struck upon what I thought an extraordinarily clever idea, and in a furious burst of creative energy, I wrote it down. And then, after that short but exhausting stint of concentrated composition, I paused and picked up a nearby book, which happened to be by G.K. Chesterton. I opened it at random in the hope of some mental refreshment before putting the finishing touches on my piece for the week.

And then I cursed, rather emphatically. For, there, on the page, was precisely the same clever idea that I had so proudly hit upon, but there it was expressed with infinitely greater wit, clarity, and weight. I felt like the bold adventurer who, after countless months at sea, thought that at long last he’d discovered the new continent he had set out in search of, only to find a fellow countryman lounging serenely on the beach. I was deflated.

But in time I got used to the feeling. Truth be told, I cannot recall ever having come up with a good idea that I have not later found in a much improved form in the writings of Chesterton, or realized was actually subconsciously stolen from him in the first place. Even the metaphor I just used, about the adventurer, is one of his. It is as if Chesterton exists in large part to take the wind out of the sails of self-important young writers who think they’ve set upon clever and original ideas. They may be clever, but they aren’t original. Chesterton has already planted his flag.

But why all this talk about Chesterton? Because, quite simply, his writings remain one of the most potent cures for the madnesses that plague our age – and this encompasses all the various madnesses that we at LifeSiteNews specialize in. Indeed, if everybody had kept on reading Chesterton, perhaps we’d never have found ourselves in the mess we’re in now, and LifeSiteNews wouldn’t have to exist. Instead of writing articles about how very progressive scientists are proposing that we kill our grandmothers, I’d be a travel writer, or a wine connoisseur. Life would be grand.

Sadly, Chesterton is no longer particularly well known. But in his day he was a giant, in both a metaphorical and a literal sense (he quite famously weighed some 300 pounds, and walked about with a cape and a sword-cane). But fortunately he is making a comeback, which may well be the best news you’ve heard this year. Ignatius Press is already well into producing the Collected Works of Chesterton (a monolithic project), and his books are selling.

It is impossible to write a brief introduction to the work of “the jolly journalist,” as Chesterton called himself, though obviously an introduction, and a brief one, is what is called for. It is also nearly impossible to justify precisely why, amongst all the thousands of exceptional writers in the last century, I have chosen to highlight Chesterton in particular, without simply putting on the table in front of you his collected works and telling you to read. The only problem, of course, is that if the collected works of Chesterton were put on the table in front of you, the table would collapse under the weight, and possibly even crash through to the floor below. For he wrote close to 100 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, 4000 essays, and several plays. And he died when he was only 62.

Dale Ahlquist, the president of the American Chesterton Society and a good friend of mine (indeed, his son Julian is the friend I alluded to at the beginning of this column), is fond of saying that “G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the 20th century,” and that Chesterton “said something about everything and he said it better than anybody else.” And that’s perfectly true. But if you are of the skeptical temperament and think that’s mere hyperbole, go ask Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis (who was converted to Christianity in part by Chesterton’s writing), William F. Buckley or Etienne Gilson, amongst others. They all agree. Gilson, the famous Thomist philosopher, said, "Chesterton was one of the deepest thinkers who ever existed. He was deep because he was right." Philosophers, as you may imagine, are not particularly fond of heaping praise on the intellectual capacities of journalists (as Chesterton was), and so you see how extraordinary a compliment this is.

Chesterton was prophetic in his insights, and devastating in his critiques of the errors of modernism. “The next great heresy,” he wrote, in the 1920s, “is going to be simply an attack on morality, and especially on sexual morality. … The madness of tomorrow is not in Moscow, but much more in Manhattan.”

He wrote books and essays on eugenics, birth control, marriage, education, family, faith, and just about everything else that is important: and they are all still just as pertinent today as they were when he first penned them. Chesterton’s two great principles were faith and the family, and he defended them from the attacks of modernism with more passion, wit, wisdom and good sense than anyone else.

Of the family, he famously wrote, “When we step into the family, by the act of being born, we do step into a world which is incalculable, into a world which has its own strange laws, into a world which could do without us, into a world we have not made. In other words, when we step into the family we step into a fairy-tale.” And of the faith, he even more famously said, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."

His was a curious and contradictory voice in the midst of the age of pessimism, proclaiming the unutterable goodness of life, of the mere act of existing. One of my absolute favorite quotations by him also bears some of the responsibility for my gathering the courage to propose to my wife, and it is this: "We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one's life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being."

But, before I conclude and set my dear reader loose upon Chesterton, it would do some good to issue a warning: Many people have a tough time with Chesterton at first. He can be difficult, not in the way that modern, scientific writers are difficult (i.e. by using a multiplicity of impressive sounding but empty and often misleading words), but because he manages to pack so much truth and insight into such tiny spaces, and he expects his readers to have some basic acquaintance with Western history and ideas. His writing is heavy, but only because it bears the weight of much truth. So, if you get frustrated at first, do not worry. There is frequently an acclimatization period, and many current devoted fans of Chesterton will admit to having gone through it. That middle period is merely the uncomfortable feeling of the depressurization chamber, as we leave the vacuums of our own petty minds, and enter the rich atmosphere of Chesterton’s. But once you come through the other side, you have entered a living, teeming world of almost endless intellectual and spiritual refreshment.

(John can be reached at jjalsevac@lifesite.net)

Some recommended introductory reading:

Dale Ahlquist has written two excellent books for those who have never before encountered Chesterton or who wish to learn more about him. In large part Dale merely weaves together the best quotations by Chesterton and guides the reader through his worldview. The two books are: Common Sense 101 - Lessons from Chesterton and G.K. Chesterton - The Apostle of Common Sense. They can be purchased at: http://chesterton.org/acs/aboutchesterton.htm


Introductory essays about Chesterton:

G.K. Chesterton Common Sense Apostle & Cigar Smoking Mystic
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features/ahlquist_gk1.asp

"Who is this guy and why haven’t I heard of him?"
http://chesterton.org/discover/who.html

Recommended writings by Chesterton (Warning: Don’t attempt to read them on the computer screen. Print them out, kick back, and enjoy):

A Piece of Chalk
http://chesterton.org/gkc/essayist/chalk.htm

A Defence of Rash Vows
http://chesterton.org/gkc/essayist/v1n3.gkcessay.htm

The Extraordinary Cabman
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/cabman.html

Quotations of G. K. Chesterton
http://chesterton.org/discover/quotations.html

Obama Picks Religious Adviser DuBois for Faith-Based Post

From Associated Baptist Press
By Robert Marus


President Obama has selected a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who served as his top religion adviser during the presidential campaign to head a revamped White House office on faith-based social services.

Critics of President Bush’s attempt to expand the government’s ability to fund the charitable work of churches expressed guarded optimism at the pick of Joshua DuBois to head the renamed White House Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The New York Times first reported Jan. 29 that DuBois, who joined the Obama campaign last year and served as its chief liaison with the evangelical Christian community, would head the new council. Other news outlets confirmed the news.

Burns Strider, who served as a religious strategist with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said Obama's choice of DuBois “is no surprise, but even more it’s an indicator of the importance placed on the goals and work of the faith office.” Strider, a Mississippi native who was raised Southern Baptist, now does consulting with the Eleison Group, which focuses on faith and politics.

Advocates of strict church-state separation who have criticized direct government funding for explicitly religious charities and the way Bush used the faith-based issue were largely supportive of the expected appointment. But they said thorny questions remain for how Obama will handle the faith-based effort.

Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, described DuBois as “an impressive, compassionate advocate with whom I have had several opportunities to meet throughout the electoral campaign and the work of President Obama's transition team."

Gaddy said he would have preferred Obama close the office altogether, but since the president has chosen simply to re-tool it, “the question remains whether or not a change in the name of the office as organized by the Bush administration will reflect substantive change in the policies of the Obama administration that advocates for religious liberty find acceptable.”

Gaddy, who also serves as pastor for preaching and worship at Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, La., said he was “cautiously optimistic” that Obama’s faith-based office would avoid the mistakes he thought Bush’s made.

“In recent conversations, senior transition officials assured me of President Obama's interest in establishing a council that protects religious freedom and assures constitutional separation between the institutions of religion and government,” he added.

Gaddy and other church-state separationists opposed many aspects of the initiative, which Bush used to expand the numbers of government social-service programs that provided grants directly to churches and other overtly religious charities. While Bush and his supporters contended that churches were unnecessarily being left out of the programs, opponents said religious charities were already eligible for such grants as long as they clearly separated their clearly religious work from their other charitable work.

Bush officials argued that religious organizations should be eligible for funds on the same basis as secular providers, while retaining their special rights to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion.

That aspect of the program proved the most contentious in Congress, and Gaddy and others have expressed hope that Obama would reverse Bush actions allowing religious organizations receiving federal funds to take religion into account when hiring for jobs wholly or partially subsidized with government dollars.

Obama promised not to allow discrimination under the program in a July campaign speech, but he and his surrogates have said little about the issue since.

Given the new president’s background in constitutional law and assurances they have received from DuBois and other Obama officials, opponents of Bush’s faith-based efforts expressed hope that the new administration in general -- and DuBois in particular -- would handle the initiative in ways more sensitive to their concerns.

“Josh clearly has the background and interest in bringing diverse groups together for a common purpose,” Holly Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee, said Jan. 30. “He recognized the need to carefully consider various approaches to the more difficult aspects of the policy. We were pleased that he listened to our suggestions for correcting some of the problems in the Bush administration’s approach and that he expressed a real desire to get things right.”

Another criticism of the faith-based push under Bush was that his White House politicized the effort. That included accusations of grants to conservative religious groups as payoffs for their support of Bush in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Strider said efforts to increase funding for faith-based groups under President Clinton’s administration did not prove the political football they did under Bush, and that he expected DuBois and Obama to handle the effort in a similar fashion to Clinton.

“Politics doesn’t belong in the faith-based office, and we are fortunate President Obama chose a trusted adviser in Rev. DuBois who is committed to dialogue with the whole faith community and will focus on programs and services that work for all,” he said.

Dissident Anglicans Poised to Join Catholics

Disaffected Anglican priest Graeme Mitchell hopes and prays he will become a full member of the Catholic Church. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

From The Age (Australia)
By Barney Zwartz

NEARLY half a million dissident Anglicans are on the verge of rejoining the Catholic Church in a move their leader suggests may be the beginning of a flood to Rome of millions of Anglicans worldwide who oppose gay and female clergy.

Vatican officials are believed to have recommended to Pope Benedict XVI that he accept the Traditional Anglican Communion under a special category, and an announcement is expected in April.

West Australian Catholic newspaper The Record yesterday reported the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to recommend to the Pope that he create a "personal prelature" for the TAC, which leading Anglicans confirmed.

Reunion would be the most important advance in Catholic/Anglican relations since 1553, when "Bloody" Queen Mary briefly returned England to Catholicism. The mainstream Anglican Church is also holding discussions with the Vatican, but they are not close to union.

If the Pope agrees, the TAC, which has a large number of married bishops and priests, would answer to the Pope but keep their existing structure, clergy and some elements of Anglican identity. At present, the Catholic Church has only one personal prelature, the ultra-conservative Opus Dei.

The TAC's primate (global leader), Adelaide-based Archbishop John Hepworth, said yesterday: "We are quietly and optimistically waiting for an answer. All 60 bishops accept the role of the Pope, the Catholic catechism and the traditional claims of the church, and want to be part of it."

The TAC has more than 400,000 members in 41 countries, and is not in relationship with the mainstream Anglican Church. In Australia, it has about 1600 members.

Archbishop Hepworth said if the Pope approved, the TAC would be a beacon for Anglicans around the world dreaming of doctrinal stability and unity.

Representative of the disaffected Anglicans is Father Graeme Mitchell, who is hoping to join his fourth church, but says this time "I feel like I'm coming home".

Married with two children, Father Graeme began life as a Presbyterian, followed his mother to the Anglican Church, and in 1987 was one of the founders of the breakaway Anglo-Catholic Church of Australia.

This year, Father Graeme — parish priest at St Mary the Virgin in Caulfield South and registrar of the TAC diocese of Australia — hopes and prays he will join the half-million other former Anglicans as a full member of the Catholic Church.

His disillusionment with the Anglican Church began mounting in 1987, when the Melbourne synod made the Catholic sacrament of confirmation optional. "It seemed to me a betrayal of what I'd been brought up to in the Catholic faith," he says.

NBC Rejects Super Bowl Pro-Life Ad Featuring Unborn Baby Obama

From LifeSiteNews.com

NBC has rejected an uplifting and positive pro-life ad submitted for its Super Bowl broadcast this Sunday. After several days of negotiations, an NBC representative in Chicago told CatholicVote.org late yesterday that NBC and the NFL are not interested in advertisements involving ‘political advocacy or issues.’

Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote.org said, “There is nothing objectionable in this positive, life-affirming advertisement. We show a beautiful ultrasound, something NBC’s parent company GE has done for years. We congratulate Barack Obama on becoming the first African-American President. And we simply ask people to imagine the potential of every human life.”

“NBC told CatholicVote.org that they do not allow political or issue advocacy advertisements. But that’s not what they told PETA,” said Burch. “There’s no doubt that PETA is an advocacy group. NBC rejected PETA’s ad for another reason altogether.”

According to an email posted on PETA.org, Victoria Morgan, Vice President of Advertising Standards for Universal, said: “The PETA spot submitted to Advertising Standards depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards.” Morgan even detailed “edits that need to be made” in order for the spot to run during the Super Bowl. The PETA ad depicts lingerie clad women in highly sexually suggestive poses.

“NBC claims it doesn’t allow advocacy ads, but that’s not true. They were willing to air an ad by PETA if they would simply tone down the sexual suggestiveness. Our ad is far less provocative, and hardly controversial by comparison,” said Burch.

“The purpose of our new ad is to spread a message of hope about the potential of every human life, including the life of Barack Obama,” said Burch. “We are now looking at alternative venues to run the ad over the next several weeks.”

The ad aired on BET in Chicago on Inauguration Day. It has become an Internet hit with over 700,000 views in seven days. The ad was in the top 10 ‘most viewed’ category on YouTube on Inauguration Day last week.

The ad shows an ultrasound of an unborn baby and reads: “This child’s future is a broken home. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite the hardships he will endure … this child … will become … the 1st African-American President.” The ad concludes with the tagline, “Life: Imagine the Potential.” The ad is the first of several ads in new campaign launched by CatholicVote.org.

To express your concerns to NBC, write:

Email to: victoria.morgan@nbc.com

Senate Defeats Pro-Life Amendment to Restore Mexico City Policy on Abortion

Barack Hussein Obama has criticized the past arrogance of US foreign policy, but what could be more arrogant than sending US taxpayers' dollars by the billions to fund family planning and abortion in nations around the world? It is a policy aimed at destroying lives like his own -- poor, dark-skinned babies who would grow up in third-world countries.

The Senate has just voted on an amendment offered by Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) to restore the Mexico City policy that was rescinded by President Obama last week. The House of Representatives will soon take up a similar measure to restore the Mexico City Policy. There are few Congressional roll call votes that offer a clearer view of where our representatives stand on this, the greatest moral issue of our day.

Pro-life organizations are urging all pro-life Americans to contact members of the Senate by going to http://www.Senate.gov and letting your Senators know what you think of your money being used to fund pro-abortion groups promoting and performing abortions overseas. See below for the Senate roll call. You are also urged to contact members of the House by going to http://www.House.gov and urging strong support for HR 708 to restore the Mexico City Policy.

Senate Vote on Pro-Life Martinez Amendment on Mexico City Policy
(Yea is a pro-life vote and Nay is a pro-abortion vote)

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Yea	Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Nay	Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Yea	McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Nay	Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Nay	Udall (D-CO), Nay
Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Nay	Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Nay	Kaufman (D-DE), Nay
Florida:	Martinez (R-FL), Yea	Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Not Voting	Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Nay	Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Yea	Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:	Burris (D-IL), Nay	Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Nay	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Yea	Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Yea	Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Yea	McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Nay	Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Nay	Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Nay	Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:	Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting	Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Nay	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:	Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Yea	Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Yea	McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska:	Johanns (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Yea	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay	Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Nay	Udall (D-NM), Nay
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay	Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Yea	Hagan (D-NC), Nay
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Nay	Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Nay	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Yea	Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Nay	Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Nay	Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Nay	Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Yea	Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Nay	Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Yea	Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Yea	Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Nay	Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Virginia:	Warner (D-VA), Nay	Webb (D-VA), Nay
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Nay	Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Nay	Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Nay	Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Yea	Enzi (R-WY), Yea

Lindsey to the Rescue Again, Supports Holder Nomination

From The Hill
By Alexander Bolton

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to advance the nomination of Eric Holder to become President Obama’s attorney general.

Six Republicans voted with Democrats in favor of Holder, assuring him of confirmation by the full Senate. Holder would become the first African-American to serve as attorney general.

Holder made headlines and won applause from Democrats when he declared the practice of waterboarding akin to torture and illegal. The stance drew Republican opposition, however, notably from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas).

Cornyn and Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.) were the only two Republicans to vote against Holder.

Holder also became embroiled in controversy because of his role in former President Clinton’s decision to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich and members of a militant Puerto Rican separatist group. The nominee was deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration at the time.

Holder said he regretted his role in approving the Rich pardon but defended the decision on the Puerto Rican nationalists, which he called “reasonable” despite strong GOP criticism highlighting their links to domestic terrorist attacks in the '70s.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), the second-ranking Republican on Judiciary and a former chairman of the panel, was the first Republican to voice support for Holder, giving him a major boost.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) was the next Republican on Judiciary to line up behind Holder, telling reporters on the day of Holder’s confirmation hearing that he would support the nominee.

Graham said he appreciated Holder’s recognition that the nation is at war and that suspected terrorists should be treated as enemy combatants.

On Tuesday, Holder received the support of Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking Republican on Judiciary, who clashed with Holder at his confirmation hearing. Specter questioned Holder’s ability to maintain his independence in the Obama administration.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who had expressed serious reservations about Holder before his hearing, also voted for Holder.

“I think he’s indicated that he understands that error,” Sessions said of the Rich pardon.

Cornyn, one of the few Republicans to vote against Holder, said he was “left with doubts about his judgment and independence,” citing the Rich pardon. Cornyn said he suspected Holder approved the pardon to give Clinton “the answer he wanted.”

Cornyn also questioned Holder’s ability to lead the Justice Department while national security officials are pursuing international terrorists. Bush administration officials argued that waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques were necessary to obtain intelligence.

Leahy said Holder could receive a vote before the full Senate as early as Thursday.

Blessings Of A Catholic Education

The Lyceum, providing excellent Catholic classical education in Cleveland, Ohio.

From The Bulletin
By Andrew T. Seeley, Ph.D.

Next week Catholics around the country will be taking time to celebrate the blessings their schools have been, not only for the Catholic Church, but for our nation. Catholic schools have served millions students of many faiths. From the earliest schools established in Florida and California by Spanish missionaries, to the diocesan system begun by Bishop St. John Neumann in Philadelphia, to the schools founded by the Jesuits and other religious orders, Catholic schools have provided students of diverse backgrounds a strong education in a religious environment marked by charity, joy and commitment to the truth. And thanks to the great personal sacrifices of educators and church members, Catholic schools have served the poor and immigrants in a particularly admirable way throughout the years.

Jesus told his followers that they should be like “the head of a household who can bring from his store both the new and the old.” Over the last quarter of a century, schools like Regina Coeli Academy in Wyndmoor and Regina Angelorum in Wynnewood have done just this by embracing what has become known as “classical education.”

Classical schools take for their model the kind of education that formed great men such as Benjamin Franklin and William Shakespeare. Schools at that time had one great goal: to pass on to their students the wisdom and glory of the past so that they could do great things themselves.

As young men, they learned to understand and appreciate the works of Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, and Cicero. Anyone who has read the correspondence of men like Adams or public letters such as the Federalist Papers are frequently struck by how much our Founding Fathers drew on the wisdom of the past in bringing forth a “new nation conceived in liberty.”

This view of the past is out of step with modern assumptions, but all the more necessary because of that. Classical education begins from an admiration of the wisdom and achievements of the past 3,000 years. Our future will be brighter if our young learn about anger and pity from Achilles and Hector, sin and purgation from Dante, the strength of virtue and the weakness of corruption from the Roman Republic, the suffering of old age from King Lear, fidelity and leadership from George Washington.

By contrast, today’s young people are not far removed from thinking that people lived in a black-and-white world until the advent of color television! Encouraged by progressive theories of education, they finish with just enough knowledge of the past to wonder at its ignorance, intolerance and prejudice. Bach might be a name to them, but his fame in the musical world utterly incomprehensible.

Classical education gives students a great deal of confidence, the confidence that, though evil has always existed, so much that is good and true and beautiful has flourished and endured. This is a firm foundation on which to base the work that needs to be done in bettering the world as it is now.

The classical form of education never leaves students in the past; rather, it gives students the tools they need to make today’s world better. “The Well-Trained Mind” is one way to express the classical devotion to improving the most important strengths of young people. Classical schools work to develop retentive memories, clear thinking, fertile imaginations. Students are trained in the Trivium — the arts of grammar, logic and rhetoric — that gives them the power to express their ideas forcefully, beautifully, persuasively.

Catholic classical schools add to this by additionally infusing and handing down to its students Catholic culture. Catholics have a lot to be proud of in their cultural heritage: works of art, thought and imagination, and true, heroic stories of saints from throughout history. Students in Catholic classical schools come to know St. Augustine and St. Monica, his mother; the role the Benedictines played in forming Christian Europe from the remnants of great Rome and the barbarian hordes that destroyed it; St. Thomas Aquinas and his great labor to explain and defend the truths of the Catholic Faith; St. Philip Neri, the Apostle of Joy, who renewed sanctity in the Church during the Catholic Counter-Reformation; St. Junipero Serra and the great work of bringing the Gospel to the Americas.

They become familiar with the great works of Catholic art, music and literature: Gothic cathedrals, Gregorian chant, medieval icons, Palestrina’s motets, Mozart’s symphonies and operas; and so much else. They become proud of the Church that has always encouraged the life of the mind, brought forth the works of Copernicus and Galileo, and that founded the great universities of Europe and elementary and high schools throughout North America.

Not only is it fitting this week to celebrate the past and current educational achievements of Catholic schools, but also to celebrate the emerging of Catholic classical schools and their contribution to our communities and nation.


Andrew T. Seeley, Ph.D. is executive director of The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education and a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in California. For more information, visit, CatholicLiberalEducation.com.

The Post-Neuhaus Future of Evangelicals and Catholics Together

Charles Colson says the convert to Catholicism helped break down the most important barrier.


From Christianity Today
Interview By Susan Wunderink


When Richard John Neuhaus died January 8, Prison Fellowship's Charles Colson didn't just lose a friend of 25 years. He also lost his partner in convening Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Since its first publication in 1994, "The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium," the group has issued other consensus statements on salvation, the relationship between Scripture and tradition, the communion of saints, and other issues. It is next set to issue a document on Mary, the Mother of Jesus. But can the movement continue without its chief Roman Catholic architect? Christianity Today international editor Susan Wunderink asked Colson, a Christianity Today columnist, what lies ahead.

How will Neuhaus' death affect Evangelicals and Catholics together?

It's a terrible setback because Cardinal Avery Dulles died a month before Neuhaus died. It was like a double-barreled blow. They were the principal leaders on the Catholic side of the dialogue. In some respects, those are two giants of the faith that you can't replace. But God in his sovereignty, his providence, knows exactly what he's doing.

The timing of Neuhaus's and Dulles's deaths is really significant when you realize that Pope Benedict on November 19 in what was otherwise a routine audience in St. Peter's square, gave a homily on justification and fully embraced the position that Evangelicals and Catholics Together had taken [in the 1997 document, "Gift of Salvation"]. He didn't identify it as such, but that's what he did.

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School Can Expel Lesbian Students, Court Rules

An appeals panel finds California Lutheran High School in Riverside County is not a business and therefore doesn't have to comply with a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.

From The Los Angeles Times
By Maura Dolan

Reporting from San Francisco -- After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having "a bond of intimacy" that was "characteristic of a lesbian relationship," the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.

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Fifty Years On: Time to Revisit and Reform the Second Vatican Catastrophe

Perhaps never in world history have so many denied a catastrophe so terrible and painfully obvious -- that the so called "reforms" of the Second Vatican Council wreaked havoc, division and destruction on the Church at the very time in history when assurance, unity and evangelism have been most needed. As has been true throughout its history, it was not the faith that needed reforming, but personal behavior, and that personal, interior renewal, within all her members, is an enduring need. To our view, Gerald Warner states the obvious. More importantly, it also appears to be the view of this great Pope.

From The Telegraph
By Gerald Warner

Benedict XVI grows in stature as his reign progresses. To the momentous achievement of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, freeing the Tridentine Mass, he has now added the sagacious and just lifting of the excommunications imposed on the four bishops of the Society of St Pius X.

Although there was widespread scepticism about the validity of those censures, their lifting removes a roadblock to the restoration of the Church after the damage wrought by the Second Vatican Catastrophe. Not everyone is happy about the pardoning of the bishops. The staff of The Tablet are rumoured to be on suicide watch, while the malign spirit of those who, without any conscious irony, denominate themselves "liberals" was well illustrated by Gianni Gennari, an Italian journalist.

Gennari is a laicized priest, now married. Fighting back tears, he responded to news of the lifting of the excommunications: "It is a tragedy, the complete debacle of the Church!... I am disappointed, stunned, scandalised... In this case there is no place for the mercy of Christ"... Of course not. The Modernists have always excluded from any kind of mercy those faithful Catholics who adhere unreservedly to the Deposit of Faith. Anything that reduces the likes of Gennari to tears has to be good news.

Over the past few days, some blinkeredly optimistic souls have been trying - without much real hope - to persuade Catholics to "celebrate" the 50^th anniversary of the announcement of the Second Vatican Council. This was the great "renewal", when the Holy Ghost inspired the Church to aggiornamento, or modernisation. What form has that Renewal taken?

In England and Wales in 1964, at the end of the Council, there were 137,673 Catholic baptisms; in 2003 the figure was 56,180. In 1964 there were 45,592 Catholic marriages, in 2003 there were 11,013. Mass attendance has fallen by 40 per cent. In "Holy" Ireland, only 48 per cent of so-called Catholics go to Mass. In France, there were 35,000 priests in 1980; today there are fewer than 19,000. Renewal?

In the United States, in 1965, there were 1,575 priestly ordinations; in 2002 there were 450 - a 350 per cent decline. In 1965 there were 49,000 seminarians, in 2002 just 4,700. Today 15 per cent of US parishes are without priests. Only 25 per cent of America's nominal Catholics attend Mass. Worse still is the erosion of faith among those who ludicrously describe themselves as Catholics. Among US Catholics aged 18-44 (the children of Vatican II) as many as 70 per cent say they believe the Eucharist is merely a "symbolic reminder" of Christ.

To describe this unprecedented collapse of the Church as "renewal" is insane; to attribute it to the operation of the Holy Ghost is blasphemous. The Catholic Church is in the same position as an alcoholic: until it admits to the problem, no cure is possible. The problem is Vatican II.

Pope Benedict himself has expressed reservations about at least one Council document. The only remotely celebratory response to the Council's 50^th anniversary would be to appoint a commission of orthodox theologians to scrutinise all of Vatican II's documents and correct their errors. It is time to revisit and reform this council that has brought forth such poisonous fruits.

Orthodox Church Elects Modernizer as Patriarch

Reconciliation sought with Roman Catholics

From The Washington Times
By Mansur Mirovalev ASSOCIATED PRESS

The interim leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, seen as a modernizer who could seek a historic reconciliation with the Vatican and more autonomy from the state, was overwhelmingly elected patriarch Tuesday.

Metropolitan Kirill received 508 of the 700 votes cast during an all-day church congress in Moscow's ornate Christ the Savior Cathedral, the head of the commission responsible for the election, Metropolitan Isidor, said hours after the secret ballot was over.

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Arab TV Gets First Obama Interview

Lindsey Graham Supports Tax Cheat for Treasury Secretary

Get used to it South Carolina; Lindsey Graham (RINO-Seneca) just can't say no to big black men.

He just voted to confirm an admitted tax cheat to serve as the nation's chief financial officer and oversee the printing of money and the collection of taxes. On the big issues where Senator DeMint will be voting as a principled, South Carolina conservative, Lindsey Graham will be canceling out that vote and voting with the Senators from Massachusetts. Even liberals like Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) voted against Timothy Geithner. Not Graham! He was with Obama and the socialist agenda.

Here at Sunlit Uplands we urged you to dump the quisling and nominate Buddy Whitherspoon. We then had the chance to elect a Democrat, Bob Conley, who is as conservative as Senator DeMint and would be voting with him in representing South Carolina views. Instead, you sent this not-so-closeted liberal back to be a critical vote as Barack Obama imposes the most destructive agenda America has ever seen.

At what point will you demand that he stop? Will there be any issue on which he will go too far? What will it take for you to support a recall? We were criticized for referring to this embarrassment as Massachusetts' third Senator. How many times will he vote with Ted Kennedy before you feel betrayed and realize he does not represent you?

Signs and Wonders in Week One of the Obama Era

From American Thinker
By J. R. Dunn

Last week I enjoyed the honor of having my essay on "Bush and the Bush Haters" featured on both Democratic Underground and Daily Kos. Glancing over the comments (along with those in a similar vein on RealClearPolitics) I saw that with few exceptions, they were the standard run of viciousness, nastiness, and obscenity that we've grown used to from the left in recent years. But there was another quality too, one that took me a little while to identify. What struck me at last was this: the left are not acting like winners.

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What I Learned from Dad

The following is a poignant reminder that parents are one's first and most important teachers, and the dinner table is the most effective place to change the world.

From The Globe and Mail (Canada)
By Daniel Goodwin

No matter how much he tries, no matter how gifted with empathy he is, no matter how naturally sensitive, a man can never fully understand or appreciate his father until he has become one himself.

Every son must have some regret about his father — at least it's a rare son that doesn't. The litany is well known: He wasn't around enough or wasn't affectionate enough. He was there but was a domineering tyrant. He didn't support your career choice. He was too focused on his own career. He left his wife (and more importantly, your mother). He didn't leave but should have.

When it comes to my father, my biggest regret, the only regret that I remember, is that he died too soon. He lived a good, long life, dying almost nine years ago at 83 of prostate cancer. But he was 54 when I was born, and he never got to meet my son and daughter.

My father, like all fathers (it must be in the paternal DNA), worked hard to pass down his wisdom to his progeny. At the time, I didn't appreciate it much. The fathers of my friends all seemed to have good, solid, practical talents, whether it was teaching their sons how to play hockey, fix cars or repair their homes.

I must admit that my father did teach me how to swim and ride a bike. We even threw the ball around a bit when I was a kid, but he didn't teach me many practical things.

I still remember turning 12 and hoping for something fun and useful for my birthday. Instead, my dad came home from work and proudly handed me a collection of Hemingway short stories, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye.

My father loved books. The walls of many rooms in our home were lined with bookshelves. History. Philosophy. Poetry. Politics. Novels. Biographies. Short Stories. Essays. Plays.

I still remember my 12-year-old sense of disappointment when my father handed me those books, but now, more than 25 years later, they're one of my favourite birthday presents.

My father was well read and had an immense vocabulary, but his daunting grasp of the English language came with a light touch. He'd use polysyllabic and obscure words in almost every conversation, but so gently that you could almost always figure out what he meant.

His erudition had, at least as far as his sons were concerned, a supremely annoying side. When my younger brother and I were growing up and would go to my father with a problem, there was never any simple commiseration, no fatherly "You'll do better next time."

Instead, every mundane childhood problem was addressed through recourse to a plot situation or character in something or other by Shakespeare, Dante, Homer, Hemingway or others from the Western canon: "Well, you're not alone in feeling that way. That's exactly how Odysseus felt when he couldn't get home for 10 years."

As I grew older, I came to realize that despite this annoying habit of relating almost every personal challenge to some plotline in a book, my father did offer some practical advice, advice that I remember every time I look at my son and daughter.

My dad excelled at enjoying himself, no matter where he was or what he was doing, or what was happening to him. One of his favourite phrases, the closest thing he had to a motto, was: "Enjoy yourself."

True to form, it operated for him on more than one level. Enjoy who you are, your talents, your thoughts, your foibles, your strengths, your challenges, your character.

In my more reductive moments, I sometimes think there are only two lessons in life: First you learn how to live and then you learn how to die.

If this is true, my father put his learning to the test. As he lay dying in a lot of pain, he relished the novelty of the experience. He had never died before and he was darn well going to enjoy every last minute of it.

As for living, my father taught me many lessons. Work at what you like and then it won't be work. Books and words are important. Do what's right, not what gives social or economic status or what others expect or what might be in fashion.

Tell the truth, not what you think others want to hear. Be curious, like a child. Take care of your family. Be there for your friends. Whatever you decide to do, do it as well as you can. Teaching is an honourable calling, whether it's your profession or not.

Don't complain. Be grateful. Accept praise and criticism with the same grace. And, most importantly, enjoy yourself.

When I see my young son and daughter laughing, telling jokes, rhyming off words and making puns, I think of you, Dad. Wherever you are, enjoy yourself.

Daniel Goodwin lives in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

US Economy Predicted to Collapse Under Socialism

From OneNewsNow
By Pete Chagnon

A U.K. official says his predictions of economic collapse are coming to pass.

The Telegraph is reporting that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Christopher Monckton, the Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, agrees. He says the Labor Party's continual borrowing for social programs is to blame.

"Every Labor government there has ever been from 1926 to the present day has always ended in exactly the same way because they essentially try to run a communist financial system," he contends, "and it doesn't work any better here than it worked in the Soviet Union."

He adds that hope does not trump experience. "We have politicians who simply haven't had enough experience in the real world before going into politics to know how things run, to know how many beans make five," Monckton notes.

Monckton says U.K. markets are starting to realize that tax revenue is collapsing, which in turn makes investment in debt undesirable.

"So you've got government revenues collapsing and government expenditures rocketing because not only do they have to pay the cost of unemployment and other very lavish benefits for people who are no longer employed," he points out, "they're also having to pay eye-wateringly large sums to bail out the banks whom overspending and over-regulation drove under."

He believes the U.S. is poised for the same collapse should they hold fast to a doctrine of socialism.

"She is a large, and for the time being, a relatively prosperous nation, and I think that the likelihood I'm afraid is that Obama is going to change that for the worse. He has all the kindliness intentions I have no doubt; the left usually do," he adds. "They would love to have motherhood and apple pie, as would we all. But they are so busy working out how to distribute the apple pie, that they never think about the people who are going to have to roll up their sleeves and bake it. And that's the difficulty with socialism. It is all about redistribution and not about generation of wealth."

Monckton says both the U.K. and the U.S. need to return to Margaret Thatcher's "handbag economics," or living within a person's means.

"What it meant was that you always knew you had enough to buy your baked beans because you were careful with your money," he concludes. "And if the government is careful with the people's money, then the people can prosper."

9-11 Families Upset Over Obama Guantanamo Decision

Urge President to reverse his decision to suspend the trial of five detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

From Associated Press

Three families of firefighters killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 want to meet with President Barack Obama to urge him to reverse his decision to suspend the trial of five detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who admit roles in the terror attacks.

In a meeting with reporters at their attorney's office on Sunday, the families deplored what they called "delays and confusion" in the former Bush administration's effort to prosecute suspects in the 2001 attacks, which killed about 3,000 people, saying they want "a firm commitment" that the same process won't continue under Obama.

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Catholic Schools Week: An Opportunity and a Suggestion

This week is the thirty-sixth annual "Catholic Schools Week" throughout the United States.

I have written previously about the history, mission and importance of these schools. This week offers an opportunity for anyone who is curious, whether you are Catholic or not, and whether you have school-aged children or not, to visit these schools, observe classes, and talk to the teachers and principal. You would be warmly welcomed.

Every Catholic school is a unique community with its own charism, history and traditions, but what they share has made them a vital safety valve in America's inner-cities, where more than half of all students entering public high schools drop out. They are also chosen by many hundreds of thousands of suburban and rural parents who believe that moral, spiritual and character formation are at least as important as one's academic development, and are an essential part of a complete education.

For those who have the time, I would suggest that along with a visit to your local Catholic school, you consider asking the local public school authorities for the opportunity to visit at least one of the local public schools for which you pay. We would be pleased to publish your findings.

The Australian Military Tattoo - Massed Bands Finale - "Highland Cathedral"

"Land of my fathers, we will always be
Faithful and loyal to our own country.
In times of danger we will set you free,
Lead you to glory and to victory."

Cristina Piccardi - "Laudate Dominum" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

English Translation:

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

Praise Him, all peoples.

For He has bestowed His mercy upon us,

And the truth of the Lord endures forever.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,

World without end.

Amen.