Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 290

"I would very much prefer to convert those who betray the Faith..."

... by example and argument. But example and argument are never enough for those who do not wish to be converted. Newman may have been too sanguine in his expectation that a secular world would be sufficient to keep those who stray from the Truth outside the Church, but he was right about the principle in question: It is much better for the Church if those who despise the tenets of her Faith and her fundamental moral tradition are on the outside looking in, and not theologians in good standing.

That is why it is necessary to exclude those who are no longer Catholic from theological positions within the Church. But exclusion requires more than teaching and sanctifying. Exclusion requires that bishops learn once again how to rule. By their failure to rule, the bishops have participated in the creation of this radical divide. Only by ruling now can they once again close that yawning chasm—or rather put that chasm and its other side outside the borders of the Church of Christ.

That is from an essay, "On the Crisis of Theology and the Need for Rulers", by Dr. Jeff Mirus on the CatholicCulture.org site. Shortly after reading his essay, with which I completely agree, I read some of Dr. James Hitchcock's book, The Recovery of the Sacred, published back in 1994 by Ignatius Press. The following excerpt from that book (which is on the CatholicCulture.org site) intersects well with Dr. Mirus's observation that the restoration of orthodox teaching and catechesis cannot be left to chance, but only follows when there is good leadership that does not bend to the prevailing winds of fads and passing fancies:

The decline of the sense of the sacred in worship was not, as some reformers have argued, the inevitable effect of a secular age. If anything, advanced secular culture has shown itself more open to the sacred and the pseudo-sacred than at any time within memory. The spirit of pragmatic, technological rationality is in at least temporary disfavor, and the sacral worship of the Church was, paradoxically, more appealing and effective in the 1950s, when that spirit was more pervasive than it is now.

The decline of the sacred was, rather, something which was willed and planned: its demise was predicted by those who wished it to occur and who took steps to bring it about. To some extent also it occurred through inadvertence, by a process of liturgical change which gave little thought to long-term effects.

For many people this decline may be irreversible. Although nurtured within Catholicism, they have passed over into that kind of modern secularity which can see no point to religious ritual and which may even regard it with a certain loathing. For many others, however, it is still a genuine possibility. In large measure this is because the traditions of sacredness are still alive in the Church, among people for whom they were once quite strong. To a lesser extent there is a manifest hunger for such things among the supposedly secular younger generation. In any case the attempt to restore and revive sacral worship must occur before long, if it is to be successful, because its most important foundation will be those traditions which are still alive but are becoming progressively weaker.

Read more here.

I hereby nominate Shawn Loftis as "Poster Boy for Moral Relativism"

Granted, the competition is fierce and the "winner" might not be known until the Final Judgment, but Loftis certainly qualifies, based on this report from the CBS affiliate in Miami:

A Miami-Dade teacher's past life in the adult entertainment industry has gotten him kicked out of the classroom. The school district's investigation into Shawn Loftis, a substitute teacher assigned to Nautilus Middle, Miami Edison Middle, Fienberg-Fisher K-8 Center and Miami Beach Senior High, began last January.

"One day I get a phone call from Miami Dade County Public Schools telling me not to go into work the next day," Loftis told our sister station CBS4 in Miami, "Because I was found out to be involved in the adult entertainment business." Loftis said he planned to use his experiences from the porn industry to help keep young people on the right path. ...

But then Loftis decided to change careers and get out of the business altogether. Loftis said he wanted to sell his company and use his Master's Degree to teach. He qualified to be a substitute, taught for about a year until one day the past caught up to his present.

Now, if Loftis went on to say, "I realize now that I made some serious mistakes in the past and I regret the choices I made. I want to help kids understand that porn is a rotten thing that destroys lives and denegrates men and woman, sexuality, and marriage", I think that most folks, like myself, would cut him some slack. But, instead,

Loftis said he can understand how some parents and administrators would judge him from his past, but he doesn't think it's right. "I totally see it from the parents' perspective... but why can't I have that separate life?"

And:

As for his future, Loftis is considering a couple of options. He may go back to the adult film industry. He may also find others fired under the "values and morals" clause and work to change the way things happen in the future.

He says he wants to teach "lessons" based on his past—the same past he thinks should be considered "separate" from his work as a teacher. In other words, he thinks the Boulevard of Morality should only run one way: his way. He wants to be able to say whether it is right or wrong for people to condemn his profitable and degenerate work in the sex trade, but won't allow that his actions should have any bearing on him working with teenagers.

But the story gets even more surreal, as Miami News Times reports:

Yes, Loftis — who studied international relations with a focus on the Middle East at Florida International University and earned a master's in public administration from the University of Miami — has never been just about the porn. He has achieved some national notoriety, in fact, for his dedicated "citizen reporting" on CNN's website. The news giant has featured his videos and, he says, is well aware of his day job: "They don't mind at all." ...

He points out that his porn career was perfectly legal. He suspects he would have been treated differently if he had appeared in straight films. "She [the school's principal, Allyn Bernstein] exposed herself as a big old homophobe," Loftis says of Bernstein, who didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.

Loftis went to the American Civil Liberties Union with his complaint, but a representative there reluctantly turned him down, writing, "Your case would be stronger if your job did not involve supervising children."

Uh, so he "studied international relations" (and filmed them as well!). Okay, I'll step over that one. Anyhow, the appeal to his porn career being "perfectly legal" and blatantly playing the homophobic card are expected, but still appalling. But, ultimately, the revealing thing (ahem) in this story is how moral relativism, in the real world, never results in the complete absence of moral standards, or even in shifting moral standards (although that is obviously the case), but in a one-way street of moral condemnation, in which one person's politically-correct actions are deemed free and clear of any judgment or condemnation, even when—or especially when!—pitted against traditional, commonsense understandings of morality and public accountability.

The telling word above is "reluctantly". How long before the ACLU decides, "Aw, what the heck—the guy is a victim of bigotry, homophobia, and witless parents. Let's help him out!" My guess: not long.

UPDATE: Another example of the one-sided nature of moral relativism has been making news:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals reportedly plans to launch a porn site. [It will be] "a pornography site that draws attention to the plight of animals", according to Reuters, which cited a spokesperson.

With thousands of well-known companies reluctantly queueing up to pay up to block their trademarks in the forthcoming .xxx top-level domain, PETA appears to be a unique case of a non-porn brand that plans to embrace "adult entertainment" to further its cause.

Put another way: fighting for the rights of animals is more important than humans doing what is right. Just another case of a certain good (treating animals humanely) being taken out of proportion and completely trampling an even more central good: treating people as creatures created in the image and likeness of the Creator.

The funniest line of the day...

... is put forth by Matthew Archbold in an hiliarious take on the atheist movie, "The Ledge", which apparently, upon being released this summer, jumped into oblivion with hardly a peep or a whimper:

I think there is more evidence of God's existence than there is of revenue from this movie. In fact, how could you say the movie exists if nobody's ever seen it, huh…huh?

This really just goes to show that atheists can make movies just as bad as Christians -and let's face it there's been some reeeeaaaallly bad Christian movies. But at least Christians make bad movies because they mean well, atheists don't even have that excuse. The thing is that this movie was every bit as religious as some of the preachiest Christian movies, they just don't know it.

Dead atheists would turn over in their graves if they hadn't evaporated into nothingness. But it's just what I've always suspected, many atheists bore even themselves.

This movie couldn't pull the atheists out of Catholic comboxes for even 90 minutes.

Ha! Actually, there are several funny lines there, but the last sentence above is the one I had in mind.

Indeed, there have been some tremendously bad Christian movies. My "favorite" all-time horrible Christian flick is the first "Left Behind" movie, which carried on an, um, rich tradition of earnest, tin-eared, deadly serious, cringe-a-minute End Times movies that has thrived in fundamentalist circles since the 1970s. And it was horrible despite having a reported budget of several million (it actually made a profit, however, unlike "The Ledge"). To be fair, Kirk Cameron gave a rousing performance as Kirk Cameron, who soon realized it was easier to simply be Kirk Cameron than to play Kirk Cameron.

Speaking of fundamentalism, Archbold makes a good point about atheism—especially the strident, Christian-bashing atheism that has gotten so much attention in recent years—that corresponds well with a key characteristic of fundamentalism:

I think one of the things that went wrong with this movie isn't just that it was an atheist movie. It's that it was anti-Christian. Instead of showing atheists dealing with dramatic situations which they do, the director chose to have the atheist in a battle with a crazy Christian caricature. And guess what, people in a mainly Christian country decided not to see it. Now that's the kind of natural selection I can get behind.

The connection, or parallel, is that most atheists and fundamentalists define themselves primarily by what they aren't; their identity is often overwhelmingly presented, often unwittingly, in negative terms: "I'm not Christian!" and "I'm not Catholic!" and "I don't believe in God!" and "I don't follow the Catholic Church, or follow the Pope, or pray to Mary, etc.!" Historically, fundamentalism was a reaction against certain presuppositions and perspectives that shaped modernity and gave rise to liberal (aka, heretical) Christianity, notably anti-supernaturalism and hyper-scientism. But it was also very much in opposition to "Romanism", a bent that has continued wholesale to this day. The so-called "new atheism" is almost entirely reactionary; in fact, it by necessity has to be as it has nothing really positive or affirming to offer except that it (take your pick) isn't Christian, isn't beholden to God, isn't trapped by traditional morality, and so forth. In this way, such atheism is, put bluntly, adolescent in both content and tone, for it rarely takes seriously the arguments of those who came before (that is, Christian philosophers and theologians), nor offers any measure of respect for ideas and beliefs that have shaped Western civilization over the centuries.

So many atheists are, in short, rebels without a cause. And now, apparently, they are moviemakers without an audience.

"He had the capacity to create an atmosphere of discussion..."

... and Ratzinger has the wonderful capacity to listen to what everybody says."

That's just one of many observations made by Fr. Vincent Twomey, SVD, in a really interesting audio interview with Vatican Radio. Fr. Twomey compares his time, in the late 60's and early '70's, as a doctoral student with Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger. Rahner, he says, liked to talk and talk, while Ratzinger liked to listen and encourage discussion. He also talks about the term "new evangelization", which was the focus of discussion at the 2011 "Ratzinger Schuelerkreis."

Fr. Twomey is the author of an excellent book about Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, titled Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age (A Theological Portrait) (Ignatius Press, 2007). Here are links to the book's Introduction, as well as to an Ignatius Insight interview with Fr. Twomey:

Painting the Pope | An Interview with Ann Kissane Engelhart

Painting the Pope | An Interview with Ann Kissane Engelhart | Ignatius Insight | August 30, 2011

Ann Kissane Engelhart (personal website: www.annkissaneengelhart.com) is a watercolorist based in Long Island whose paintings have been featured in the Empire State Building, St. Francis Hospital, the DeMatties Center, Brooklyn College and Wagner College and in private collections. She has won numerous awards, she has exhibited in galleries on Long Island and New York, and her illustrations have been published in a variety of magazines and periodicals.

She illustrated the children's book, Friendship With Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion, which features Benedict XVI's answers to questions put to him by children in Rome; the book is edited by popular author and blogger Amy Welborn. Ann recently spoke with Ignatius Insight about her artwork, illustrating Friendship With Jesus, and meeting Pope Benedict XVI.

Ignatius Insight: How and when did you first develop an interest in art? And how did you end up choosing watercolor over, say, oil or acrylics?

Ann Kissane Engelhart: At a very early age, probably around four or five I realized that my peculiar fascination with drawing on anything I could get my hands onto (napkins, walls, my pillow!) was neither shared nor appreciated by others. Soon, I was recognized by my family and teachers for having an artistic talent. I never really considered pursuing any other career.

Ignatius Insight: What are some of the unique challenges and qualities of painting with watercolors?

Ann Kissane Engelhart: In college, as a fine arts student I primarily studied oil painting and a bit of watercolor. Though I loved oil painting, there are certain unique qualities about watercolor that seem to suit my personality and way of seeing things.

The fact that watercolor dries almost instantly, as opposed to the days and even weeks it can take for oils to dry, is very appealing to this procrastinator. But more importantly, the immediacy and living quality of the wet paint continues to fascinate me.

I began to teach art in Catholic elementary and high schools and eventually taught watercolor classes in continuing education at St. John's University. I delighted in showing my students how they had to approach the medium with the almost opposite method of oils, where highlights are the final details added to a painting. In watercolor, no white paint is used, so the highlights are actually the white of the paper. So, if for example, one wants to describe the shine on a reflective object, or the slats in a white picket fence, one must plan ahead and paint around the white spaces of paper to reveal those details. For this reason, watercolor is thought to be less forgiving than oil or acrylic painting where corrections can be made at any time.

Though watercolor is considered by many to be a difficult medium to control, its unpredictability can yield felicitous results. The effect of the incense smoke rising from the thurible in a painting in "Friendship With Jesus" is something that lends itself to the loose, wet washes of blended color that can only be achieved in watercolor.

Therefore learning to master this medium is a delicate balance of knowing when to use strict discipline and when to let go ... a metaphor for life!



Ignatius Insight: Is Friendship With Jesus your first book? What was the inspiration for the book?

Ann Kissane Engelhart: Most of my previous freelance work was focused on portraits, landscapes, still-life painting and general illustration. Friendship With Jesus is in fact my first published book, though I was simultaneously working on other children's books.

I was inspired to illustrate the book after I had read in my local Catholic newspaper that Pope Benedict was going to meet and have a conversation with Roman children who had recently received their First Holy Communion. This was during the Year of the Eucharist in the first months after his election.

Though I was far from being a student of theology, I had been fascinated and inspired by the pope's homily at the inaugural mass of his pontificate where he had already begun to explore the idea of "friendship" or an encounter with Christ. I had started to read his books. Thus, the idea of a scholar, a doctoral professor giving a lesson to eight-year-old kids intrigued me. I found the transcript and watched a You Tube video of the event. Pope Benedict responded to the children's questions (which were similar to my own) with simple, yet profound answers at their level, with the encouragement of a grandfather.

I immediately had the idea that this beautiful conversation should be made known to a wider audience—perhaps in a book for children. A picture book! I decided that I could and must do this myself. Encouraged by my husband who (after my persuasion) had also begun to appreciate our new pope's writing, I started to work on some illustrations with the hope of enticing an author to edit the Holy Father's dialogue with the children.

Ignatius Insight: What was the creative process like for you and Amy Welborn?

Ann Kissane Engelhart: I had begun to read Amy Welborn's blog and had seen her fine writing in places like the daily devotional, "Living Faith" and in her books for children. I understood that like me, Pope Benedict's messages had deeply resonated with her. I took a chance by sending her a proposal and a few of the preliminary illustrations and asked if she would consider working on the project with me. To my surprise and delight, she said yes!

Amy took the responsibility of editing the text, framing it in the context of a book for children with appropriate scriptural quotes, writing a formal proposal, setting up a webpage and contacting publishers. I continued to work on the illustrations, which I would send her periodically. Although most all of our correspondence was via email, we managed to develop a real friendship and were eventually able to visit each other's homes in New York and Alabama. I consider this collaboration to be an unexpected but welcome fruit of the project, for which I am most grateful.

In the spring of 2010 Amy contacted the British publisher to the Holy See, Catholic Truth Society about publishing Friendship With Jesus. They were excited at the prospect of offering the book in anticipation of Pope Benedict's visit to Great Britain. We are very happy that Ignatius Press, who has a relationship with Catholic Truth Society, has decided to bring the book to a U.S. market.



Ignatius Insight: Did you have an opportunity to show the book to the Holy Father?

Ann Kissane Engelhart: At Easter of 2009 my family took a trip to Italy to visit my daughter who was studying in Rome for a semester. We were blessed to be able to sit in the "prima fila" section at the Holy Father's General Audience on Easter Wednesday, where we presented him with a mock up version of the pre-published book.

Amy had suggested that I make a separate print of one of the paintings that corresponded with a question a child had asked the pope about his own First Holy Communion. The illustration showed him as a child in front the church in the Bavarian village of Aschau am Inn where he actually had received the sacrament. I had created the imaginary scene from a variety of sources that I had researched on the internet. When he saw the image, he gasped in recognition of himself as a young boy. He appeared to be amused and delighted that someone had taken on this project. He expressed his admiration and thanks for the work and gave us his blessing.

My husband and I were struck with his humility and warmth and his manner of giving undivided attention and respect to each person he greeted. This was an extraordinary opportunity which I will always treasure.

Ignatius Insight: Are you working on any other books? Any plans to illustrate other books about the pope or Catholic themes?

I have since illustrated a children's picture book about composting, called The Dirt Maker, by Linda Krisch, and am working with another author on a book about a child's garden.

Amy and I are just finishing up another project for Catholic Truth Society based on the Holy Father's talk to British school children in Twickenham, England, which he gave while on his Apostolic trip there last fall. In the address he encouraged the children to become the saints of the twenty-first century, indicating how following Christ will ensure an adventurous life of true happiness and joy. We are very happy with the way the book has developed.

In addition, Amy and I have many ideas for future projects we hope will come to fruition. These new ventures have been a labor of love and have deepened my own spiritual life. Hopefully they will touch children and their families as they grow in their faith together.

• Biography of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Jesus of Nazareth (Part 2)
• Other Recent Books by Pope Benedict XVI
• All books by or about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Excerpts from books by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
• Articles about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI

New book by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR: "What to Do When Jesus is Hungry"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

What to Do When Jesus is Hungry: A Practical Guide to the Works of Mercy

by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R.

"The works of mercy provide us with the opportunity to let every person know he is a child of God and a brother in Christ. From the works of mercy will emerge a community of love and peace centered on Christ."
-Fr. Andrew Apostoli

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus will judge us on the basis of whether or not we fed him when he was hungry, gave him drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was naked, and visited him when he was sick or in prison. What we have done for others, he will tell us, we have done for him.

The Catholic Church has traditionally called these six acts of kindness-along with a seventh, burying the dead -- the "Corporal Works of Mercy." In this down-to-earth yet inspiring guide, Father Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., explains the Corporal Works of Mercy and illustrates multiple ways we can do them in our modern everyday life.

Father Apostoli also outlines the lesser-known but equally important "Spiritual Works of Mercy": counseling the doubtful, teaching the ignorant, admonishing the sinner, consoling the afflicted, forgiving offenses, bearing wrongs patiently, and praying for the living and the dead. And he offers many creative ways these too can be made part of our lives.

As a founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Father Apostoli knows firsthand about the challenges and rewards of caring for those in physical or spiritual need. His order is dedicated to the works of mercy, and Father Apostoli brings to his subject a great wealth of spiritual and practical wisdom gained from personal experience.

Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., is a widely known and loved teacher and retreat master. A frequent presence on EWTN television, he is an expert on Our Lady of Fatima and Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope (Ignatius, 2010).

• Also available in electonic book format

Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio to teach theology using the works of...

... C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and the Second Vatican Council

Ignatius Press Founder/Editor leads first of four online courses 
he will teach as part of the Ignatius-Angelicum Academy's Liberal Studies Program

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29, 2011 – Beginning this week, Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio, Founder and Editor of Ignatius Press, will bring together classic authors C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton – and include the work of the Second Vatican Council – as he teaches "Revelation and Christology." Offered through the Ignatius-Angelicum Academy's Liberal Studies Program, the 3-credit-hour course will be available online starting Sept. 1 at http://angelicum.net.
 
"Revelation and Christology" is the first of four online courses Fr. Fessio will teach through the Liberal Studies Program. The others include "Fundamental Theology: The Creed," "Biblical Theology: Jesus of Nazareth," and "Ecclesiology: The Liturgy." Students will receive 3-credit hours for successful completion of each course online.
 
"Revelation and Christology" is an introductory course in theology and consists in a careful reading of three texts – C.S. Lewis' Miracles; "The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation" (Dei Verbum) of Vatican Council II; and G.K. Chesterton's Everlasting Man. The latter is available as a single volume and in G.K. Chesterton Collected Works.
 
Miracles addresses whether Revelation is possible and the criteria for evaluating the Christian claim that God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council's "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation" (Dei Verbum) presents an authoritative expression of the Church's self-understanding of Revelation and its relation to Scripture, Magisterium, and Theological Tradition as that tradition was taught by great witnesses and scholars. Chesterton's masterpiece The Everlasting Man offers a broad historical-theological overview of man's place in nature and Christ's place in history.
 
Great Books Program
 
The Ignatius-Angelicum Academy also offers high school students and homeschoolers an opportunity to begin preparing for the Liberal Studies Program through enrollment in the Great Books Program—eight semesters (four years) of live online seminar classes meeting 2 hours per week, September-May, discussing some great work of  Western civilization—Great Books—studied that week.
 
Fr. Fessio's courses are not part of the Great Brooks Program, but Great Books selections are his primary course texts. The Liberal Studies Program online courses are intended for students from high school through adult learning. Full details on the Great Books Program are available at http://angelicum.net/great-books-program/. Or call 360-496-0007.
 
For more information or to request an interview with Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio, please contact Alexis Walkenstein with The Maximus Group at 561-445-5409.

Chesterton's creative references to St. John the Baptist's beheading

A couple of quotes from G. K. Chesterton relating to the beheading of St. John the Baptist.

First, from As I Was Saying, a 1936 collection of essays:

The historical case for the Resurrection is that everybody else, except the Apostles, had every possible motive to declare what they had done with the body, if anything had been done with it. The Apostles might have hidden it in order to announce a sham miracle, but it is very difficult to imagine men being tortured and killed for the truth of a miracle which they knew to be a sham. In the case of the Apostles' testimony, the general circumstances suggest that it is true.  In the case of the Arabian tale, the general circumstances avow and proclaim that it is false. For we are told in the book itself that all the stories were told by a woman merely to amuse the king and distract his attention from the idea of cutting off her head. A romancer in this personal situation is not very likely to confine herself strictly to humdrum accuracy, and it would be impossible more plainly to warn the reader that all the tales are taradiddles. In the one case, then, we have witnesses who not only think the thing true, but do veritably think it is as true as death, or truer than death.  They therefore prefer death to the denial of its truth.  In the other case we have a story-teller who, in trying to avoid death, has every motive to tell lies. If St. John the Baptist had wished to avoid being beheaded, and had saved his life by inventing a long string of Messianic or Early Christian legends on the spur of the moment, in order to hold the attention of King Herod, I should not regard any "resurrection myth" he might tell as a strong historical argument for the Resurrection. But, as the Apostles were killed as St. John was killed, I think their evidence cannot be identified by sound scholarship as a portion of the Arabian Nights.  

From the Father Brown story, "The God of the Gongs", this humorous description:

Flambeau turned abruptly at an exclamation behind him. It seemed to come from lower down than might have been expected, and to be addressed to his heels rather than his head. He instantly held out his hand, but he could hardly help laughing at what he saw. For some reason or other the platform had given way under Father Brown, and the unfortunate little man had dropped through to the level of the parade. He was just tall enough, or short enough, for his head alone to stick out of the hole in the broken wood, looking like St John the Baptist's head on a charger. The face wore a disconcerted expression, as did, perhaps, that of St John the Baptist.

Disconcerted and disconnected, I believe. (Who ever said Chesterton didn't have a dark edge to his humor?) Available from Ignatius Press, from the Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton:

• Volume 12: Father Brown Stories, Part 1 (Softcover)
• Volume 13: Father Brown Stories, Part 2 (Softcover | Hardcover)

"The glorious beheading of the Forerunner..."

... was part of God's saving plan
that the Coming of the Savior
might be announced even to those in the Abyss.
Weep, then, Herodias,
that you asked for a wicked murder,
because you loved neither God's law
nor eternal life.

— Kontakion from the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888-1957), wrote a number of fine essays and homilies about John the Baptist (a couple of them are in the collection, Pastoral and Occasional Sermons), including, "Our Devotion to St. John the Baptist", available in full on the Ronald Knox Society of North America website. Here is part of it:

St John is to meet his death before his Master. And for what a cause! The tragedy of St John is not that he was persecuted, nor that he met a violent death: people built as he was do get persecuted, do meet a violent death: but that he died too soon to witness the glories of the Resurrection, too soon to strengthen and promote the faith of the infant Church. "There hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist; yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." So said our Lord, meaning, as usual, the Church, when he spoke of the kingdom of heaven. The crown of St John's whole career of self-effacement is that, because he rebuked an unheeding tyrant for his loose morals, because he earned a woman's hatred, because a girl danced and an oath was taken in a hurry, the Church of Christ was destined to lose its first, its most obvious missionary. In him is summed up that long line of prophets and patriarchs who lived for the sake of the promises they were never to see fulfilled, dwelling in tents as strangers upon earth, because they looked for the recompense of the reward. "Prophets and kings desired it long, and died before the sight", God having provided some better thing for us, that without us they should not be perfected. The greatest of mankind and yet not destined to hear the full Gospel preached: the friend of the Bridegroom, doomed to perish before he claimed his bride and took her to himself.

He must increase, but I must decrease; I wonder what St John meant by must? Did he mean "this thing has got to happen", as when we say, "Death must come to every man"? Or did he mean, "I have got to make this happen", as when we say: "this letter must go tonight"? I don't think with St John the Baptist there would be much difference between the two; from his earliest years he had been so distinctly conscious of a mission, felt so certain that he was merely an instrument being used by God to further the ends of his Providence, that he wouldn't make much distinction between the destiny God had for him and the commands God laid upon him; the whole of his career is one great "must". One of the Fathers, I think, suggests that St John decreased because he was beheaded, while our Lord increased because he was lifted up upon a cross. I don't think that we need attach so literal a sense to the words as that, but certainly the manner of St John's death was characteristic – a murder carried out in hugger-mugger within the walls of a prison; the gossip about it hushed up, as Court gossip is apt to be; the hasty removal and burial of the body by his own disciples. To drop more and more out of view, and let others profit by the beginnings we have made and the experience we have won for them; to make way for our children to succeed in the world better than we did, to see our pupils outshine us, or our rivals outstrip us, or the job we thought we could do so well handed over to another, who makes even a better job of it than we could – what a common experience that is in life, what a natural one, and yet, how hard to sit down under it! How we always want to see our name mentioned, our works recognized, our help indispensable! Every parent, I suppose, has to go through something of that sort when the children grow up, and nearly everybody as years go on, and it is time for us to be laid on the shelf: and, you know, we can make a lot of difference to the happiness and the quietness of the world, according as we determine to make ourselves unpleasant about it or determine to take it in St John the Baptist's spirit. Let us make him our model, the man who was the prophet of a nation at thirty years old, and died almost unknown, a mere historical memory, a year or so later.

"He must increase, but I must decrease" – there is a more intimate sense in which the words concern us. For the business of our life in this world, after all, is not to leave a mark on it behind us or to take an honoured name away from it with us, but to make our peace with God before he calls us to a better one. And what is it, making our peace with God, but letting the influence of our Lord grow more and more in us, dominating our lives and throwing self into the background? He must increase; whenever he comes to me in Holy Communion, whenever he draws close to me in prayer, what is his purpose but that my will should be more his will, my life more his life? "I must decrease" – this self that struggles so against the supernatural influence of his grace, that makes me so proud, so grasping, so quick to take offense: only as it decreases will he increase; only as he increases will it decrease. Thus would I live, yet now not I, but he in all his power and love henceforth alive in me. May he give us all, in life and death, the spirit of his holy fore-runner.

More by and about Monsignor Knox:

• Monsignor Ronald Knox | Ignatius Insight Author Page
• The Church and Human Progress | Ronald A. Knox
• The Modern Distaste for Religion | Ronald A. Knox
• The Decline of Dogma and the Decline of Church Membership | Ronald A. Knox
• The Four Marks of the Church | Ronald A. Knox
• The Mind of Knox | Preface to The Wine of Certitude: A Literary Biography of Ronald Knox | David Rooney
• Monsignor Ronald Knox: Convert, Priest, Apologist | An Interview with Fr. Milton Walsh
• Experience, Reason, and Authority in the Apologetics of Ronald Knox | Milton Walsh | From Ronald Knox As Apologist
• Review of The Belief of Catholics | Carl E. Olson
• A Lesson Learned From Monsignor Ronald A. Knox | Carl E. Olson
• Ronald Knox, Apologist | Carl E. Olson

Pope Benedict XVI performs miracle

He renders Dick Vitale speechless.

Sorry. Couldn't resist. I'm not a Vitale fan (I prefer less emotive, more analytical sports commentators), but I'm not a hater, either (folks tend to have strong positions on Vitale's brand of hyper-active basketball analysis). Actually, the story and photos are endearing:

"The Pope asked me if I wanted him to pray for something," Vitale said. "I asked him if he would pray for my family and for peace in the world and he said that he would. He gave me and my wife Lorraine a pair of rosary beads. I didn't know up until the moment I met him that it was going to happen.

"We went to his summer castle and were among about 1,000 people in the courtyard. I had a letter from Bishop Dewane (Venice Diocese) requesting a meeting. He told me to take it to the Vatican, and I did and then the meeting was arranged. I was shocked. I never thought the meeting would happen."

Read the entire story.