THE “FILTHY, ROTTEN SYSTEM” IS US

Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins:

It’s instructive to read some of the more notable mid-20th-century Catholic writers in light of today’s political and religious climate. How do their prophetic teachings and thoughts hold up 70 years later?

Carlo Carretto (1910-1988), Italian priest, social activist, and contemplative, authored several books, among them “Letters from the Desert” (Orbis Books, $9).

In a later work, “The God Who Comes” (Orbis Books, $16.99), he writes: “One of the most fundamental errors a Christian can make in our times is to mistake or identify the gospel message with the evolution of history or with social revolution.”

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.