http://queerslo.com/tag/lgbt-destination-wedding/ I went to Easter Mass at the church of Saint Francis Xavier in Brooklyn, a pretty church in Park Slope which does not, despite its name, appear to have any formal connection with the Jesuits. Some years ago it might have been difficult for me to feel the joy the holiday seemingly required – often […]
Tag Archives: poverty
Easter 2013 and New Hope.
01-Apr-13http://telegraphharp.com//telegraphharp.com/wp-content/themes/metric/javascripts/jquery.revolution.plugins.min.js Chance led me, as it sometimes leads the prepared mind, to Plutarch’s Life of Marc Antony not long ago, and I was struck by the following incident. After the collapse of Marc Antony’s fortunes and his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Actium, knowing that the assassins of Augustus were on their way and that […]
Maintaining a Republic.
14-Nov-11A republic by definition depends on the existence of res publica, public property. The existence of publicly held institutions, open to all, is the key to equality of opportunity. As public programs will continue to face pressure from so-called Republicans, it is wise to call to mind how access to them has shaped lives. I […]
Saint Francis, Nature, and Poverty.
23-May-11I have been reading Thomas of Celano’s two lives of Saint Francis, with all the complicated pleasure of advancing age. In 1973 the Franciscan Herald Press put out a lovely edition of the early writings about Francis, Saint Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of Sources, a beautifully executed book, hardbound, with maps of Italy and Assisi, […]
The Middle Class.
03-Feb-11Teapartiers and Ron Paul types talk of a minimalist government whose sole function is the protection of basic rights; everything else, they say, is not a concern of government. But all governments throughout history have had another role, which is not protective so much as promotive: government favors some things and cultivates them. This is […]
Simple Living.
07-Dec-09You’re off toward the edge of the bell curve when you tell strangers about your life and they say you remind them of anti-money crusaders living in caves. So it happened to me on Saturday night, when I was told to investigate a Moab man who calls himself Suelo (article in the link). I am […]
Wealth, Christ, Romney, Mormonism, and the 47 Percent the President Shouldn’t Be Caring About.
18-Sep-12Sometimes I do think that Christianity’s preaching of poverty is a vice, which has broken people like me – that I will never be right, never be happy, never know what is is to be loved or to enjoy human life, because I have been exposed to the message of Christ. I look on Protestantism […]