At First Thoughts, William Doino Jr reviewed Uncommon Grace, a documentary on the life of novelist and short story writer Flannery O’Connor. Given that O’Connor’s stories are “stern and unsentimental”, it is a pleasant surprise to discover “how endearing and childlike O’Connor’s faith was – as Jesus said the faith of his disciples should be”.
This faith was tested by “a diagnosis of lupus erythematosus, the disease which killed her father. O’Connor suffered bouts of severe itching, joint pain, rashes and fatigue, though she rarely complained to others. She endured numerous blood transfusions and experimental hormone treatments.” Doctors gave her five years to live; O’Connor lived another 13. Indeed, “her most productive years of writing, after her diagnosis, occurred under the looming threat of death. This, perhaps more than anything else save her Catholic faith, is what gives her stories such vitality and power.”
O’Connor made a key decision, Doino wrote: “To become a daily communicant and humble herself before the Lord: ‘The mind serves best when it’s anchored in the Word of God,’ she wrote, in her marvellous collection of letters. ‘There is no danger then of becoming an intellectual without integrity.’”
When scientists peer into the chasm of truth
At Catholic World Report, Nicholas Senz asked: “How many people do you know who can give you a technical description of photosynthesis and quote from Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma?” His interviewee, Dr Stacy Trasancos, is one of them. She has a chemistry PhD and also teaches theology, and says the two interlock.
“Scientists are supposed to ask questions and find answers,” she said. And “the biggest question” is “‘Where did all of this order and beauty come from?’
The answer is outside the purview of science, but it is a truth a scientist’s heart longs to behold.
“Trust me: every scientist either works with his or her back to that great chasm of truth beyond science, or faces it,” Trasancos said. “No one sees the handiwork of God at the level of detail understood by a biologist, chemist, or physicist.”
Don’t underestimate the war of pronouns
At The Public Discourse, Anthony Esolen examined “the pronoun wars” – efforts to replace “he”, “she”, “him” and “her” with the gender-neutral words “xe” and “zir”. This subtle campaign may seem ludicrous, he remarked: “Ordinary people like reality,” and so are slow to realise that others do not.
He said: “All such admirably ordinary people: broaden your imaginations. Do not dismiss the pronominal wars as nonsense. Do not assume that the warriors are merely daft. Do not mistake the pale horse and its rider for snowflakes or mittens or bunnies or anything else that is soft and inoffensive and trivial. The pale horse and its rider aim to destroy.”
✣Meanwhile…
Cardinals in the Vatican are taking a stand against the Big Mac by voicing their opposition to plans to build a McDonald’s near St Peter’s Square. Prelates in Rome are aghast that McDonalds will be renting a ground floor space from the Vatican, just below where they live.
The seven cardinals, who include Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said they were not consulted about the plans and are worried they will have to pay for extra restructuring costs to adapt the building.
✣ A 19th-century Catholic convert who earlier in her life cared for soldiers was commemorated by Google in its daily Doodle last Friday. Jamaican-born Mary Seacole (1805-81) set up a hotel for wounded soldiers in Balaclava during the Crimean War. She had applied to the War Office to help as a nurse, but when she was turned down four times she decided to go there independently. Seacole is buried in St Mary’s Catholic cemetery, Kensal Green, London.
✣ Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and a Catholic, was spotted with Cardinal Vincent Nichols at the premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater at the Barbican last week, performed by The Sixteen and the Britten Sinfonia.
✣The week in quotations
There needs to be a Catholic Spring Sandy Newman writes to John Podesta WikiLeaks
Us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be grateful Archbishop Charles Chaput asks if Team Clinton will repudiate the ‘Catholic Spring’ emails Archphila.org
Not only the improbable, but the impossible Fr Arturo Sosa on what God calls us to First speech as Jesuit superior general
It has only just begun to give up its mysteries Art historian Noah Charney on the restored Ghent Altarpiece The Guardian
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