Still Running Off at the Keyboard

CATHOLIC READING

Some good stuff has turned up in the current issues of several of the magazines I subscribe to.

First is Lee Penn's article on Opus Dei in "SCP Journal". His investigation turned up a lot about the organization. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, however. At the end of his article "End of Part I" appears, so perhaps he will be answering those questions in Part II. If the kind of stuff I write about in here is the kind of stuff that interests you, you'd like SCP Journal. The Spiritual Counterfeits Project is Christian, though not Catholic, but they think like a Catholic. Lee is a regular contributor.

An article by Anne Morse in "Crisis" titled "Society At Sea: A Reflection on Civility" was a good read. She talks about the kind of manners and concern not to be offensive to others that we used to believe in, and the sad descent into barbarian indifference that we witness today.

I liked as well Thomas E. Woods, Jr.'s article in "Crisis" titled "How Secularists Ignore the Value of Religion". He points to the rising trend of the "emerging church" movement that dispenses with dogma and doctrine, and the growing claim that religion causes unrest and war. To those who propose post-denominationalism he says: "This kind of milquetoast Christianity--in addition to being, quite frankly, a betrayal of Christ--will not satisfy the secularists' anti-religious fatwa any more than constitutional priests' initial concessions to the revolutionary regime spared them from an eventual death sentence during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror." Just finding a Woods' article in "Crisis" was a pleasant surprise all by itself. I would not have expected it.

Then there was the editorial in "New Oxford Review" titled "An Ancient Structure To Beckon Gods," a reflection on the changes at "America" and a criticism of the practice of walking the labyrinth. NOR used Lee's book, quoting his comments on the association of the labyrinth movement with Jean Houston's mystery school, to demonstrate what is wrong with it. Lee's efforts are beginning to bear fruit. It's good to learn that Catholic journalistic leadership is paying attention.

There's also a good NOR article by Mitchell Kalpakgian titled "Financial Success, But At What Price?" that contrasts the Protestant ethic with Catholic ethics that value rest and leisure pursuits, and not just making money.