Tag: society
Growing number of Americans have no religious identity
Washington D.C., Oct 9, 2012 / 06:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new survey shows that more Americans than ever are religiously unaffiliated, and as a group they are not seeking religion. Just under 20 percent of U.S. adults are now unaffiliated, an increase from 15 percent in 2007, says a new survey from the Pew… Read More ›
An existence that is meaningless and futile
In our society, a society of business rooted in Puritanism, based on a pseudo-ethic of industriousness and thrift to be rewarded by comfort, pleasure, and a good bank account, the myth of work is thought to justify an existence that is essentially meaningless and futile. There is, then, a great deal of busyness as people… Read More ›
Love cannot come of emptiness
I have learned that an age in which politicians talk about peace is an age in which everybody expects war: the great men of the earth would not talk of peace so much if they did not secretly believe it possible, with one more war, to annihilate their enemies forever. Always, “after just one more… Read More ›
Our Lady of Quito and a warning for our age
I was leafing through the current issue of The Flock, the newsletter of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, (available here) when I came across an article by the redoubtable Mrs Daphne McLeod about Our Lady of Quito—otherwise known as Our Lady of Good Success—who appeared several times to Mother Mariana, Abbess of the convent of the Immaculate Conception… Read More ›
Consumerist Approach to Religion
As a newly ordained pastor, I was surprised and dismayed by the ego-centric, that I found to be rife in my congregation. When fellow pastors confided similar concerns about their own congregations, I began to wonder whether this “please me” approach to faith was in fact taking hold in churches across the country. What I… Read More ›
Is humility unrealistic in today’s society?
Modern society is full of labels and stereotypes: poor, rich, enemy, ally, good, evil, conservative or liberal. Labels can inhibit humble openness to others. They point a finger at the “other” and in the process make it almost impossible for us to listen to each other and value each other as persons. Even worse, labels… Read More ›
Spousal Privilege
Since I’ve been on vacation, I’ve been watching an unusual amount of television. Over the past few days, I’ve been struck by the volume of material about sex. Talk shows, tv shows, even supposedly conservative networks like Fox News seem to be obsessed with the topic. The mentality of these talk show hosts seems to… Read More ›
Perhaps like good sheep
I have two good friends, one a Republican and the other a Democrat. Both are intelligent men, well read and highly educated. One is doctor the other one has some kind of esoteric job that I have never been able to understand, has something to do with cultural trends and advertising. Everything goes well in our conversations when… Read More ›
New book asks: Is US a ‘nation of heretics?’
New York City, N.Y., May 1, 2012 / 04:02 am (CNA).- Are Americans actually trading in faith for a more secular outlook? Or is the country’s religious center merely shifting – toward a array of sects, visionaries, charismatic leaders and unorthodox doctrines? In his new book “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics”… Read More ›
Wisdom and Society
Our technological society has no longer any place in it for wisdom that seeks truth for its own sake, that seeks the fullness of being, that seeks to rest in an intuition of the very ground of all being. Without wisdom, the apparent opposition of action and contemplation, of work and rest, of involvement and… Read More ›