Catholic Chaplain
Posted in Resources, reality check on Oct. 11, 2009 by hweidner
In discussions of faith, it seems to be a constant that conscience as the basis of religious faith gets overlooked or is even replaced by some other principle. So one more time, let us hear Cardinal Newman…
“I add one remark. Certainly, if I am obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts, (which indeed does not [...]
The book of Numbers is about the numbers of Hebrews that went with Moses across the desert to the promised land. It is a delightful book.
Part of the delight is how Moses handled the organization of this great crowd of ex-slaves. Foundational to the organization was a sense that Moses was a prophet…a leader who, [...]
Posted in Essays, reality check on Sep. 13, 2009 by hweidner
Edith Wharton looked the very essence of a high society grande dame of 1900. Willa Cather for all her western and midwestern novels dressed fashionably and spent her last years in New York City. Both wrote books that are still companions revealing to me with empathy and deep insight the place of suffering, the cruelty [...]
Posted in Resources, reality check on Aug. 23, 2009 by hweidner
I cannot leave August behind without sharing Newman’s honest description of the depression he suffered as a Catholic. I do this because we think of saints as cheerful in God’s service even though John of the Cross writes horrific accounts of the dark night of the soul, Therese of Lisieux suffered near despair the last [...]
August 11 is the anniversary of the death of John Henry Newman, “Cardinal Newman,” who if he had not lived into his late 70s would have died believing he was a failure. He was a brilliant, holy (a favorite motto, “holiness rather than peace”), church man who spent one half of his life in the [...]
Philip Neri, 1515-1595, is much beloved by the spectrum of Catholics who dot the current landscape. He has always been appealing since he is genial, original, and demanding in his own sly way. He was a mystic who distrusted visions. (If you see the Blessed Virgin Mary, spit on her, he said. He was sure [...]
John Henry Newman’s life spanned one century (1801-1890) and two Churches…Anglican and beginning in 1845, Catholic. His sermons, preached and published when he was at Oxford, are still in print! His autobiography, the Apologia Pro Vita Sua (this is NOT translated as “excuse me for living”) and The Idea of [...]
