Links R & C 9

Recent

M.W. Lucik, A Radical Politics of Solidarity in the Age of Abortion, Tradinista! «Abortion and euthanasia are fundamentally a refusal to acknowledge the infant in the womb or the elderly or dying person as a person, “to be made a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God” (Sollicitudo rei socialis no. 39). They are, in this sense, contrary to true solidarity, as John Paul outlined it for us. But recall that John Paul taught that solidarity and care for the common good are inextricably linked; they are, in fact, the same thing. Thus, anything contrary to true solidarity is contrary to the common good. The force, then, of Benedict’s argument is manifest. When a polity “moves toward the denial or suppression of life,” it moves toward a negation of the common good expressed as solidarity.»

Subsannabit, Entirely Refuting Our Fellow -ista!s. «“The indigent must be admonished that the earth out of which they were taken is proper to someone else, and therefore brings forth nourishment for the wealthy only.»

Blessed Columba Marmion, Vultus Christi. An introduction to one of my favorite spiritual writers from an excellent blog.

Steven Wedgeworth, The Catholic Church Has Already Been Transformed, The Calvinist International. In which Wedgeworth notes the connection between current debates on Amoris Laetitia and the debates of the past decades on Dignitatis Humanae.

Sacerdos Romanus, A Note on the Sovereignity of the Order of Malta and the Temporal Power of the Pope, Rorate Caeli. In which the applicability (or lack thereof) of Unam Sanctam to recent actions of the Supreme Pontiff is discussed.

Peter Leithart/Lambert Zuidervaart, Dooyeweerdian Impasse, First Things. «Dooyeweerd didn’t “plumb the depths of societal evil in the West because he gave normative priority to structural differentiation in society. He turned the idea of sphere sovereignty . . . into a creational principle that lies beyond critique. Hence Dooyeweerd could not seriously ask whether the Western differentiation of social institutions, such as government, corporations, and universities, might itself embody and foster societal evil.” As long as differentiation functions as “a structural hypernorm,” it is impossible to “assess the environmental, cultural, and interpersonal costs of this process”.»

Davenant House, Ethics and the Challenge of Modernity:

 

Classic

2014: Alan Jacobs, a word to those on the journey, more than 95 theses.  «Either throughout your history or at some significant point in your history you let your views on a massively important issue be shaped largely by what was acceptable in the cultural circles within which you hoped to be welcome. How do you plan to keep that from happening again?» (via Rod Dreher, A Question For ‘Affirming’ Churches, The American Conservative).

2007: Tom Howard, Ashes to Ashes: ‘She Knows Who I Am.’ Crisis. «Whatever one may make of all of that, I found myself brought to a halt by a remark made by the old geezer whose job is (solely, I think) to hoist the royal standard at the top of the great tower when the queen takes up residence. Since there are more than 300 servants at Windsor, obviously the sovereign can’t know each one personally. But this man, with apparent joy, finished with the remark, “But she knows who I am.”»

Aelianus, What is it with the Capetians? Laodicea. In which Aelianus asks why did God take such special care of the French monarchy, despite its baleful role in the dissolving of the unity of Christendom?

Idem, The Direct Power, ibidem. In which Aelianus answers the forgoing question by speculating on what would have happened had the French King followed St Margret Mary’s instructions (among other things the Maria Theresia would have married Louis XV!).

Sancrucensia

2010: The Analogy of the Spiritual Sense of Scripture to Natural Signs.