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Envoy Magazine

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

With the recent news of Crisis magazine getting rid of the print version and going web only it is quite interesting that Envoy Magazine, which has not published for the last three years, is back. On my way into the Church I read all of the back issues they had online and then subscribed to the magazine. For those who have never read Envoy it has a different style than most Catholic magazines. While the magazine has a heavy emphasis on apologetics, it does it with a unique style. From the graphic layout on down it is a fun magazine to read and their is humor interspersed within the magazine and usually a one page parody. In some ways my own blog was influenced by Envoy’s parodies and their parody site smellsandbells.com (which is no longer around but is in the internet archive)

People who had been subscribed to Envoy can expect to have new issues delieved to them and I received mine two days ago. Envoy is just as good as it was and is back with some of the same great authors such as Tim Staples, Carl Olson, and of course the magazines founder Patrick Madrid.

Now to give a full disclosure – a couple of months ago Patrick Madrid contacted me about contributing to Envoy’s humor section. Patrick is behind the majority of the humor in the magazine and is quite a funny guy himself with such classics as his Top Ten: Orthodox Catholic Pickup Lines. So is was quite a honor to be invited on to contribute ideas from time to time. The first issue only contains one line from me for Pat’s Top Ten Rejected Envoy Marketing Slogan, but the other nine were better than my suggestions anyway. So we will just have to see how many of my ideas make it in, but Patrick Madrid has some pretty funny ideas that I was able to build on.

This time around Envoy is based at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina at what is called the Envoy Institute. You can sign up for a free issue here. Envoy is bimonthly and you can subscribe to a print edition or to a reduced price PDF version.

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News

Someone hand father a figleaf

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

FREDERICK — A Catholic priest faces an indecent exposure charge after police said he went jogging in the nude about an hour before sunrise.

The Rev. Robert Whipkey told officers he had been running naked at a high school track and didn’t think anyone would be around at that time of day, a police report said.

He told officers he sweats profusely if he wears clothing while jogging. "I know what I did was wrong," he said in the report.

Good thing he didn’t sweat profusely while preaching. Next time though he might consider buying a treadmill instead.

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Book Review

Light in the Dark Ages

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I received Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi by Jon M. Sweeney for review from Paraclete Press. If you do a lot of reading of Catholic books you are sure to come across multiple readings of the life of St. Francis and sometimes St. Clare. Especially since after Jesus, St. Francis is the subject of the most books.

I found though that this book gave me a fresh look at the life of St. Francis and his friendship with St. Claire. Unfortunately there is very little historical information to go on concerning their friendship and what documents we have to go by concentrated on St. Francis. Regardless of these limitations gives you a good idea of how St. Francis inspired St. Clair and how her life really lived out his ideals.

The book is not a straight serial biographical account of these two saints but various chapters addresses various themes. Though you do end up with a very good look at their lives and the world they lived in. The historical context is very important when considering these two saints and it only makes them shine the brighter considering the problems and the corruption within the Church at the time. It is always a good reminder that the Church is always need renewal and that it is only the saints that can truly bring about that renewal. But more importantly that we all need to respond to the Gospel as fully as St. Francis and St. Claire did.

I liked the balanced way these saints were covered in that the author tried to stay within what we know historically about their lives and to discern from some of the source material of books written after St. Francis’ death while also at the same time not taking to skeptical of attitude to some of the surviving stories. You get a very good idea of the struggles of the early Franciscans and the book also address the sad chapters in early Franciscan history of the "Spiritual Franciscans" and the aftermath of the order after first St. Francis dies and then much later St. Claire.

So if your looking for a solid book on the life of both St. Francis and St. Clair is can highly recommend this one.

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Vocations

Not a step in the right direction

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Fr. Powell, OP posts on The Mistakes We Make with Priestly Vocations and what he sees of the problem of appointing Parish Life Coordinator (PLC). I think he makes some great points in that as a stop gap measure this will become something much more permanent and will do little to spur vocations. I think the danger he speaks of when priests start becoming "traveling Sacrament Machines" is not to be taken lightly.

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Punditry

Wanting Catholics at a Catholic school?

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

CARDINAL George Pell is among a group of Catholic leaders calling on the church’s schools to maximise their enrolment of Catholic children.

According to News Limited today, Dr Pell and his group want preference given to children from a school’s parish, followed by other Catholics, then other Christians and then finally to students with other religions.

The schools have been urged, in an edict reportedly signed by Dr Pell, to “re-examine how they might maximise enrolment of Catholic students”.

They have also been urged to increase the proportion of school staff who are “practising and knowledgeable Catholics”.

Catholic families will also be urged to “maximise their participation”.

The letter, with Dr Pell as head signatory, said: “Half the students of Catholic families are enrolled in state schools and a growing proportion go to non-Catholic independent schools.

“Another enrolment trend of particular concern has been the decline in representation in our schools of students from both poorer and wealthier families.”

I think that you could write a program to determine the bias in a news story based on the words used. Certainly the word "edict" would be a highly weighted word in this context. A document you like is called a letter or instruction, one you don’t like is called an edict.

I wonder how long it will take before some Australian columnist links this to the new CDF document as another attack on non-Catholics. What the Cardinal is requesting is of course common sense and when you get a high index on non-Catholic students and teachers you are usually going to end up with a non-Catholic school or one with a "Catholic Identity" but hardly any actual Catholic content.

A writer in another column that gives two views on this writes:

Catholic schools exist not only because of a percentage of government funding, but also because of sacrifices and donations made by previous generations of Catholics, many working class.

The more non-Catholics they take, the more Catholic schools risk weakening the importance of the Church’s teachings and philosophy alongside academia.

While the opposing writer says:

But at the risk of getting into a biblical slanging match with any member of the clergy, there seems to be a pretty convincing argument that Jesus wouldn’t be falling over Himself to endorse the Church’s present line of thinking.

In the Gospel of St Mark, His views on the issue seem pretty unequivocal: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners," he said.

No one is suggesting Catholic children shouldn’t be brought up in the faith, or that Catholic parents shouldn’t enrol their kids in schools catering to their beliefs.

But to encourage the inclusion of some children more than others seems to fly in the face of everything I was taught at school.

I was not surprised to see her ending line to be "As a product of the Catholic education system, I find that pretty extraordinary." I find her scriptural argument to be rather weak since as every Catholic parent knows their children are sinners also.

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Other

Closed Book

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I saw as part of my Catholic blogger’s contract that I was remiss in posting on Amy Welborn’s move to a new blog and new format.

As a long time reader of her blog from back in the days when it was called In Between Naps (which started Sep 10, 2001) and then Open Book when she moved to Typepad I have mixed feelings. One thing for sure is I really admire her honesty in evaluating that her blog was getting in the way as an author and that even though she turned out some fine books, she felt she could have done better. Anybody that maintains a frequently updated blog knows exactly how much effort and a time drain it can be.

One of the great thing about her previous blog was not just the frequently updated news pertaining to the Catholic world, but the comment section and the responses from a wide variety of readers. When she choose to write commentary on these stories it was always worth reading. Now of course we have a wide variety of ways to get the latest Catholic news, we just won’t get the commentary and the large set of reader’s reactions as easily. Mark Shea has a lively comment section, but the type of stories he links to are not always the same as what Amy would post.

Though the positive thing is that the new blog will have good commentary on the subjects she chooses to write on and so will really be more of her writing instead of just being a sort of Catholic InstaPundit with links galore.

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Punditry

It was nice while it lasted

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

The last two years were somewhat more pleasant after Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Bob Herbert, and Frank Rich were made subscriber only access at $50 a year. Though of course we can always thank Maureen Dowd for coming up with Gerald’s blog title. Unfortunately they have now dropped their paid access.

Now if the NYT whose stock and reputation are going downhill wanted a good income source maybe they could just have a fund drive once a year to raise money to put their columnist back behind a firewall.

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Book Review

The Philosophy of Jesus

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

George W. Bush in a presidential debate when asked who was his favorite philosopher, remarked "Jesus." He was roundly criticized for this at the time on multiple levels. Many thought it was a silly answer showing his ignorance and others that it was demeaning of Jesus. Peter Kreeft in his new book The Philosophy of Jesus explores Jesus as philosopher and explores his philosophy.

As Peter Kreeft states in the front of the book the audience for this book is both the Christian and non-Christian and I would say that the book achieves this admirably. It is also a book for both those trained in philosophy and those who know little or nothing on the subject. He defines the terms he uses along the way to ensure he leaves nobody behind. This book is also not full of technical philosophical or theological language and though while at times some of these terms are used his writing is very clear.

The book is divided into four major chapters:

  • Jesus’ Metaphysics (What is real?)
  • Jesus’ Epistemology (How do we know what is real?)
  • Jesus’ Anthropology (Who are we who know what is real?)
  • Jesus’ Ethics (What should we be to be more real?)

One of the hardest things to teach is to teach something that somebody already believes he knows. As Christians we accept the incarnation, but after a time we can talk about these mysterious things in a monotone. Peter Kreeft in his writing shows none of this tendency and presents Jesus and his teaching in fresh ways that once again invokes how you felt when you first started to believe. It is hard not to get excited once again as you read this book and for a book that deals with philosophical subjects you will be surprised how fast you are swept into the book, as if you were just doing some recreational reading from on of your favorite novelists.

This book is not the overt apologetics such as his outstanding Handbook of Christian Apologetics, but it certainly does show the philosophy of Jesus so that the non-Christian can understand it in a non-combative style and that the Christian will see the deeper dimensions of Jesus the philosopher.

So don’t let the title throw you off, this is not a dry text on philosophical subjects, but a book certainly to nourish you.

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News

Sister Livingston

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Sister Therese of Avila, in her kitchen prayer, states: "The Lord walks among the pots and pans."

Sister Mark Livingston of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate did indeed find God there. Because of Him, she happily spent many years serving her community with domestic work in such places as Guardian Angel Home in Joliet and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Joliet.

Sister Livingston knew and could quote the many Bible readings about food and serving others. She identified with the biblical Martha in her desire to be hospitable to others. Like Jesus, she could "multiply" the food to feed a multitude and supplied parish festivals with her pies and other baked specialties and enjoyed trying new recipes.

"She said she served the church indirectly so the sisters who did teaching and other work for the church did not have to get meals, wash and do other duties, said Sister Juanita Ujcik, who lived with Sister Livingston for many years.

"She believed this work serves to intensify the life and holiness of God’s people on Earth. She recognized the dignity and sacredness of food service apostolate and believed that it led to the eternal banquet of love in heaven."

Sister Livingston was 91 when she died May 31.

In addition to her food preparations, Sister Livingston’s brand of Christian ministry exemplified the value of teamwork. She often performed her kitchen work side by side with her twin sibling, Sister Luke. Neither one of them, Sister Ujcik said, ever took the spotlight in anything.

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