Year: 2014
In defence of the pope
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor And every day the paper boy brings more. – Roger Waters, 1973 Media expert Marshal McLuhan once wrote that he simply pointed out what was happening in the present; and because most people lived in the past, they thought he was being prophetic. McLuhan was a[…]
January Thaw, Bluffer’s Park, Lake Ontario
Francis Joseph Dvorak is an artist, art restorer and teacher. He studied philosophy at the University of Toronto, and painting in the atelier of Michael John Angel in Florence, Italy. He painted many commissioned murals and portraits, including the portrait of Cardinal Ambrozic, and Archbishop Spence of Kingston, Ontario. During the Year of the Family,[…]
Books I have not read
There are lots of books that I have never read and never will read. The act of not-reading is portrayed as passive, but there is activity in not-reading. For example, I have actively chosen to not-read anything written by those listed as Great Canadian Writers. I happily read Canadians who are not on this official[…]
Is beauty in the eye of the Beholder?
College professors sometimes have too much time on their hands. While digging around in the crypt of an old medieval library in Oxford, I discovered an ancient forgotten manuscript. Here is what I can piece together. The document is a response drafted by Thomas Aquinas at the request of a Roman cardinal. The Vatican seems[…]
Mt. Sinai: Frontier of Byzantium
Mt. Sinai: Frontier of Byzantium Featuring Cappella Romana and Alexander Lingas (Conductor) Cappella Romana, 2012 ASIN: B007VHJVSM On their new CD, Cappella Romana performs Byzantine musical treasures from the cathedrals and monasteries of the Eastern Roman Empire which were preserved from destruction in the Egyptian desert at the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine at[…]
Lumen Fidei
16. The clearest proof of the reliability of Christ’s love is to be found in his dying for our sake. If laying down one’s life for one’s friends is the greatest proof of love (cf. Jn 15:13), Jesus offered his own life for all, even for his enemies, to transform their hearts. This explains why[…]
Are you a jerk?
I am a big jerk—for a list of reasons I will mostly not explain to you. But I will tell you part of the reason is because I really dislike mean people. I hate the biting sarcasm and searing disdain and I particularly dislike when Catholics act this way towards one another, especially online. It[…]
Lost Lectures
So the first thing to do was to be coached in arithmetic and algebra. I was taught these subjects by an old specialist who lived in the Broad-High, or in Campion’s Piece. I think he had been in his day a Senior Classic. He was saturated in the amenities of the lower mathematics, and was[…]
Parenting: fake it till you make it.
I am a stay at home mom. My husband and I have been married for 4 years and we have 2 children: Eleni, who is almost 3, and Alexander, almost one and a half. Most of the time, I have no idea what I’m doing as a parent. Sure, there are times when our children’s[…]