Becket: A Tragic Hero, in a Bad Cause
On the feast day of Thomas Becket, I always feel impelled to note his profoundly ambiguous legacy. On the one hand, his death was the stuff of legend--fearlessly confronting the four knights who came...
View ArticleThrowback, um, Friday.
Last night, among other things discussed at the New Year's Party hosted by my estimable Editor (who has a book out,by the bye) and her husband, a gourmet but even better, a great friend, we talked...
View Article"Scalia il Magnifico"?
Rod Dreher, after a couple days when I actually enjoyed reading his blog (he has a very nice tribute to the late, great Robertson Davies), has relapsed again, with an effusion to "Scalia il Magnifico",...
View ArticleNot Taking No for an Answer: Engaging the Culture of Death
President Obama just won't stop trying:Tears streaming down his face, President Obama on Tuesday condemned the gun violence that has reached across the United States as he vowed to take action to curb...
View ArticleA Principled Disagreement
This entry is going to be a lot more pleasant to write (and, I hope, to read) than my last one on the same topic. I want to commend Ross Douthat for seriously upping his game in responding to Professor...
View Article“You are my Son, the Beloved; with You I am Well Pleased." A Sermon for 1...
(Delivered at St. Bartholomew's Church, NYC, Sunday, January 10, 2016) The thing that people forget all too often is that John the Baptist was a very big deal. The ancient historian Flavius Josephus,...
View ArticleImmune to Your Consultations
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby paid tribute to David Bowie just two days ago:Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning, the Archbishop said he became a Bowie fan during the...
View ArticleDeclaration of Independence
Today, the Primates of the Anglican Communion issued a statement, that, after some pious maundering, listed seven points of agreement:1. We gathered as Anglican Primates to pray and consider how we may...
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Deep Breath
(Photo: Anupam at English Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons)Right, I think we've had our excitement for the weekend; let's talk more positively for a...
View ArticleBack to the Future: Big Finish
Back in November, attending my first-ever Doctor Who convention, I picked up a bunch of audios from Big Finish. I was curious, you see, about them, and in an expansive mood. So they got some of my...
View ArticleA Sample of Taffy
Right, progress on my second novel, Taffy was a Welshman, has been slowed by some great joys in life, but we're underway again. And to celebrate that fact, I thought I'd share a bit of the opening...
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Anglocat at Peace
Blog mascot Betty the Anglocat has taught me many lessons. And this morning, as she lay next to her old adversary Elspeth P. Kitten, I thought how lucky I am that these disparate animals who make up...
View ArticleIn Memoriam, Abe Vigoda
Recently--very recently, a friend and colleague took a vacation in Florida, and, at a social event, found himself next to Abe Vigoda."Yeah," Vigoda said, deadpan, in response to my friend's expression,...
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A Tale of Two Kitties
My beloved NinjaCat is about the worst named animal alive. Named after an impressive and silent burst of speed she put on the first time I met her, the day la C and I moved to Brooklyn, she prefers to...
View ArticleThe Call: From the Gallery
My friend and discernment companion Elise Hanley has announced on her blog (oi, I didn't even know she had one! Let alone that it's good! Share a little, Elise!) her upcoming ordination to the...
View ArticleThe Silence of the Justice
From The New York Times today:When the Supreme Court returns from its winter break this month, it will hear two minor cases and reach a major anniversary. Unless something very surprising happens...
View ArticleTurn and Face the Strange: A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday
[Delivered at St. Bartholomew's Church on February 7, 2016][This sermon is one where I went "off book" for a little bit, and so my notes don't perfectly reflect the text as delivered. I've amended it...
View ArticleAlas, Poor Creon: A Digression Upon a Sermon
So, here's a thought I have had after re-reading my Transfiguration Sunday Sermon to post it. Here's the passage from Inherit the Wind I used in the sermon:You can see that I wrenched it a bit out of...
View Article"They've Summoned Up a Thundercloud": "Command and Coercion" in 2016
You know, I was really hoping my 2012 Command and Coercion: Clerical Immunity, Scandal, and the Sex Abuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church could become irrelevant to the news. But, as John Allen...
View ArticleAntonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia died today. He was one of the longest serving justices in American history. I have written here often about his drawbacks, and the damage his increasingly lawless decisions were causing...
View ArticleHeresy and Hope
I admit it; I'm not much of a heresy hunter. But there is one that has always rankled me, because, unlike so many heresies that debate or question the nature of Jesus, this heresy devalues his...
View ArticleTwice Blessed: Harper Lee's Novel
I am sorry to read that Harper Lee has died. She wrote one book, To Kill a Mockingbird, thetis standard fare in high schools, and is an undisputed classic. She played a major part in the creation of...
View ArticleRestorative Justice Redux
In view of my speaking this coming Sunday at the St. Barts Forum on Reconciliation, I thought I'd share a post from three years ago:I think the hardest teaching in the Gospels is Jesus's telling us to...
View Article“I Wonder What They Meant?” A Sermon on Luke 13: 1-9
(Delivered at St. Bartholomew’s Church February 28, 2016)In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.Well, this Gospel is a fire and brimstone sermon in the making, right?You know those Galileans...
View ArticleFaction Paradox
OK, so I don't, as a general matter, blog politics. That said, the recent events in the Republican Party have roused the Poli-Sci adjunct prof in me after a multi-year slumber. With the Republican...
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