Tom Hibbs reviews Up in the Air.

Hailed by critics as an Oscar contender, Up in the Air features fine performances, a witty script, and a story line that manages to avoid predictability of tone and resolution. Yet the film is ultimately a disappointment. Perpetual motion, the filmmakers want to say, is only a partial remedy for the ills of human life, as it reflects only a partial truth. Striving to say something more, something significant about its main character, about the tensions between independence and dependence, about the importance of family and friends, the film fails to transcend clichés.

That's too bad.

Zenit: Pope Modifies Canon Law on Marriage, Deacons

I haven't seen anyone post a copy of the actual motu proprio yet.

More on William Lind and FCF -- Washington Times, Gilmore takes helm of Free Congress.

Lay Spirituality

Dom Columba Marmion and Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. have both been credited with reminding Catholics that all are called to sanctity, not just priests and religious, and foreshadowing Vatican's II teaching on the Universal Call to Holiness; do they get as much attention as St. Josemaria Escrivá in this regard? It seems that Dom Columba Marmion will eventually be raised to the altars; what of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange?

What sort of prayer life is ideal for the lay person? Is there one prayer regimen that is applicable to all, and what role does the liturgy of the hours play within it? Someone may have very limited opportunity to pray, because of the demands of life or constraints on time that have been imposed on him. God can compensate for this. But this is not the same thing as saying that Catholics on their own perogative should choose a way of life that is so active that the contemplative aspect is virtually eliminated. Setting aside time for prayer, even if it is limited, is necessary for beginners. Those who are deprived of this opportunity by others are suffering, and there may even be injustice involved.



A Saint in Heaven
Reginald Garrigou
The Ordinary Path to Holiness by R. Thomas Richard, PhD
The Ordinary Path to Holiness
Jordan Aumann OP: Spiritual Theology in the Thomistic Tradition

The Spearhead: Gloria Steinem: 65 More Years of Feminist Revolution

‘Generation Limits’: An Open Letter to Teenagers
Dan Allen, Energy Bulletin
As a peak-oil/climate-aware high school teacher, I try to tell the kids the truth about what's coming. I don’t see the point in lying to them about our possible futures. And I think maybe it’s time for everybody to just start telling the truth. …And then we need to get down to work. …But first the truth.

NLM: Mass at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome

Another sign that Opus Dei is becoming more interested in the renewal of the liturgy?

TJF, Christmas Wars, etc. I

I was thinking of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special last night, since it was being aired. In 20 years, will Peanuts be criticized for not being multicultural enough?

God and overshoot

To the claim that we have surpassed the carrying capacity of the earth, there are some possible responses:

1. There is no such thing as a carrying capacity. How many would really deny the existence of such a limit?

2. There is such a thing as a carrying capacity, but we have been able to increase it through advances and technology, and these increases can be

a. maintained indefinitely.
b. increased indefinitely.

These are the believers in infinite human progress; they think that human beings will come up with a solution to any problem that presents itself in the future.

3. There is such a thing as a carrying capacity, and we've been able to increase it but this can only last for so long before it falls. When that happens, we've reached population overshoot.

4. A few believe that even now we've exceeded the earth's carrying capacity.

If 3 is the case, then if the worse happens and famine and stravation occur, the accusations against God will once again be prominent. "How could a good God let this happen?" "Why would God allow the creation of new human beings only for them to starve to death?" And so on...

At the very least it can be said that the evil that is death from starvation does not outweigh the good that is existence or the supernatural good of eternal life that is offered to each one of us. God could allow for overshoot as a punishment of human hubris, while at the same time giving to us the opportunity to receive a good higher than this mortal life. But how many of those who are carnally-minded can understand this?

Population, the elephant in the room
Peak Oil, Carrying Capacity and Overshoot

I discovered Fr. Jacques Philippe while looking through Scepter's website. He is a member of the Community of the Beatitudes. A brief description of the group.

Related Links:
Community of the Beatitudes - Communauté des Béatitudes
Community of the Beatitudes Denver
Community of the Beatitudes - March 2002 Issue of St. Anthony Messenger

Stephen Hand is saying good-bye to blogging. Workstation3 has been removed.

Fr. Z: Women and veils for church revisited

Fr. Foster: 'Don't waste a moment being upset' (via Fr. Finigan)

William Lind is retiring from the Free Congress Foundation? Why? His last On War entry. (We hope this cessation is only temporary.)

John Robb, THE FOOD GAME

How many Farmville players would be willing to do some of their own food production in real life?

NLM: A Great News Source for the Anglican Ordinariates and Fr. Phillips Reports on the Anglicanorum Coetibus Information Day at Our Lady of the Atonement

Kevin Gutzman, The Vision of the Founders: Dead and Gone

Looking Backward: Economics and the Cult of Yesterday by Jonathan Rowe
GDP and productivity don't measure what's really going on in the economy—or in people's lives. Jonathan Rowe on measuring what matters. (via Carolyn Baker)

GRITtv: Interview with Chris Hedges


Part 2

Book TV: After Wards: Christ Hedges, "Empire of Illusion"

Chris Hedges: Empire of Illusion The Cult of Self- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.

Michael Novak explains CST

Three Precisions: Social Justice
Three Precisions: Common Good
Three Precisions: Personal Liberty

These probably merit some sort of response.

Thoughts about The Road...

even though I haven't seen it yet.

I am losing the desire to watch The Road in the theater. Sarge and I were going to watch it, but it wasn't showing in NC when I was visiting him. I read the wiki article for the novel when it was first announced that it was being turned into the movie, and yesterday I read the movie spoiler.
The story is supposed to be about a father's love for his son -- still, I remember reading something about the movie, and it mentioned that McCarthy had seen the movie and wished that God had been mentioned at least once.

It may be that the movie accurately depicts the horror of what men can be reduced to when they fail to acquire virtue. However, can there be a God in that sort of world?
As far as I know, the novel and the movie is not intended to be a work of Theodicy. But wouldn't someone at least ask the question of whether God exists when confronted by so much death and suffering? How many people would give into despair and actively seek death in such a situation? It would almost seem to be a rational response to the perceived absence of God.

If people were to die on such a massive scale, would Christians not think that it is indication that the Second Coming is at hand? If we believe that God permits evil to happen for the sake of bringing about the good, are we also justified in presuming that His mercy would otherwise prevent something so terrible from occurring? Do we who have benefitted from cheap energy mistake the works of God's mercy for the inevitable effects of human progress?


Cormac McCarthy Society

Author warns of pageantry's perils
Chris Hedges, who wrote 'Empire of Illusion,' examines America's identity crisis in an age of consumerism and spectacle.

(via Carolyn Baker)

'Vocational America'

"Education in the United States has become vocational. ... Many of the state universities, community colleges and online for-profit universities — that are growing faster than any other university sentiment — have no use for the Humanities, literature, history, philosophy, classics, art. Why? Because the Humanities ask the kind of broad questions of meaning that those systems that prize above all else vocational workers do not want to ask.

"The problem with our vocational system is that it measures and rewards a very narrow kind of intelligence, a kind of analytical intelligence to create legions of systems managers — people who have a drone-like ability to work for very long hours, and (have) a kind of penchant or capacity for manipulation, but don't know how to question assumptions or structures."

This is the criticism made by Gatto and others of American public education at the primary and secondary levels.

Related links:
Transcript: Chris Hedges, “Empire of Illusion”, 21 July 2009
Truthdig - Chris Hedges, Columnist
Addicted to Nonsense

Zenit: Theological Institute Looking Forward

International Theological Institute for Studies of Marriage and Family

Are enough women buying tickets to Twilight and Sex and the City to justify the continuation of both franchises? What a pathetic state of affairs.


(via AICN)

SJP is looking her age in Did You Meet the Morgans? Does Hugh Grant look less attractive now to his female admirers?

The Economist, Democracy in America: Six questions for Daniel Larison (via Eunomia)