My daughter came home from her college Sociology class yesterday and told me that her instructor had alluded to the following “fact” about Pope Innocent VIII several times. from Wikipedia: The unsympathetic Roman chronicler Stefano Infessura provides many lively details, among them the apparent attempt to revive Innocent VIII on his deathbed by blood transfusions … Read more
Before we get to this week’s links, I just wanted to thank everyone who donated during this week’s fund drive. Asking for money is not my favorite thing ever — none of us here particularly enjoys it — but we do it because we believe that strongly in what InsideCatholic is about. We have big … Read more
The Church can seem slow when responding to the culture. We have 2000 years of wisdom to draw upon, but so often it’s like we’re learning to crawl when the rest of the culture is already running. Which brings me to the fund drive InsideCatholic is doing this week… Here at IC, we’re not only … Read more
Political discussions here on IC tend to include numerous commentors who have chastised the Republican Party for paying lip service only to their erstwhile pro-life plank, observing that, since 1973, despite years of GOP control over both Congress and the POTUS, we still haven’t seen any real progress toward outlawing abortions in our nation. The … Read more
Last month, we mentioned that some exciting changes would soon be coming to InsideCatholic. Today over on the home page, you can finally get a glimpse of what some of those changes will be. In addition to an expanded mission that will offer greater coverage of how our faith affects every arena of our world … Read more
Yeah, that about sums it up: Hope any IC readers out there who got buried in this latest blizzard are keeping warm! And remember, when shoveling snow, lift from the knees. Or, you know, make your kids do it.
Should homeschooling families get a federal tax break? The Congress has failed to pass such a measure, and only three states currently allow some tax benefit for home schooling — Illinois, Louisiana, and Minnesota. The New York Times posed the question to a panel of experts, and the responses are here. Some think homeschoolers should … Read more
Happy New Year, IC readers! We’ve been taking it slow here over the holidays, and today will be no different — but we’ll be back with a vengeance in 2011. Below are a few last links from Oh-Ten, and feel free to add more in the comments — along with any resolutions, reflections, or hopes … Read more
Anyone looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for those notoriously hard-to-shop-for friends and family members should consider picking up a copy of Anthony Esolen’s latest book, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. Tony, a regular contributor at IC, has written many beautiful reflections here that comment thoughtfully on the sorry state of … Read more
Rachel Held Evans, a Christian writer and blogger in Tennessee, has taken on an interesting new project. For one year, she has committed to following all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as she can. Don’t worry, she’s not including polygamy (and a few other things) — but pretty much everything else is … Read more
Heather King, whose memoir Redeemed Matthew Lickona reviewed for IC here, has a new blog at “Shirt of Flame” that’s well worth your time. Last Friday, she reflected on Simone Weil, the French philosopher whom King (affectionately) calls a “Catholic-in-spirit nutcase,” and the motivations behind Weil’s refusal to be baptized in the Church — in … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links to get the day started: Scientists discover an effective alternative to embryonic stem cells that doesn’t require destroying embryos. What was that about necessity and invention…? Other exciting science news: “Roller-coaster rides can relieve symptoms of asthma, beards are a health hazard and randomly promoting workers creates more efficient … Read more
Well folks, with the midterm elections right around the corner, we should all be thinking hard about the values that motivate us to choose who will represent us. Â I’ll make this contribution to the discussion: Â http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/QyHJCAbXhRY Â I don’t watch RealCatholic TV and have only seen this guy Michael Vorhis once before, but a … Read more
As Brian mentioned, all of us here at InsideCatholic are headed to our 15th annual Partnership Dinner tonight, where we’ll honor Bishop Vasa for his service to the Church. It’s a little hectic at IC headquarters today as a result, so in our absence, I’ll leave you with this, which had me totally mesmerized this … Read more
I crave the indulgence of IC readers everywhere for what I am about to do, but I’ve been reading too much about the dangers of suppressing one’s anger to keep this bottled up any longer… As a fairly recent Wyomingite attracted to the state in no small part through the hope that “The Man” would be kept … Read more
Over at First Things, George Weigel has written an excellent tribute to a man much beloved around here: Father James Schall. Father Schall is entirely incapable of blowing his own horn, so Weigel must do it for him: He is a deeply learned man, yet he wears his learning lightly. He looks the part of … Read more
Like Steve, I can’t wait to start familiarizing myself with the new IC blogging interface. Maybe I should say “couldn’t wait.” I got about 37% through Brian’s exceedingly helpful “Blogging Tutorial” before striking out on my own. And striking out. I kept uploading pictures (I thought), and then being unable to find them. I think … Read more
Among the many awesome additions to the new and improved InsideCatholic, this is one that I’m very excited about: Introducing Cord Hamrick — aka “R.C.” — to our blogging family. This is usually the place where I’d introduce Cord, but longtime readers will know him already: R.C. has been writing insightful, thought-provoking, and encouraging commentary … Read more
Welcome to the brand new InsideCatholic! Almost exactly three years ago, we launched the initial version of the site. While we’re proud of that effort, it was very much a first step. This is our second. As Deal mentioned in his morning column, we’ve designed this next iteration of IC to take full advantage of … Read more
Over at the St. Austin Review’s “Ink Desk” blog, Richard Aleman has written a fascinating post on two areas about which I know nearly nothing yet which I find endlessly fascinating: the great Russian writer Aleksander Solzhenitsyn and the economic/social/geopolitical philosophy most widely known as distributism: …Solzhenitsyn, once crushed under the boot of massive centralized government, … Read more