Cynical news media daily turn many a local story, especially calamities, into national or international stories for political and financial purposes. The media bosses reap all the profit by spreading fear and shattering nerves. Motives are often far from noble despite all the self-righteous pretense. Henry David Thoreau anticipated this and there is lesson in… Read More Thoreau on “News” Media As the “Ruling Powers”
“It is vanity to desire a long life, and to have little care for a good life.” — Thomas a Kempis Tolkien mourned the decline of the Shire* i.e., …the real shire of his youth which he ever remembered and sought to salvage to the extent that he could. The Shire: the simplicity and beauty… Read More Tolkien’s Battle for the Shire. And for Us All.
“The first time I saw Brother Lawrence, was upon the 3d of August, 1666. He told me that GOD had done him a singular favor, in his conversion at the age of eighteen. That in the winter, seeing a tree stripped of its leaves, and considering that within a little time the leaves would be… Read More Brother Lawrence and the Presence of God
Thinking of Fleeing to the Country to Beat the Crises of the Times? It would be wise to listen to Ross Douthat’s experiences first! Lyme Disease. (With Rod Dreher and Kale Zelden.) One must be prepared. And educated in country living. “In this vulnerable, insightful memoir, the [Catholic] New York Times columnist tells the story of his… Read More Ross Douthat’s Horrific Account of Illness
Counterrevolution? In sickness or in health, for richer or poorer… “Tradwives, a newly coined term for traditional wives, is a subculture of housewives who believe in clear gender roles, the importance of homemaking and a patriarchal marriage, according to many women who self-identify as tradwives. Tradwives are women who honor femininity, care for their husbands,… Read More Tradwives’ push back against critics who say their viral homemaking lifestyle is ‘alarming’
“Concerning the value of the Mass, Padre Pio said: “If men only appreciated the value of a holy Mass they would need traffic officers at church doors every day to keep the crowds in order.” Padre Pio was asked what his Mass meant to him. He responded: “It is a sacred participation in the passion of Jesus.… Read More St. Padre Pio and the Mass.
By Laura Dassow Walls | Jul 21, 2017Publishers Weekly Laura Dassow Walls’s definitive biography, Henry David Thoreau: A Life, is an amazing achievement, a merger of comprehensiveness in content with pleasure in reading, following Thoreau’s progress as a writer and also as a reader, as well as his social and political involvements and scientific pursuits.… Read More 7 Reasons Why Henry David Thoreau Still Matters Today
By a.d. 1200, Europe was in the process of changing from a medieval agricultural economy to one based upon interregional trade, which contributed to the growth of large urban centers. Many of these cities evolved from successful trade fairs established along busy trade routes. In turn, they engendered a commercial revolution that would eventually change… Read More Medieval Fun and Commerce: Trade Fairs and the Commercial Revolution
Catholic Critique 