A day like today, with dozens dead and hundreds injured in Brussels because of Islamic extremists, makes all of us more anxious about religious fanaticism. All of us who are not Islamic extremists ourselves agree that what ISIS did in Brussels qualifies as religious extremism.
Powerful speech by Philadelphia’s Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput at BYU today. Excerpts:
I have a friend of many years, a man committed to his wife and family, well-educated and very Catholic, whose son attended West Point. Over the years he’s taken great pride in his son, and in the ideals of the military academy. He’s still proud of his son. And he still admires the legacy of West Point.
Convicted pedophile ex-Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, might have led services as Michael Ball, his identical twin brother- a bishop in Cornwall during the 90s. Peter Ball was jailed last year for sexually abusing 18 teenagers and young men over 15 years. Western Daily Press reports: Former Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball, 83, was jailed last year after he admitted sexually abusing teenagers and young men. But there are now fears he took the place of his twin Michael Ball, who was also a bishop and a friend of Prince Charles, by duping congregations in other parts of the UK.
Photo via www.clearcreekmonks.org
One of the communities I’ll be featuring in my upcoming Benedict Option book is the Clear Creek Abbey, a traditionalist Benedictine monastery, and the lay community that has grown up around it. I’m pleased to pass on the news that the folks there are having a Ben Op conference from May 20-22, called “The Idea Of A Village.” Look:
I don’t have anything to say about this e-mail that came in, but I think there’s a lot of grist for the comment mill in it, and wanted to share it with you: