Policymakers and media people—as well as anyone interested in the Middle East, Islam, terrorism, and related issues—need to be talking about al-Jazira. I am not talking here about the Qatar-based media operation that we usually call al-Jazeera. Rather, I am referring to those regions of Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq that have been in the news so much recently because they are the main stamping grounds of ISIL, and the core of the Islamic State, the Daesh.
I was disheartened (more than usual) to hear of today’s bomb blast in Istanbul. I once stood on or near the exact spot where the suicide bomber detonated himself. Had dinner at a Turkish restaurant directly across from the place. Poor Istanbul. God have mercy on the city and its people.
“Thy nativity, O Christ our God,
has shown to the world the light of wisdom;
for by it, those who worshipped the stars
were taught by a star to adore Thee
the Sun of Righteousness,
and to know Thee, the Orient from on high.
O Lord, glory to Thee.”— the Nativity Troparion (hymn) of the Orthodox Church
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A reader writes about the recent controversy at the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship gathering at Urbana (see here and here for background):
Monsignor Charles Pope writes that the Traditional Latin Mass (which he supports) is a boutique phenomenon among American Catholics, and looks likely to stay that way:
Some years ago (as far back at the early 1980s) we who love the Traditional Latin Mass often said (or it heard said) that if we would just return to the beautiful Latin Mass our churches would again be filled.