In “Beginners” Levertov urges us to resist despair: “So much is in bud.”
Tag Archives: Pope Francis
For Earth Day, Resist Despair
Pope Francis: Lit as Spiritual Formation
Among Pope Francis’s great contributions to humanity was his passionate and eloquent defense of literature.
The Pope’s Extraordinary Defense of Lit
St. Francis recently penned an extraordinary defense of literature and why it should be taught in seminaries (and elsewhere).
Chaucer’s Friar and Abusive Clergy
Wednesday Like many, I had hopes that Pope Francis’s Vatican meeting on clergy sexual abuse would yield something substantial, and like many I have been disappointed. The pope, according to the New York Times, decided that the best way for the church to address the problem lay not in issuing an edict from Rome but […]
On the Pope, Walls, and Robinson Crusoe
Pope Francis recently labeled as “not Christian” those who build walls but not bridges. By this standard, the walls, both literal and metaphorical, being advocated by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz bring their own Christianity in doubt. An examination of the walls build by Robinson Crusoe, however, shows how Christians have rationalized walls.
Pope Francis as Shaw’s St. Joan
Christianity is all very well in its place, but when Pope Francis comes to America counseling a dismantling of capitalism, he gets the same response that Joan of Arc does in “St. Joan.”
A Guest Worthy To Be Here
Jesus learned to accept a Canaanite woman at his table and George Herbert learns that he belongs at that table. We can use them as models as we face refugees and immigrants.
Christianity vs. Capitalism
Conservatives criticizing Pope Francis would benefit from this Robert Nemerov poem.
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
Gerard Manley Hopkins tells us how to access the god within ourselves.