Widespread Slogan

The words "adult faith" in recent decades have formed a widespread slogan. It is often meant in the sense of the attitude of those who no longer listen to the Church and her Pastors but autonomously choose what they want to believe and not to believe hence a do-it-yourself faith. And it is presented as a "courageous" form of self-expression against the Magisterium of the Church. In fact, however, no courage is needed for this because one may always be certain of public applause. Rather, courage is needed to adhere to the Church's faith, even if this contradicts the "logic" of the contemporary world. This is the non-conformism of faith which Paul calls an "adult faith".

(B16, here)

Quietly...

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns. [NYT]

In the last four decades since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, many American nuns stopped wearing religious habits, left convents to live independently and went into new lines of work: academia and other professions, social and political advocacy and grass-roots organizations that serve the poor or promote spirituality. A few nuns have also been active in organizations that advocate changes in the church like ordaining women and married men as priests.

Some sisters surmise that the Vatican and even some American bishops are trying to shift them back into living in convents, wearing habits or at least identifiable religious garb, ordering their schedules around daily prayers and working primarily in Roman Catholic institutions, like schools and hospitals.

Sound strange? God exists, after all.

In Memoriam

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

Rachel's Waltz

"I liken malt to a grand Steinway piano, principally because malt whisky is the most complex spirit in the world. And the grand Steinway piano has the greatest range and intensity of sounds of all instruments. The top notes are like the very delicate fruity floral, in the middle you find this incredible sumptuous malty middle that you can only get from malted barley. In the bass, there are deep chocolates, treacle, and mead, almost Christmas-like flavours . . . I find that different styles of music match different whiskies. For example I liken Glenmorangie Ten Year Old to a Chopin waltz." (Rachel Barrie)

Rachel Barrie from the Glenmorangie Distillery in Scotland was the first woman to earn the title of "Scotch Whisky Master Blender."

A History in Red

At the end of June 1859, the armies of France and Sardinia, led by Napoleon III, confronted the Austrians at Solferino in northern Italy.

Henri Dunant, a Geneva businessman, happened to be passing, and witnessed the battle.

Horrified by what he saw, he documented the slaughter in his book, A Memory of Solferino.

At the end of the battle, the Austrians were defeated and 40,000 men lay dead or dying.

As Dunant discovered, and later recounted, little was done to care for the wounded.

What he saw at Solferino shocked Dunant, and inspired him to develop an organisation dedicated to helping war wounded.

But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had modest beginnings; Dunant and four friends met in an apartment in Geneva's old town to discuss possible rules for war, aimed at alleviating suffering.

(Imogen Foulkes, Red Cross Marks Battle Anniversary, BBC News)

The King Is Dead

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has died.

The Multimedia Gospel

"I spend my days at Reuters preaching the multimedia gospel to my 2,700 journalists."

(David Schlesinger, Editor-in-Chief Reuters News, here)