In 1867, Matthew Arnold wrote "Dover Beach", a haunting poem evoking the "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" of the Sea of Faith. As a boomer who finished Catholic elementary school in 1964 and then watched my Church falter, I've found the roar all too audible. So here I wait, listening for the whispers of that Sea's invincible return.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tough topic
Pope Benedict has just published his first encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est. No beating around the bush with this guy -- he goes right to the topic of love, the utter distortion of which has been the trademark error of the modern world. If you want to know in what sense God really is Love (hint: it's not the way it has been defined by the Kumbaya generation) and what implications that holds for every expression of every type of human love, this is a great place to start.
