Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

A Catholic Thinker

Home
Catholic

2014-12-23T23:08:37-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On Becoming & Unbecoming a Cynic

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:08 pm By Tod Worner

I’m tired of cynicism. Now, to be clear, I am not speaking specifically of the Cynical philosophy of Antisthenes and certain ancient Greeks. I am talking about the modern cynicism which believes people and institutions are generally selfish and dishonest. To borrow from Flannery O’Connor’s insight about nihilism, cynicism is the air we breathe. It is everywhere. Looking back, as a young man I had an unshakeable idealism. I believed that our leaders were honest, our country was upright,... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:10:09-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis & the Greatest Friendship Imaginable

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:10 pm By Tod Worner

I had never heard the term before. Opera Omnia. But, boy, did it sound impressive. It was in the Fall of 2008. Pope Benedict XVI was in the third year of his papacy and the first volume of his Opera Omnia was being presented at the Vatican. I would soon learn that Opera Omnia, literally translated, means “all (or complete) works”. And this Pope’s works go deep. Sixteen volumes deep to be exact. From his earliest formative years as a fledgling priest to his... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:12:23-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On NOT Considering the Source (A Musing on Rumsfeld, Rand and St. John the Baptist)

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:12 pm By Tod Worner

Today, guest columnist Ben Conroy wrote a piece (at Elizabeth Scalia’s The Anchoress blog) titled ‘Sense’ and Sensibility (In Defense of Donald Rumsfeld). In it he astutely probed and considered the former Defense Secretary’s (in)famous and perhaps not uniquely original insight: “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:13:45-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Who Writes Letters to Families? The Catholic Church, That’s Who…

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:13 pm By Tod Worner

“[The family] is the vital cell of society.” – Second Vatican Council (Apostolicam Actuositatem) Who writes letters to families? The Catholic Church, that’s who. In 1980, Pope John Paul II convened the Fifth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to discuss The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World. For background, the Synod of Bishops is a body of Bishops from all over the world which serves as a (non-binding) advisory council to the Pope on selected... Read more

2014-12-23T23:19:02-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What I Learned From Revisiting “The Exorcist”

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:19 pm By Tod Worner

It has been a long time since I have seen The Exorcist. A loooong time. And for good reason. It scared the hell out of me. As a teenager, I felt I was bulletproof against Hollywood’s efforts to spook me. My friends and I would rent the most macabre of movies from Friday the 13th to Nightmare on Elm Street to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Halloween in a childish quest daring a movie to be frightening enough. While there was little... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:20:35-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

G.K. Chesterton, the Diabolist & “The Most Terrible Thing”

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:20 pm By Tod Worner

“That quiet conversation was by far the most terrible thing that has ever happened to me in my life.” G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was a celebrated British journalist, detective novelist, artist and Catholic apologist. He wrote over one hundred books, thousands of newspaper columns, innumerable poems, a several plays. He gleefully debated society’s intellectual luminaries such as George Bernard Shaw, H.G Wells, Clarence Darrow and Bertrand Russell. It is easy to estimate that he engaged in hundreds of thousands of... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:22:45-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why Fathers Matter

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:22 pm By Tod Worner

In the last several years, there has been a debate (I would not say a robust debate) about whether or not fathers matter. The discussion seems to center around whether a household run by a single mother or grandparent or other alternative fatherless households can provide the same (or superior) child-rearing environment. The answer, it seems, is a foregone conclusion. “Of course”, it is answered. “How could you suggest otherwise?”, it is asked. And then the litany of abuses... Read more

2014-12-23T23:25:03-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why This Commencement Address Matters…

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:25 pm By Tod Worner

“The endless cycle of idea and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death no nearer to GOD. Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:29:03-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Doubt, Duty & Deliverance…D-Day at 70

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:29 pm By Tod Worner

“When I think of the beaches of Normandy choked with the flowers of American and British youth and when, in my mind’s eye I see the tides running red with blood, I have my doubts, Ike. I have my doubts.” – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower on the eve of D-Day It is hard to imagine these words were ever uttered by the jowly, defiant, cigar-champing lion of resistance, Winston Churchill. But they... Read more

Uncategorized

2014-12-23T23:30:13-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What Georges Bernanos Taught Me About Saints

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 11:30 pm By Tod Worner

“Our hearts are with those in the front line, with those who get killed.” – Georges Bernanos It is said that when Georges Bernanos was asked why he became a writer, he answered quite plainly,”I began to write to escape from this disgusting era”. Alive for merely sixty years (1888-1948), the French Catholic Bernanos spent his life in Europe during the darkness of World War I and the Spanish Civil War . Subsequently, he endured the evisceration and emasculation... Read more

Uncategorized

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Job's friends initially show their sympathy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sat in silence seven days Brought gifts Wept and tore clothes Offered sacrifices

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Catholic Thinker's Story Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic