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Sam Rocha

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December 2012

December 18, 2012

A Quiet Joy, I Suppose

The easy excuse is "I've been grading." But it's not true. I write most when...

December 12, 2012

The Politics of Guadalupe

In loving memory of Fr. Sam Homsey C.PP.S. (1910 - 2004) As a teenager, I...

December 11, 2012

Dear (New) Atheists, Meet Zizek and Paglia

I am writing beneath about 200 pages of final papers I have to read and...

December 06, 2012

A Shepherd Must Be

The man who writes longhand, Pope Benedict XVI, has a Twitter account. Eight of them, to...

December 03, 2012

Haw Wins: Pagan Christianity and the New Apologetics

In my recent reflection on James Wellman's book on Rob Bell, I tried to steer...

November 2012

November 27, 2012

Two Notre Dame Rebuttals

My post yesterday defending Notre Dame produced a mostly interesting comment box --- including some...

November 20, 2012

When a Roman Catholic Reads About Rob Bell, What Does He See?

A few years ago, while I was in graduate school, I sang and played guitar...

November 19, 2012

The Beauty and Sufficiency of Catholic Liturgy

Over the past year I've been writing a short book: Liturgy as Mystagogy: An Introduction to...

November 18, 2012

Dear Fellow Catholics, It’s NOT Christmas

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, I can hardly believe I'm writing this. It's embarrassing...

November 16, 2012

A Proper Blog Post: Writing, Biology, Political Theory

I've made a full recovery from yesterday's outburst. I clarified a few things in comments and...

November 15, 2012

The Scandalous Abortion of Savita Halappanavar

(WARNING: I'm pissed and I'm not mincing words or emotions here. I'm not reporting, I'm venting....

November 13, 2012

Bilingual Mass Never Quite Jives For Me: A Note on Translation

Yesterday's Spanish debut was a direct response to posts, on Facebook and Twitter, covering the...

November 12, 2012

Beso, Abrazo y Ternura

(A note to English readers: this begins a series of Spanish-language essays I will post...

November 11, 2012

The Time to Talk is Now

It is hard to have a conversation when politics are at stake. The news makes...

November 07, 2012

What’s Left of the Left? Did the Grand Old Party Get Old?

The election has passed. Obama won the big one and the list goes on and...

November 06, 2012

Thanking the Candidates, All of Them

Those who read and know me understand that my politics tend toward the cynical. Especially...

November 02, 2012

I Miss My Brother: A Sports Memoir

ESPN is the world's best worst psychic. Always looking ahead to the next story, inventing...

October 2012

October 31, 2012

Abstention is Still a Choice: The Power of Negative Voting

Atheists go nuts when they stand accused of believing in something, despite their unbelief in...

October 27, 2012

Suffrage as Nihilism: Voting is Dead

I've seen and heard an election dogma that can only be described as pure, unadulterated...

October 25, 2012

Mary in the Moon

An apparition: Egg-shaped moon, Haloed, with soft, cloud-prism edges Dissipate; alone now. Resplendent shining white,...

October 25, 2012

Dead White Guys at First Things

Today, I'll refer you to as essay that came out today at First Things: Dead...

October 24, 2012

“Sts. Augustine and Monica, the Head and the Heart,” a lecture.

Yesterday I alluded to the relationship between the head and the heart. Here is a...

October 23, 2012

When the Well Goes Dry

In my life, there is always writing to do. Along with teaching, it's my primary...

October 22, 2012

“Don Juan as Moralist,” a talk by David Bentley Hart

Last week's posts (here and here) on the profane, gangstas, and the New Evangelization evoked...

October 18, 2012

My Man Luke!

Today is the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. I've always been most partial to...

October 17, 2012

More Stuff on Gangstas

***A note concerning terminology: there is a difference between 'gangsta' and 'gangster.' The former is an...

October 16, 2012

The New Evangelization Needs Profanity

So a Pharisee invites Jesus over to his house for dinner. Check out what transpires,...

October 14, 2012

Vote Local, Not Loco: Subsidiarity and Voting

Politics makes us crazy. As true as it may be, the statement should be qualified....

October 11, 2012

Faith and Food

Happy Year of Faith, everyone! On Monday, I think I raised some eyebrows when I...

October 10, 2012

We Be, Big Pimpin’ Catholics Down in US of A: The Democrat and Republican Exploitation of Catholics

Certain anti-Catholic Protestants like to claim that the Catholic Church is the "Whore of Babylon,"...