✣ Highlights from the week online
A philosopher’s deathbed request At the National Catholic Register, Robert Royal paid tribute to the Catholic philosopher Michael Novak, who died last week. Before he died, Royal reported, Novak told everyone who came to see him: “God loves you and you must love one another, that is all that matters.” He had a particular fondness for the hymn Ubi caritas et amor, deus ibi est (“Where there is charity and love, there is God.”)Novak, who moved from the left to the right of the political spectrum, was attacked as an apologist for capitalism. But he saw himself as in the tradition of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, and “thought that the ‘moral cultural system’ of free societies needed to do a better job in informing politics and economics with humane perspectives.”
While many leftists regarded Novak as a traitor, he always sought dialogue with them, and would invite them to events.
Royal wrote: “He did so much in so many fields, and will be missed by so many. But those of us who knew him will never forget what he essentially meant to us: Ubi Caritas et Amor, Deus Ibi Est.”
Why we should resist the digital media
At Decent Inn of Death, the blogger Carlyle asked how Christians can “bear fruit” in the information age. He cited a recent book by Cal Newport, Deep Work. Newport argues “that if you want to work deeply, you have to get off digital media and stay off it most of the time. Email too needs a severe reining in, within the limits of your professional duties of course. The capacity of these technologies to disrupt and fragment attention is extraordinary.”
The lesson for Catholics, Carlyle suggested, is “if you have to get on the internet, don’t do it with avidity. Go in, get your information and get out before the swirl of hyperlink currents sweeps your attention into a literal cloud of unknowing.” Catholics ought to be the first to realise this, with our intellectual and artistic heritage, he wrote. But in search of “information and encouragement”, we get caught up online. “Baptising the Internet may turn out in the end to have been as misguided as those people who tried to turn rave parties into Christian services.”
Vatican-Beijing deal is irrelevant to Catholics
An anonymous Chinese priest, Shanren Shenfu (“the hermit priest”), has blogged about the negotiations between the Vatican and Beijing. In his post, translated by Asia News, he says the negotiations will make no difference. “Jesus and the traditional Catholic Church remain unchanged in the hearts of the faithful,” he said.
The state-run church, in his experience, “unconditionally implements government orders”. So Catholics do not pay much attention to it – or to the Chinese government.
✣ Meanwhile…
✣ A company specialising in Catholic dolls has unveiled its latest product: an 18-inch-tall cloth doll of Pope St John Paul II. The blue-eyed, blond-haired toy can also be dressed in a navy sailor outfit.St John Paul is the first male doll: the previous saints to be honoured in this manner are Joan of Arc and Thérèse of Lisieux. The manufacturers, Dolls from Heaven, “believe that the John Paul doll and book is perfect to inspire children to ‘Be not afraid’ and to follow their vocation in life.” The whole kit, including a red papal cape and a rosary booklet, costs $145 (£137).
✣ A political row has broken out in Milan after 42 palm trees were planted in the vicinity of the city’s cathedral. The trees are a cold-resistant species, which should be able to withstand the weather. They may find it more difficult to survive Italy’s political climate. Right-wing politician Matteo Salvini said: “All we need now are camels and monkeys and we really will have Africa in Italy.”
✣ A church has apparently taken a direct approach to parishioners slipping out of Mass after Holy Communion. Twitter user @ShamelessPapist posted a photo of a side door of the unnamed church on which is painted the words: “Judas left the Mass early.”
✣ The week in quotations
Maybe he is not the most intelligent, but he is the one God wants
Pope Francis on why cardinals are elected Pope
Catholic News Service
I am stunned ... I consider it a calumny
Cardinal Burke on the allegation that he sacked a senior Order of Malta official
National Catholic Register
I learned to pray the rosary as a child at home... I can still see the patterns of the chairs
Cardinal Nichols
Homily
In favour or against?
Pope Francis’s reply to a man who shouted ‘We pray for you!’
Zenit
✣ Statistic of the week
20
Number of dioceses hosting the Fatima statue in England and Wales this year
Source: The World Apostolate of Fatima
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