GOODBYE A MARTINI
"Church back 200 years"
The last interview: "Why do not you shake because we are afraid?"

Fr. Georg Sporschill, a fellow Jesuit who interviewed him in Conversations night in Jerusalem and met Federica Root Martini on 8 August: "A sort of spiritual testament. Cardinal Martini has read and approved the text. "

How do you see the ( Read more... )

Lots of things going on in the last week.

I had a kind of fabulous academic exchange with Mike Harris on the Odes of Solomon based off of my recent entry, and tying into the chapter he is currently writing for his dissertation, which partially deals with the Odes. He got an advance copy of my article "The Odes of Solomon as Apocalyptic ( Read more... )

I received an email from Dina the other day that was largely talking about the creation of a new song of hers. I was excited to discover that her Shipwrecked: From Birmingham to Jericho With No Prozac CD project with Nadina's Cube had finally come out, although I had missed that news. So my copy is in the mail. But the thing that really ( Read more... )

Heh. I've corresponded with journalist Nora Hamerman on and off for a few years regarding her own interest in Salvador Dali's work, particularly in his The Sacrament of the Last Supper, which I've written about. But it's still funny to see myself cited as one of those "experts" in a news article, as one often sees such experts cited. Clearly, I' ( Read more... )

I met with Gregory Aymond, the Archbishop of New Orleans, this afternoon, and I couldn't have even tried to imagine a better conversation: what a first-rate guy! I had contacted the Archbishop's office in order to inquire about obtaining a mandatum, a sort of official recognition by the Church that I am a teacher of Catholic theology, like my ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Had some more niece-talk today. Grace's first Reconciliation is tomorrow, and I had heard from Leslie that she had seemed pretty nervous about it (although less so since hearing that it was not too difficult from some classmates who had already done it), and I thought I would do my Godfatherly duty to offer any reassurance or explanation I could ( Read more... )

Oi! I just completed three more applications that had not yet been posted to the American Academy of Religion website when I "finished" all my job apps sometime last week. This is another interesting set. Three Catholic schools: one a small southern university, one a women's college, and one a national university with attached seminary program ( Read more... )

Office hours. Wheeeee... I don't know what the deal is: I get semesters where my office hours are like a coffeehouse, with students showing up to hang out and talk class stuff and anything under the sun, and then I get semesters of utter disuse. I would have mostly said that's a spring/fall distinction, respectively, but at least one time I can ( Read more... )

Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Rich Mullins. It was a stunning piece of news, and everyone who knew his work moved in a sort of shocked state of disbelief that day, looking at one another with a bleakness that belied words. He and L'Engle were the only two I considered "first tier" spiritual masters that lived in my lifetime, and ( Read more... )