The Arrow's Path

The summary of this election season in a nutshell.

Summer, where hast thou gone?

This video is put out by FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which is a non-partisan, secular foundation that fights for things like free speech rights in higher education campuses. I think this video captures the grave consequences facing student groups on campuses currently very well:   From a pedagogical standpoint, I think the purpose of higher education is to get people to think for themselves. Like the video says, I really do not believe that people are taking this issue seriously enough. While I do not agree with some of the groups presented in the video, I do think everyone should have the right to assemble as they see fit and believe as they see fit. This is a very troubling trend.

It's called a Veer Offense , and it isn't new.

There is an extremely interesting article here from a Roman Catholic point of view (it quotes numerous papal encyclicals and appeals to natural and divine law) entitled, "What is Social Justice?" This is an excellent question, and one that has been the bugaboo of my existence since my seminary days. To make a long story short, I tend to recoil from conversations in the Episcopal church where the term "social justice" comes up as the rationale. At least in the Episcopal realm, the phrase is usually a code words for something else. Namely, it is code for "political agenda," and not just any political agenda, but the political agenda of one particular wing of one particular political party. Now, let me be clear here. I believe it is perfectly fine to have political opinions. I do firmly believe that sincere, faithful, and informed Christians can legitimately come to different, if not opposing, political beliefs. One is not necessarily stupid simply becau...

What do you make of this ?

Bless her heart, sacred art restoration is apparently not one of her spiritual gifts .

"How'd you sleep last night?" "Terrible, the yahoos next door were out partying till late, and then we had that thunderstorm early..." "Yeah, they are obnoxious." "They're sort of like redneck werewolves...they come out and howl at the moon." "So, they're...Werenecks?" "Hey, I like that. That's catchy."

One of the customs I have always enjoyed around Saint Nicholas Day (December 6th) is the getting and sending of St. Nicholas Day cards. This is great, especially for kids to get a reminder that the real Saint Nicholas is not the silly old American elf of Chrismus. Apparently this custom is a dying art from because I can no longer find St. Nicholas Day greeting cards hardly anywhere. There are about 3 at the Saint Nicholas Center website that can be purchased, but they are ultra modern looking (not my thing) and they haven't changed their 3 designs in years. I used to get them from the Conception Abbey Printery House , but even they don't print any Nicholas Day cards anymore. (It is a sad day when you can't talk monks into printing religious cards...believe me, I've tried more than once. They tell me no one buys them anymore and they lose money.) If I were to design and have some Saint Nicholas Day greeting cards professionally printed, would anyone be interested in...

Interesting article here about the general disgruntlement of Facebook users and Facebook's stock fiasco. I use Facebook. In fact, I was one of the very first 100,000 people ever on Facebook during its initial trial public run, which is why my screen name on Facebook is simply my first name and middle initial. For the first incarnation of Facebook, you did not even need a last name because there were so few people on it. I have to admit, the quality of Facebook has deteriorated in the last few years. I think the major premise that Facebook, Inc., does not seem to understand is that “the customer is always right.” I know Facebook now has stockholders and all wanting to see a profit, but the first two rules of making a profit is to make customers and then to make them happy. Zuckerberg does not seem to understand this basic business reality. You can have a good product at affordable prices, but if your customers feel like they are being treated with disdain, then they are not go...

Interesting that South Dakota is labeled as one of the top states for affordable food prices . I am guessing they don’t factor in Indian Reservations to South Dakota numbers here, like they don’t factor them in to state unemployment numbers. Official state unemployment in South Dakota hovers around 4 to 5 percent (very low to the national average), but the several Reservations have unemployment in the 80 to 90% range regularly but those are not factored in because it’s viewed as the tribe’s domain/problem. Thus, heaven forbid we have to actually think about it.

Not that us Tennessee fans are surprised, but Vanderbilt has lost its mind .

For Immediate Release                                                     DATE : 8/20/2012 Partners in Southeast Asia Respond to Monsoon Flooding Heavy monsoon rains and severe flooding are widespread through a large part of southern and southeastern Asia, impacting millions of people.  Currently, Episcopal Relief & Development is working through local partners in the Philippines and a remote region in eastern India to provide emergency relief.  In the Philippines, millions of people are struggling to recover from weeks of unusually intense monsoon rains that have claimed more than 170 lives.  According to one report , the government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has provided relief...

Remembering my cousin, Alana, this morning at her baptism.  Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon  these  your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised  them  to the new life of grace. Sustain  them,  O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give  them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.  Amen .

As some of you are aware, I posted a few stories over the past few weeks about a First Communion class in St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad who bus got bombed and somehow all the kids survived. I received this following update today from Canon Andrew White with this picture (used with permission): " Today has been a truly wonderful day as we celebrated the First Communion of our children whose bus was blown up just two weeks ago. As one little boy said "we knew Jesus was here because we saw him on the bus when it was blown up". This a picture of the Children and the new Kitchen and hall."

Today is a major feast day in the Anglican and Catholic Churches. The Eastern Orthodox churches also consider it a major feast, though for those still on the Julian calendar, the date on the calendar may be slightly off from the August 15th date that Anglicans and Catholics use. Assumption of Mary What this feast commemorates in Catholic and Orthodox theologies is the Assumption of Mary. The Eastern Orthodox refer to it as the Dormition of the Theotokos. Basically, they are the same event with a bit of a twist. The Catholic church has labelled the Assumption of Mary a dogma. A dogma is an article of belief revealed by God that is said to be central to faith. For hundreds of years, Catholics observed the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15 — celebrating Mary’s being taken bodily to Heaven after her death — but it was not until 1950 that the Church proclaimed this teaching a dogma of the Church — one of the essential beliefs of the Catholic faith. The ...

For the 3 people in the world who share my interests of history, Latin, old books, and woodworking, there is an interesting article here about 500 year old shavehorses in a Latin text.

This time, it is with a decided twist: a blog on reflections to care givers . I tip my hat to him and his wife for attempting to shed light on a social issue that is more common than people might think, but to which society prefers to pretend does not exist other than in nursing homes and does very little in terms of social services or structure to mediate or alleviate. Sadly, with aging Baby Boomers and the rising cost of healthcare and insurance, there will be a lot more care giving by family members in the next few decades than at any point since the early 20th century or, perhaps, even farther back than that. Kudos.

A Reflection by Oscar Romero. hat tip: Abbot Kodell, Subiaco Abbey

Like no way dude

The magazine that World Vision puts out to sponsors had a really good article  this month on how 3rd World countries are beginning to learn how to combat human trafficking. The article gives a really good first hand account of how this can be accomplished. Sadly, though, far more people get sucked into these horrendous schemes than get saved. This story, however, does have a happy ending. I link to it here because so many people, if they are even aware of this issue, think the situation is hopeless. If nothing else, you can always pray .

Message from Canterbury (1944) from British Council Film on Vimeo .  William Temple preaches a sermon in a propaganda film. I found this linked on a few other websites, and most people in comments are saying that Temple does not sound like they expected. I think he sounds exactly like an Anglican from that period of the Radio age. One has to keep in mind that the touchy-feely "method acting" public speaking methods had not come into existence yet. If you listen to most formal radio broadcasts (or movies for that matter) from the period, particularly from Britain, you will hear deliveries and accents of this nature. Sadly, most broadcasts from that period other than certain clips from Churchill or other pieces deemed of "historical interest" were largely erased. This is also true of most of CS Lewis' radio broadcasts and even several of the King's speeches. The BBC had a policy of taping over reel to reel transcriptions and disposing of materials tha...

There is an interesting article here on Charles Schultz' theology in the famed Peanuts comic strip, from which I rip a quote: " After some reflection, Schulz tells us: “I finally decided that every idea we had was an idea that really avoided the essential truth which was that the true meaning of Christmas could be found only in the Gospel according to St. Luke and so we had Linus recite those famous passages.”

from my Alma Mater . And if they win, Coach Sparks, who has been battling cancer in the off season , gets his 300th career coaching win .

Honestly, it isn't .

With the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin a few days ago, a few people have asked me what I know about the Sikh religion. I do actually know a bit about it, as I had an acquaintance at work some years ago who was an adherent. Sikhism originated in the Punjab region, which is a borderland between modern day India and Pakistan. It developed in the 15th century by Guru Nanak (1469–1539). Until about 1700, Sikhism more or less was confined to a regional sect which followed a succession of various Gurus. The tenth guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh, created the Khalsa in the year 1699, which means "Akal Purakh de fauj" – the Army of God during a time of growing militancy against Muslim rule. The creation of a Sikh Empire began when Guru Gobind Singh sent his brave Sikh general, Banda Singh Bahadur along with some hundred Singhs to punish those who had committed atrocities against Pir Buddhu Shah and avenge the murder of his youngest sons. Long story short: it turned o...

No, this is not The Onion .

I'm pretty sure .

Not that I am a particular fan of the Olympics, particularly since they allowed professional athletes and corporate sponsors to take over, but I do have a few good pictures of London that I took a few years ago: I had more hair back then.  The White Tower of London The Tower Bridge (Americans: this is NOT the London Bridge!) Big Ben upon exiting the Parliament Tube stop The Texas Embassy And if you are wondering from the coverage what Londoners fixation with Texans is, there is a Texas Embassy barbecue restaurant right next to Trafalgar Square. It is truly bizarre to be walking around Nelson's monument and all, while spelling barbecue and seeing Texas flags waving. Londoners think it is weird too.

I was reading Canon Andrew White's Facebook updates about this earlier yesterday. It was harrowing, but by God's grace, none of the children were killed . Please pray for Baghdad.