Category: Faith
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The Last Institution
Deal W. Hudson December 9, 2010 Some cliches, like some books, seem wise when we are young. Most of the D. H. Lawrence I admired when I was twenty sounds pretty silly to me now. I remember embracing the cliche about the inferiority of institutional religion as opposed to personal “religiousness.” In those days, I…
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Bill Donohue Is Accused of Starting the Fight over Christmas
Deal W. Hudson December 20, 2010 I was putting together my list of “ten most laughable public attacks of 2010” when I received an e-mail newsletter from Chris Korzen and the team at Catholics United. Korzen’s letter – an attack on Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York – was…
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Art Worth Dying For?
Deal W. Hudson December 6, 2014 A Review of “The Monument Men” (2013) Starring George Clooney, “The Monuments Men,” chronicled the efforts of 345 men and women from 13 nations who volunteered to recover works of arts stolen by the Nazis. Created in 1943 by an act of Congress and the support of President Roosevelt, this…
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Soundtrack Suggestions for Christmas
Deal W. Hudson December 7, 2014 “King of Kings” soundtrack by Miklos Rozsa. It’s not too far-fetched to say that film music has become our “classical music.” Far, far more listeners have heard full orchestras blaring in movie theaters than in concert halls for the past fifty years. This tradition of symphonic music which was…
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Spiritual Renewal Through Beauty
Deal W. Hudson December 7, 2014 Catholics need to be more welcoming to each other and to parish visitors. It’s not the first time I have made that observation, and it’s not the first time much of the response has been negative. Why? I’m accused of forcing evangelical habits on a Catholic parish, of endorsing…
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When Catholics Lost Their Cultural Clout
Deal W. Hudson December 10, 2014 Catholics of my generation probably remember only dimly the furor provoked among Catholics by films in the 1950s directed by Luis Bunuel, Los Olivados (1950); Roberto Rossellini, The Miracle (1951); Otto Preminger, The Moon is Blue (1953); Elia Kazan, Baby Doll (1956); Roger Vadim, And God Created Woman (1956);…
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A Parable About Beauty
Deal W. Hudson December 10, 2014 A man once asked a Christian friend where he could find the Truth. The friend replied without hesitation, “Look to Jesus Christ who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” A woman once asked a Christian friend where she could find the Good. The friend quickly replied, “Look…
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Christmas 2014 — A Poem
Deal W. Hudson December 20, 2014 By Mary Jo Matthews (1927 — December 18, 2014) Oh, little town of Bethlehem, Do men still gaze above, Through bombs and smoke, To seek the Christmas star? Godless men defile their faith, Bestowed on them with love, Faith that guided the Magi, When they travelled from afar. Oh,…
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Why Should the Church Continue to Perform Marriages for the State?
Deal W. Hudson December 14, 2014 We take for granted that priests, and other ministers, sign a couple’s marriage license after a wedding ceremony. At that moment the state, both the individual states and the United States, legally recognize the marriage. Priests and ministers, thus, act as agents of the government and are duly recognized…
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A Writer Who Questions Whether or Not Jesus is Real
Deal W. Hudson January 10, 2015 Madeline St John (1941-2006), pronounced “sin-gin,” is a writer who never caught on in the United States, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was her early death in 2006. When Carroll & Graf published three of her novels in the late 90s, I was certain American readers would…
Deal W. Hudson 