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A couple of random book notes: The Banquet:Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe  was a book I plucked from the “New Arrivals” shelf. Of course.  I gave it a quick read last week, and enjoyed it on a variety of different levels. First, it’s interesting and thought-provoking to consider what people in…

The Sistine Chapel is, of course, a chapel. Larger than many parish churches, but tiny compared to St. Peter’s. It is named after Pope Sixtus VI, in whose honor it was built in the 15th century. Its function has always been closely related to Papal business – gatherings of the Papal Chapel or meetings of…

Via Aid to the Church in Need: Königstein/Ts. Bishop Cornelius Kipng’eno Arap Korir of the West Kenyan diocese of Eldoret informed the International Catholic Charity “Aid to the Church in Need” that most of the estimated one hundred persons killed during the riots of the past few days in his diocese have still not been…

Tomorrow, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Benedict will be celebrating Mass in the Sistine Chapel and afterwards baptizing some babies, as has been the custom. The news has come down that for Mass, the original altar built in and for the Chapel will be utilized. And you know what that means…. This…

This past Wednesday, Pope Benedict began what a lot of us have been waiting for: his General Audience talks on St. Augustine. Pope Benedict and Augustine go back a long way. In fact, he wrote his doctoral thesis on an aspect of St. Augustine’s thought. From a webpage set up in honor of the Pope’s…

Over the weekend, I read Ha Jin’s new novel, A Free Life. Now, I’ll reiterate that I did read it over the weekend and it is over 600 pages long. So am I saying that I read it so quickly because it was mesmerizing, engrossing and I couldn’t put it down? I don’t think so.…

It’s difficult, I suppose, to write about a film like Juno without doing so through political spectacles. But some of the conversations so far have revealed the problems with doing so – in short, the spectacles make you see funny. Is Juno a “pro-life” movie? Some would say no, since you know, Juno has a…

The Cranky Professor is in teaching and stylin’ in  Rome for the semester. Go follow his adventures! Maybe not so cranky now, eh?

I hesitate to ask this because the potential for Rabbit Holes (as Fr. Z calls them) in such a comment thread is so great. But it’s something I’m honestly curious about. A couple of weeks ago, my oldest son was visiting and because of various scheduling issues we ended up at a noon Mass which…

I’ll start up the Blog Train with something not-so-weighty. Just a few cars. How about a movie?  Ack, it looked so charming in the previews, but…I can’t recommend it. Not that it’s probably playing anywhere any longer anyway. Anyhow. The Water-Horse seeks to blend various bits of legend, including that of the Loch Ness Monster,…
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