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Experiments exploring the question In the first of what he hopes will be a series of experiments, Dr Beauregard and his doctoral student Vincent Paquette are recording electrical activity in the brains of seven Carmelite nuns through electrodes attached to their scalps. Their aim is to identify the brain processes underlying the Unio Mystica—the Christian…

New one is up. John Allen dissects the two main schools of thought regarding the next conclave: Italian or Latin American. Speaking with members of the College of Cardinals, there seem two grand hypotheses these days for the next papal election: an Italian and a candidate from the Third World. The first holds that, all…

Charles Krauthammer: Vatican II did not question the Gospels. It did not disavow its own central story. It took responsibility for it, and for the baleful history it had spawned. Recognizing that all words, even God’s words, are necessarily subject to human interpretation, it ordered an understanding of those words that was most conducive to…

As I said yesterday, any “thinking” blogging has been overshadowed by mere “linking” blogging this week, and partly because I’m trying to get into the groove of a project. Once I get my head in that space, it’s smooth sailing, but I do so many different types of writing, sometimes it takes a bit for…

Abusing priests + Protecting bishops = The Third Degree for Lay Volunteers A Virginia columnist wonders why. (Problems acknowledged, but I will say that the one case of sexual abuse and the Church with which I had more or less direct knowledge involved a lay volunteer in youth ministry.) Ripped by sex scandals and revelations…

Remember the Pat Oliphant cartoon with a little boy Mel Gibson inspired by his beating at the hands of a nun? The Boston Globe Ombudsman talks about the fallout Scores of readers quickly phoned or e-mailed their dismay and their disgust. They were as hurt as they were angry, and a couple were in tears.…

Alternative weekly looks at Bishop Tod Brown After a brief lead-in showing Brown’s infamous Jan. 18 Martin Luther rip-off (during which he nailed his “Covenant with the Faithful” to the door of Orange’s Holy Family Cathedral), Nightline correspondent Ron Claiborne went to business. He gave an excellent summary of the sex scandal that has plagued…

Interesting article from the UK Tablet on the sexual abuse report, focusing on the flashpoint of some of our discussions here. Personal or systemic sin? Or both? “PIU difettoso, il migliore,” as they say in Rome: “The worse, the better.” The very awfulness of the report made it, at first, welcome reading within the Curia.…

From Zenit, thoughts from a CDF official who offered his thoughts on the application of sexual-abuse policies: 2. Another matter concerns the age of the victim. The recent legislation puts this at “under 18 years.” This follows a number of civil laws. It has to be pointed out, however, that this innovation does complicate the…

Of The Passion of the Christ Christ struggles with his capacity to be the sin-bearing Son. This is the point of the devil’s attack. The seventeenth-century French thinker Blaise Pascal has one of the most acute phrases on this aspect of the Passion, and I suggest that Gibson’s film will not be properly understood without…
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